This week there’s one show on the way out, two on the way in and one getting well established.
Last week there was no more of the long-running show Press Preview, (Sky News) a disappointing development I thought. It was essential nightly viewing for avid news heads, as two prominent UK journalists pored over the next day’s headlines. Usually, one was liberal leaning and one conservative, but they usually got on well with each other, modelling a pathway away from polarisation. But things weren’t as bad as I thought – regular presenters Anna Botting, and Gillian Joseph, are taking turns heading up a new nightly show, The Wrap, to replace the 10pm News and the Press Preview.
Essentially, it’s the same show, with the review of the next morning’s papers kicking in around the previous time of 10.30pm. I’m not enamoured of the changes – presenters and guest reviewers seem squashed at a desk – I miss the roomy glass box studio, though strangely they were back in their box at the weekend. Newspaper graphics and roving reporters appear in a vertical digital screen plonked in the middle of the studio – like those digital advertising screens in the street. The camera operator is having a busy time panning from the human panel to the display. More concerning is the further blurring of the lines between commentary and news reporting. Now it’s all mixed together from 10 pm.
These Sacred Vows (RTÉ One, Sunday) is a new drama series that started last weekend, featuring a priest, Fr Vincent (Tom Vaughan-Lalor) invited to Tenerife to officiate at the wedding of a friend’s daughter. There is a cultural clash between the hedonistic lifestyles of the guests and the awkwardness of the priest. It is no spoiler to reveal that, at the start, the priest ends up floating face down in a swimming pool – this nod to Sunset Boulevard is evident from the trailers.
Most of the characters are awful, the language is foul, and clichés abound. But there are some redeeming features – the acting is mostly good, and there are some interesting discussions – some of them of a religious nature. Fr Vincent prays with a character bothered by a personal crisis (which may mirror one of his own), though I’m not convinced about the wisdom of his advice. He shows some empathy towards a troubled teen who wonders about goodness, he challenges some guests about spiritual matters, though they challenge him too, including about clerical child abuse. A man describes praying (he wasn’t sure to whom) after one of his friends has an abortion. The priest has doubts about why he’s there when the wedding family is not religious – there’s a suggestion they are having a Catholic wedding to be able to get their children into the best schools. A local priest complains about people hiring the church as if it were a nightclub, but he’s not above shaking them down for a hefty fee, supposedly to solve the building’s termite problem. Needless to say, there are dark secrets to be revealed, one of which throws a grenade into the proceedings at the end of this first episode.
Not unrelated, a significant internal report by the BBC last week was critical of BBC drama awkwardly ‘shoehorning’ diversity into their productions, especially period drama, where in particular ethnic and racial diversity just didn’t feel authentic. These were described in the report as diversity box ticking (often described curiously as ‘tick boxing’) which comes across as ‘overly didactic and preachy’. I couldn’t agree more. And It’s not just the BBC that’s affected, though period drama is their forte. I remember an Irish crime drama a few years ago that hit the diversity jackpot – with a garda who was female, Chinese and lesbian … slam dunk!
Last week I wrote quite a bit about the new podcast Education Nation (Spotify etc) and didn’t expect to return to it so soon, but I’d recommend a listen to the latest episode, when Nicholas Cuddihy interviews Jonathan Tiernan, Director of Jesuit Education. His own story is fascinating – from Boyle to Boston via New Mexico, Notre Dame and beyond. He has mainly worked in Catholic Education and continues to be committed to it, making a useful distinction between schools that are culturally Catholic and those that are intentionally Catholic. He has promoted many initiatives to promote the latter.
Check it out.
Pickoftheweek
Songs of Praise
BBC One, Sunday, February 8, 11.30 am
Claire McCollum visits Lisburn in her native Northern Ireland to meet Christians creating welcoming communities and to introduce uplifting hymns. The programme features music led by Lisburn-born Keith Getty and his wife Kristyn.
The Hills Are Alive – A Year at Kylemore Abbey
RTÉ 2, Tuesday (night), February 10, 1.30 am
A year inside Kylemore Abbey, an iconic heritage site in Ireland run by Benedictine nuns. Worthy repeat. Ep 1
Papal Audience with Pope Leo XIV
EWTN, Wednesday, February 11, 9 am and 10 pm
From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV delivers his weekly address to the faithful.
