There’s usually a positive response when people whose background becomes an obstacle to education manage to access it despite the challenges, and sometimes later in life. Last Friday night’s Nationwide (RTE 1) was quite uplifting, focusing as it did on the Trinity Access Programme (TAP). We heard from several people, young and older, who had…
People say we have a toxic relationship with all sorts of things, but gambling has to be up there as one of the most serious scourges. TV drama Cleaning Up (UTV, Wednesdays and Virgin Media 1, Mondays) makes for uncomfortable viewing as Sam (Sheridan Smith) unravels due to her addiction to all sorts of gambling.…
I have mixed feelings about boxing as a sport – it can teach self-discipline, focus the energies of the young, enhance physical fitness, but there can be a brutality about it that is unnerving. Katie (RTÉ1, Tuesday) was an impressive documentary from Ross Whitaker that followed the career of Irish boxer Katie Taylor. It was full…
Sometimes a programme arrives with mighty hype and fails to live up to the high expectations, then sometimes you just about stumble upon a modest show that exceeds the low expectations. RTÉ’s War of Independence drama Resistance (RTÉ1, Sunday nights) was preceded by much hype. Now two episodes in, it is better than I expected.…
The New Year often sees the launch of new shows or at least new series of old ones. And so, I came across a couple of notables last week. The Big Questions returned for a new series last Sunday morning on BBC1, hosted as usual by Nicky Campbell. There’s been a redesign, which is fine,…
There’s so much interesting stuff in the media over Christmas, but it’s the one time of the year when I find I have less time and inclination to engage, what with all the wonderful goings-on in the world of family, friends and Church community. However, I was impressed by a Nationwide (RTÉ1) programme leading up…
In the media in 2018 there were real life dramas and fictional ones, programmes going off and new ones arriving. There were some outstanding shows and some disasters, and a lot of the same old same old. The first half of the year was dominated by the referendum designed to repeal the Eighth Amendment, and…
Matinee: Gandhi RTÉ1, Saturday, December 22, 12.55 pm (1982) Director. Richard Attenborough. Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud. Gandhi’s character is fully explained as a man of nonviolence. Through his patience, he is able to drive the British out of the subcontinent. Life On The Rock EWTN, Saturday, December 22, 3.30 pm Pat Kenny discusses the extraordinary…
I’m reluctant to praise a drama series based on the first episode – too often I’ve done this only to find the series deteriorating (dramatically or morally!) in or after the second episode. One interesting new drama, with some religious elements, is Mrs Wilson (BBC1, Tuesdays), two episodes in at the time of writing. This…
I have quite a few interesting interviews to pore over this week, with some new voices featuring and an older voice retiring. On last Thursday night’s Tonight Show (Virgin Media 1) I was impressed by writer and lecturer Dr David Thunder, who spoke of the media creating a narrative that served only the liberal side in…