'Fair City' is an award-winning soap opera on the Irish television channel RTÉ One. Produced by Radio Telefís Éireann, it was first broadcast in on September 18, 1989. Plots centre on the the domestic and professional lives of the residents of Carrigstown, a fictional suburb on the north side of Dublin. Originally aired as two half-hour episodes per week, from September to May, it is now broadcast year round in four episodes per week. It is the most popular Irish soap opera, and the longest running. As it approaches its twentieth anniversary, Fair City has established itself as a permanent part of the Irish cultural landscape. Viewing figures of between 500,000 and 600,000 make it, by a considerable margin, the most watched drama in the country. Its major characters have become household names, and a recent upsurge in quality has seen the programme win for the first time, and subsequently retain, the prestigious TV Now Award for Best Soap.