Coverage of this week’s census brought out “the conspiracy theorist in me”, writes Brendan O’Regan Last week I reviewed two British crime shows that showed adultery as a hugely destructive thing, and there was the same message yet again on another drama, Undercover, last Sunday night on BBC One. This was a peculiar variation on…

This week’s British crime drama made brought ‘excellent’ plots to the table while also tackling deep issues such as ‘the gravity of abortion’, writes Brendan O’Regan I have a weakness for British crime dramas and for my sins am concurrently working on two seasons of Scott and Bailey, set in Manchester and featuring two female…

In this weeks viewing Brendan O’Regan focuses on “Stories of people changing for the better”. Stories of forgiveness, repentance, atonement and homecoming are finding a new resonance in this Year of Mercy. However, when some repent, are forgiven and reconciled, others who also need it can be prone to begrudgery, rather like the older brother…

Brendan O’Regan reflects on a ‘heart-breaking’ documentary focusing on innocent lives lost in the crossfire of rebellion and wonders whether it was in good taste to air a programme on Judas on Good Friday. I’m not convinced that it was a great idea for BBC 1 to put the focus on Judas for Good Friday,…

“Current trends dampen my enthusiasm for the 1916 commemorations, not least our worsening relationship with alcohol”, writes Brendan O’Regan Of all the 1916 related programmes, I was looking forward most to Insurrection, a repeat showing of RTÉ’s flagship programme from the 50th anniversary in 1966. Painstakingly restored from original video tape, it has been playing…

“It was impressive to see the huge amount of voluntary effort to support the refugees’, writes Brendan O’Regan, even though “The faith element was…over simplistically” I’ve long been a fan of reporter Valerie Cox’s work for RTÉ Radio and last Sunday night she made a very effective jump to television on the Exodus – A…

‘Fascinating’, ‘puzzling’ and ‘disturbing’ viewing ‘on the crime front’ this week, writes Brendan O’Regan A podcast has been described as ‘radio on demand’ or ‘essentially a radio show that you can get on the internet’. Serial is one of the most popular podcasts in the world and last week I listened to it from my…

Brendan O’Regan rounds up “a flurry of election activity” and “broken pro-life promises” There was a flurry of election activity on Thursday of last week to squeeze in as much political commentary as possible before the moratorium kicked in at 2pm that day. On Newstalk’s Breakfast that morning, comedian Oliver Callan was particularly hilarious doing…

“interesting conversations” dominated this week’s viewing, writes Brendan O’Regan It was a week of interesting conversations. There was that meeting of two of Ireland’s best known ‘Grumpy Old Men’, George Hook and Vincent Browne on The Right Hook (Newstalk), Tuesday of last week. They knocked strips off each other as they cranked up the crankiness,…

Brendan O’Regan reflects on the Election’s media debates being delivered by a “bunch of actors” In every media debate on the General Election it’s like we’re getting the same script, but spoken by a different bunch of actors each time, so I prefer the independent analysis. I’m not a fan of Newstalk’s Breakfast Show, but…