Sisters (RTÉ One, Thursday) is unfortunate because it's hot on the heels of The Dry: women in their thirties plus booze. I mean a lot of alcohol. Almost everyone in Sisters is either an alcoholic or in basic training to become one. I mean drink during the day (never have so many women on television drunk so much whiskey) and drink at any opportunity. Also, stealing alcohol. But unlike The Dry, Sisters isn't really about booze and alcoholism. It is about the sisters Sare and Suze, who meet as adults in Dublin.
The protagonist of the first episode was, without a doubt, Sheryl (Sophie Thompson), Suze's Dublin mother. Sheryl isn't exactly the glittering hospitality hub that Irish mamas on TV tend to be. Sheryl says that she hasn't slept since Princess Diana died. She says that Suze once had a partner: "Isn't that what you call them when they don't marry you?"
Stars: Susan Stanley, Sarah Goldberg, Sophie Thompson
Sophie Thompson is actually a terrific actress, as anyone who has seen her in Detectorists knows. Here she was a British person playing a Dublin person and her accent was pretty flawless, except for the word 'safe'. It's hard to understand her intonation and she drops the word entirely in later episodes.
Half the cast of Fair City is here, by the way: never a good sign. And interestingly, as the series progresses, there's a strong biological thread running through it: blood, vomit, and violence.
Despite the sure hand of director Declan Lowney, there are a few stretches of credibility: not one, but two clockwork women to stumble upon in rural Ireland? A musician with sexual scruples? However, and beyond the picky, Sisters remains ruthless until the end, something that even The Dry did not achieve.
Imagine the scene: you are the heroic leader of a besieged country. Seven million of your citizens have fled as refugees. One of the most powerful leaders in the world wants you dead. Your people are being raped and killed. Their children are being kidnapped and taken to Russia.
This was the question that hung over Bear Grylls Meets President Zelensky. I mean why? Bear Grylls, who seems like a nice enough guy, is often seen making celebrities eat raw rat and chatting happily about his experiences in the British Army. Would he really be ready to interview a leader of a current war?
The answer to the last question is emphatically no. You could see what the producers were trying to do: make Bear an everyman figure. “Just be your ordinary self,” they could be heard saying. The result was not great.
Of course, President Zelensky was charming, and it was sweet to hear him talk about his nine-year-old daughter. What could Bear do? He bought a cup of coffee for the president. He gave a little Ukrainian scout an international scout badge. The boy did not seem impressed. Who could blame him?
Even a country that hasn't been overrun by maniacs (recently) needs its comfort television and DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland (RTÉ One, Sundays) is ours. It is about banishing the sadness of Sunday. (Sunday blues: a sense of impending dread during which the victim feels the jaws of the coming week snap at their ankles.) The BBC has Antiques Roadshow for their Sunday nights, but that's a far more decorous affair. . DIY SOS is a format borrowed from its British big brother: volunteer builders come to a house, tear it down and then rebuild it for the owners. Irish growers, to be fair, have managed to make it their own.
DIY SOS is feel-good television. In the end, the volunteer builders, the residents of the renovated house, and usually Baz cry.
Last Sunday's episode was particularly strong. The story of Adam Drummond, a basketball player who was paralyzed in a fall, and his parents, Brian and Mar, was shocking. It was so powerful that Baz didn't cry. Instead, he conducted unsentimental interviews with Adam, Brian and Mar. How many empathetic male interviewers can a broadcaster hold? RTÉ is rich in them.
DIY SOS is tricky territory for a presenter. You can't be harsh, you can't be condescending, and you can't be maudlin. Baz mixed cocktails and talked to the builders. "Your mother must be very proud," he told Dan, the foreman on the job. “My mother told me to watch my language,” Dan replied. Brandon Duarte, the manager of the place, was a good friend of Brian Drummond's. It was a community project.
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