Brendan O’ReganThe ongoing terror crisis in Europe continues to captivate the media, writes Brendan O’Regan
Last Saturday was ‘We Love TV Day’, did it pass you by? I didn’t do much to love my TV more than any other day and at best it’s a love-hate relationship.
I do like a good TV drama, and was impressed by the first episode I’ve ever seen of DCI Banks, last Thursday night on RTÉ One. Stephen Tompkinson (of Ballykissangel fame) played a thoughtful police inspector trying to solve the murder of an investigative journalist. I liked the humorous banter and the tetchy relationship between the detective and his female colleagues, one of whom he’s dating and one of whom seems jealous.
The plot, involving the journalist and an old rock band was credible enough for the genre and it worked all the better for being split into a two-parter. I’ll be adding it to my must-see list for now.
I praised the drama series River a few weeks ago – it came to a tense and satisfying end on BBC One Tuesday of last week. Stellan Skarsgard grew on me as detective John River, the cop who chats with ‘ghosts’ (or does he?), but the smaller parts were well done also, always the sign of a good drama.
Georgina Rich was excellent as the concerned police psychologist – her character could carry a series on its own. Lesley Manville was both tough and vulnerable as River’s boss, another in a long line of strong female police chiefs dating back at least as far as Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect. Adeel Akhtar’s character was a perfect foil to River, a patient assistant who had to tolerate River’s conversations with his ghosts.
There were lots of moral dilemmas, but I was surprised to hear River forcefully pointing out the damage caused by adultery to one of the characters, and it wasn’t in any preachy or sanctimonious way.
Back in the real world the atrocities in Paris and Mali continued to dominate news, current affairs and religious programming. On Sunday Sequence (BBC Radio Ulster) there was a thorough and thoughtful discussion on what the Christian response might be. Theologian Elaine Storkey was critical of the arms trade and of those supporting ISIS.
She described a “sinful progress towards unpeacefulness” in recent world developments, but stressed that sin doesn’t have the last word. Presbyterian Minister John Dunlop regarded terrorists using God’s name to justify their actions as ‘blasphemy’, suggesting that God too was suffering in this, the suffering Christian Church in the Middle East being the Body of Christ.
Former Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick Trevor Williams said that the simple Christian message of love could transform the world and our response to atrocities. Presenter Roisin McAuley said at one stage that she wanted to deal with a Christian response rather than straying into the politics, but I wondered – do they have to be mutually exclusive?
Later on Marian Finucane I was impressed by Prof. Ian Robertson from Trinity College as he sought to analyse the psychology of the terrorists – they were mostly young males and part of the problem was that the young male brain wasn’t fully ‘wired up’ until the mid-20’s.
He described ISIS as a ‘death cult’ and outlined how they thrived on sniffing out vulnerabilities in people and manipulating them to their own devastating advantage. There was also much desensitising as new followers were inducted into greater and greater degrees of violence.
Sunday also saw the last episode for this season of Sunday Morning Live (BBC One), and predictably this also featured a well-rounded discussion of the same topic, specifically asking whether Britain should join in the air strikes in Syria.
Bishop Stephen Cottrell of the Church of England believed in the just war theory and would support the strikes, but only if it was part of a bigger plan to solve the problem, while Owen Jones of The Guardian was not in favour, as such bombing campaigns hadn’t worked in the past. Ian Dale, a writer and researcher, was particularly scathing when inter-faith campaigner, Anjum Anwar suggested that negotiation was a possibility – he declared rather testily that you can’t negotiate with a death cult, but perhaps what she had in mind was negotiation to solve the political instability in Syria, though being browbeaten she didn’t get to develop the point.
Now there’s something that happens a lot, and it doesn’t help me to love TV!
PICK OF THE WEEK
Would You Believe: The Walk of Life
RTĖ One, Tuesday, December 1, 10.15pm
A group of cancer survivors walk the Camino to Santiago de Compostela to try to heal the emotional scars that cancer has inflicted on them.
What In The World
RTĖ One, Tuesday, December 1, 11.15pm
Yo Cambio – an initiative to reform the often brutal prison system in El Salavador.
Gloria
RTÉ Lyric FM, Sunday, November 29, 8am
Gloria celebrates the first Sunday of Advent with chanted O Antiphons from Chamber Choir Ireland and Advent carols from Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.