Wesley Burrowes facts for kids

Wesley Burrowes (born April 15, 1930, died December 31, 2015) was a talented Irish writer. He wrote plays for the stage and scripts for TV shows. He was born in Northern Ireland but later lived in the Republic of Ireland.

Wesley was most famous for writing scripts for two very popular TV shows. These were The Riordans and Glenroe. Both shows were big hits on RTÉ Television.

Early Life and Education

Wesley Burrowes was born and grew up in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. He went to the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, a grammar school in Belfast. After school, he studied French and German at Queen's University Belfast. He finished his studies in 1952.

After university, Wesley moved to Dublin. He worked for an insurance company first. In 1959, he changed jobs to work for Córas Tráchtála. This was an Irish government group that helped promote exports. He advised on the furniture trade there.

Wesley also started writing funny sketches for performers. These included famous actors like Des Keogh and Rosaleen Linehan. In 1963, he decided to become a full-time writer.

Writing for the Theatre

Wesley's first big success in theatre was a musical called Carrie. He wrote it with Michael Coffey and James Douglas. It first showed at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in 1963. This was during the Dublin Theatre Festival. It was a big show with well-known actors like Milo O'Shea.

In 1969, Wesley won the Irish Life Drama Competition. He won for his play called The Becauseway. He described this play as "theatre of the absurd," which means it was a bit strange and thought-provoking. A new version of the play was shown at the Peacock Theatre later.

He won the same competition again in 1970 for And All the People Rejoiced. This play was later called A Loud Bang on June the First. It was first performed at the Abbey Theatre in 1971. Because he was so busy with TV, he only had one more full play performed. This was a comedy called Affluence in 1980.

Television Work

In 1964, Wesley got his first job in television. He became a scriptwriter for RTÉ Television's drama series, Tolka Row. Two years later, he became the main scriptwriter for The Riordans. This was a very popular show about life in the countryside.

From 1966 to 1979, Wesley wrote over 300 episodes of The Riordans. He also edited most of the scripts written by other people.

In 1983, Wesley created another hit show for RTÉ called Glenroe. He was one of three writers for this show. Glenroe ran for eighteen years and was very popular. Wesley made sure his scripts felt real. He often met farmers in pubs to hear their stories and ideas. Glenroe actually grew out of an earlier series he wrote in 1980. This was Bracken, which starred Gabriel Byrne.

Wesley's amazing work in television drama was recognized with three Jacob's Awards. He won these awards in 1965, 1974, and 1976. The last two were specifically for his work on The Riordans.

Film and Other Talents

In July 2000, a film written by Wesley Burrowes was shown for the first time. It was called Rat. This was his first movie script. It was a funny and unusual comedy set in Dublin. His second film as a scriptwriter was Mystics, released in 2003.

Wesley also had other talents. He wrote the lyrics for "If I Could Choose". This song was Ireland's entry in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. The song came in second place!

He was also a very good bridge player. He even represented Ireland in the first World Team Olympiad in 1960.

Personal Life

Wesley Burrowes married actress Liz Brennan in 1959. They had a daughter named Ciara. They later divorced in 1967. He married his second wife, Helena Ruuth, in 1969. They had a son named Kim.

Wesley lived in Bray, County Wicklow. He passed away on December 31, 2015, at the age of 85. He had been ill for some time.