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TV Viewpoint: Forget about superheroes, punk is back to save the world
AND right on cue, there’s another Marvel TV show to continue the canon over the summer. But forget about Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow or Ant-Man, there’s a new hero in town. Ms. Marvel began on Disney + last Wednesday, and is an adaptation of a character that made her first appearance in the […]
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Sundial by Catriona Ward review
Profile Books€16.95 Sundial by Catriona Ward is one of those books that gets under your skin. Beginning in an upper-middle class suburb, Rob’s daughter has just come down with chickenpox before their next-door neighbour’s annual pool party. There is an undercurrent of foreboding that strikes up almost immediately, as Rob’s strained and toxic relationship with […]
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TV Viewpoint: The children of Midwich are mad, bad and very dangerous to know
IDYLLIC villages in the UK always have secrets lying beneath. Take Emmerdale, for example. There’s always some scandal going on there, dodgy dealings or arson or murder or whatnot. The villages of Midsomer are the ultimate examples of course, where homicidal maniacs can often be found lurking beneath the fete bunting. Midwich, though, has to […]
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The Men by Sandra Newman review
Trauma and loss are the true themes of this science fiction Published by Granta Books€14.99 STIRRING up controversy before it hasn’t even been published is probably not such a bad thing for an author. Sandra Newman’s The Men found itself in a Twitter row when the basic premise was revealed – what if all the […]
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The Cavalcaders by Druid Theatre Company review
The Cavalcaders wrestle with love, life and showtunes A VENUE as intimate as the Mick Lally Theatre lends itself well to a play as immersive-feeling as Billy Roche’s The Cavalcaders. Set in the confines of a shoemaker’s shop, which also serves as the dreamscape for the memories of retiring shoemaker Terry (Garrett Lombard), who is […]
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French Braid by Anne Tyler review
A generation-spanning slice of life. Published by Chatto & Windus.€16.99. IT’S A brief exchange between a married couple that explains the title of this, Anne Tyler’s 24th novel. David asks Greta the term for “that braid that starts high up on little girls’ heads.” “They would start with two skeins of hair high up near […]
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TV Viewpoint: Conversations with Friends about life after Beth
THERE is a moment in every successful comedian’s life when they must decide whether they are willing to risk alienating their core audience in order to try something new, something different, something challenging. This certain something is nearly always a serious, gritty endeavour and has often turned out to be a career defining move. We’ve […]
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TV Viewpoint: In the Name of the Father
This article was first published in The Tuam Herald on May 18th, 2022. LET IT never be said that the laugh-track sitcom has gone out of style. Those 23-minutes of pure escapism, where nothing goes wrong bar a few broken hearts or friendship betrayals that are patched up in an episode or two, where the […]
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TV Viewpoint: Colin Firth plays real-life murder accused in new Sky Atlantic mini-series
This article was first published in The Tuam Herald on 11th May, 2022. WILL the appetite for true crime dramatisations never be sated? I’d have thought that by now interest would have waned, but studios are still churning them out in the hope that grizzly minded viewers will tune in. Well, there must be life […]
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TV Viewpoint: Ten Percent lacks the je ne sais quoi of the original
This article was first published in The Tuam Herald on 4th May, 2022. ADAPTATIONS of popular TV shows not in the English language are nothing new. There are countless Scandi-noir mysteries that have had English or American remakes, and one of the biggest hits of the past decade was Homeland, based on an Israeli show. […]