The Fry-Cadbury Ireland Sales and Marketing Director Raymond Sellers (later Chairman & MD) was aware of the success and quality of the serial drama The Archers on the BBC Home Service in his native UK from its launch in 1951 and had commissioned the Arks advertising agency to devise, develop and produce a similar popular rural radio serial, set in Ireland and tailored for an Irish audience, which could fit in two weekly 15 minute sponsored programme slots on Raidió Éireann.
During its long run, various other scriptwriters worked on The Kennedys of Castleross, including playwright Hugh Leonard[2] and broadcaster David Hanly.
[additional citation(s) needed] However, after an almost 18-year unbroken run, the station announced in January 1973 that The Kennedys of Castleross had reached the end of its natural life and would be cancelled.
As a measure of how much the long-running soap opera's popularity had declined since its heyday, Radio Éireann received only one letter of protest following the announcement.
[5] For the final episode, Raidió Éireann broke with convention and broadcast a special one-hour edition on Saturday 24 February 1973.