Tuesdays on TG4 and TG4.ie from 2nd June at 7.30pm
Moving West is back for a fourth series on TG4, and it arrives with a sense of quiet momentum that mirrors the shift it has spent four seasons documenting. Produced by Dundara Television and Media from its studio base in Allenwood, Co. Kildare, in partnership with the Western Development Commission with support from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The new six-part series follows individuals and families who have made the leap to build their lives along the western seaboard in Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Presenter Mary Kennedy returns to guide viewers through each story, meeting people whose reasons for heading west are as varied as the landscapes they now call home. Remote workers, entrepreneurs, returned emigrants, international newcomers, creatives, beekeepers and restaurateurs all have chosen a different kind of life, and Moving West gives them the space to tell that story in their own words.
Series 4 brings a new structural approach. Rather than building each episode around a single county, the new season weaves together stories from across the region in every programme, reflecting the increasingly connected nature of life, work and community in rural Ireland today. Themes running through the series include remote working, entrepreneurship, sustainability, family life, creative living, and the growing international appeal of the Atlantic coast.
The series has resonated with audiences since it first aired, finding a strong following among viewers interested in lifestyle change, work-life balance, regional opportunity and reconnecting with place. Earlier this year, that impact received formal recognition when Dundara Television and Media, TG4 and the Western Development Commission won Best Collaboration at the 2026 Spider Awards — often described as Ireland's digital Oscars.
Presenter Mary Kennedy says, "One of the great privileges of presenting Moving West is meeting people who have made brave and often life-changing decisions to start again in a different part of the country. Every story is different, but there is a common thread running through the series — people searching for connection, balance, community and a better quality of life."
Among the contributors this season are a former fashion buyer who arrived on Achill Island during the pandemic and never went back; a Syrian family who settled in Carndonagh after years in direct provision, now keeping bees and producing honey in Donegal; a Paris couple who left everything behind to open a restaurant in Galway without any hospitality experience; and a games developer who returned to Sligo after two decades in Dublin to run his company from a local innovation hub.
Across the six episodes, viewers will also meet a woman from Bristol who now champions disability inclusion from her home in Roscommon; a restoration specialist who returned to the west after years in Hawaii to work on Ireland's traditional cottages; Ukrainian women who arrived in 2022 and are now helping other newcomers settle into life in Leitrim; and a couple from Argentina and Germany who accepted a lectureship at ATU Sligo before either of them had ever visited the town and have since built a life there, cycling to work and raising their twin boys between two languages and cultures.
The final episode features a conversation with Minister Dara Calleary, who reflects on the broader momentum behind the series, the growing number of families, entrepreneurs and returning emigrants choosing the West not as somewhere to pass through but as somewhere to build a future.
Mary Kennedy Returns with the 4th Season of Moving West on TG4
