A huge number of viewers tuned in to watch Whistleblower: The Maurice McCabe story on Monday night

It's one of the most startling scandals in recent Irish history.

On Monday night (12 November) RTÉ aired part one of Whistleblower: The Maurice McCabe Story — a documentary that is looking at Sergeant Maurice McCabe, a Garda whistleblower who was targeted by a smear campaign that tore his life asunder. Official viewing figures from last night's episode are very impressive, with RTÉ reporting an average audience of 509,000, which amounted to a 40% share of the audience. McCabe found himself at the centre of a national scandal when he was targeted by unfounded allegations  — labelled a "campaign of calumny"  by Justice Peter Charleton — by powerful Gardaí after he tried to expose corruption within the force. The Whistleblower, presented by journalist Katie Hannon, documentary is the first time and he and his wife Lorraine have sat down to tell their side of the story to the public. The two-part documentary series continues tonight on RTÉ One at 9.35pm and features Maurice's father Michael's own crusade against the pollution of Lough Sheelin in the 1980s. It also documents Maurice and Lorraine McCabe's experience of travelling to Dublin to attend sittings of the Disclosures Tribunal and some of the seismic political events that happened in that period. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGz_JviHht4&feature=youtu.be Clip via RTÉ