Five Women Go Back to Work
Five Women Go Back to Work is an Irish television series broadcast on RTÉ One. The series follows five mothers, of differing professional backgrounds, as they make their return to the workforce after several years spent at home rearing their children. The five are employed by the publishing house, Ashville Media, with their mission being to compile a glossy magazine aimed at working women. The five have twelve weeks to complete their task. The series was filmed between October 2008 and January 2009. It is a creation of Vision Independent Productions.
The five women
Five women took part in the series.
Name |
Age |
Previous career |
New career |
|---|---|---|---|
Corinna Hardgrave |
46 |
marketing and PR |
"The Editor" |
Belinda Walsh |
52 |
top model, casting agent and artist |
"The Journalist" |
Susannagh Grogan |
42 |
print designer for fashion |
"The Designer" |
Claire Harbron |
38 |
Retail |
"Advertising" |
Aisling McCabe |
38 |
marketing and PR consultant |
"Marketing & PR" |
Corinna Hardgrave
Corinna Hardgrave has not worked full time for ten years but has been freelancing for a number of years. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and is now recovering. Hardgrave has worked in Nestlé UK, a number of marketing agencies in Dublin and Guinness Ireland and is a contributor to The Irish Times, Irish Tatler and editor of Eat Out. She lives in Terenure with her husband Steve and their two children, 8-year-old Katherine and 7-year-old Isabelle.
Belinda Walsh
Belinda Walsh was a regular columnist in an ex-pat magazine and ran a successful modelling agency in Spain, before returning to Ireland in 2002 after a fifteen year tenure abroad. She has written a romantic novel which she is hoping to get published. Walsh has never worked in a nine to five job and has always been self-employed, writes everything on paper before typing. She was previously not an early riser and spent her days watching The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil. Walsh is divorced but lives with her 22-year-old daughter Riva and two dogs, Sammy and Rocky in Wicklow.
Susannagh Grogan
Susannagh Grogan has worked in London, New York and Cape Town, and has sold her designs to Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria's Secret, Next, and Estée Lauder amongst other international names. She has a 3-year-old daughter, Gabriel and is the full-time stepmother to a 16-year-old, Aisling. Her husband Cormac likes to travel and is absent on a regular basis. Grogan recently spent time freelancing for a textile studio in London and working on a commission for A-Wear. She has experience on software such as Quark and Photoshop.
Claire Harbron
Claire Harbron was a single mother to her 19-year-old son Matthew until she met her Deli manager husband, Alan eight years previously. She is a member of the Garda Reserve. With Alan she has had two more children, 5-year-old Milli and 3-year-old Scott. Harbron has not worked for five years but arose at 05:00 each day to drive her husband to work before awaking, dressing and feeding her children for school.
Aisling McCabe
Aisling McCabe worked as a marketer for Deloitte in Boston and Dublin over a six year period. She returned to work following the birth of her first child, Aidan, with her husband Tom. She has since had two more children, 2-year-old Rory and seven-month-old Jane. In between babies McCabe has worked as a marketing and PR consultant for a number of companies and completed a life coaching course. She will be charged with organising a launch party for the magazine at the end of the twelve week period.
Episode list
Episode one
The first episode was broadcast on 6 January 2009. The five women are introduced and they encounter their new workplace for the first time.
Episode two
The second episode will be broadcast on 13 January 2009. The cover of the magazine is focused upon and the five women decide that an image of themselves on the cover ought to sell more magazines. Belinda books a photographer and organises the photo shoot. A problem is encountered when it is discovered that the deal made with the photographer limits the amount of times that the images can be used without further payment to the photographer. Corinna as editor suffers the consequence from management for her colleague's blunder. Clare is given a sales target of €7,500 and the management move her to the Sales Area of the office to increase her concentration.
Episode three
The third episode will be broadcast on 20 January 2009. Ashville Management is unhappy with the progress of the magazine and decides to restructure the team. Ashling is given instructions to travel to Cork to carry out some market research on the magazine's title and the cover story. Belinda begins her next story about stay-at-home fathers, for which she interviews Terry who has agreed to discuss his life at home for the magazine. Clare is rewarded by being taken out of the office by Regina, the head of sales. She presents an award at the Maternity and Infant Awards.