I find myself naturally drawn to programmes about the media, and if they’re done in dramatic form, well that’s the icing on the cake. And so it was I checked out the new drama Press (BBC1) last Thursday night. The story revolves around rivalry between two newspapers – a serious paper and a tabloid. And so…

At the end of last week’s article I wrote about the beginnings of papal visit reviews. It was mixed, with some positive commentary at times. One of the most positive was an engaging interview with the Richardson family on the Ray D’Arcy  Show (RTÉ Radio 1) on Tuesday of last week.  Mary and Damien, the…

I’d need the full newspaper to do justice to all the media coverage of the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit, so I’ll stick to some of what stood out for me. First off, hats off to RTÉ’s religious programmes department and the outside broadcast units for the live coverage of last weekend’s…

While advance coverage of this week’s papal visit was largely negative, there was one programme at least that struck a positive note. True North: The Pope and I (BBC1, Wednesday) was an affectionate, sometimes whimsical look at the reaction of various people from Northern Ireland to the recent popes and especially to the 1979 visit…

With the most prominent Jesuit of all coming to town next week it was apt that other key Jesuits figured in the media last week. On Wednesday of last week, Nationwide (RTÉ1) explored some of the more essential aspects of the life and work of Blessed Fr John Sullivan. That familiar black and white drawing…

As a Catholic, you’d want to be sure your Faith was primarily in God and not in individual Catholic clergy. Too often, in striving for perfection, we assumed that those in the clerical state had already succeeded. Did we not really believe it when, at Mass, we heard them confessing their sins along with ourselves?…

While looking forward to the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) and the papal visit later this month, I’ve long had a fear that we could easily mess  it up, or have it messed up for us. Mainstream media coverage often reduces the event to issues of child abuse and the Church’s attitude to homosexuality, with…

Last week I was writing about some new TV dramas and this week I’ll have a look at some reruns and revivals. Anne With an E (based on the children’s novel Anne of Green Gables) is back on Netflix for a second series and judging by the first few episodes it’s still maintaining the high…

Last week saw the beginning of several new TV drama series – maybe a coincidence or maybe to offer alternatives, both during and after the World Cup and Wimbledon. S.W.A.T. (Sky One, Sunday nights) was the least promising of the lot, a stereotypical US cop show with too much macho posturing, clichéd characters, stilted acting…

With the papal visit imminent we can expect some related documentaries, and on Tuesday of last week RTÉ1 was first in line. Rebel Pope was a docudrama from National Geographic, and while it was worth watching I wasn’t that impressed. The most interesting aspects dealt with revolutionary times in Argentina when Jorge Bergoglio, later Pope…