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Irish Independent
14-07-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
‘The Last Irish Missionaries' review: Two-part RTÉ documentary doesn't avoid thornier issues around missionary work
Bryan Dobson and Dearbhail McDonald co-present an exploration of Irish Catholic priests and nuns spreading the world abroad Pat Stacey Today at 17:35 To be honest, I approached two-part documentary The Last Irish Missionaries (RTÉ One, Monday, July 15, and RTÉ Player) with trepidation. For people of my generation, who attended school in the 1960s and 70s, the word 'missionary' is a loaded one. It evokes memories of tin-shaking and guilt-tripping.
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
TV guide: the best new shows to watch this week
Pick of the week The Last Irish Missionaries Monday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm The once-mighty Irish missionary movement is in decline, and in this two-part documentary series, Bryan Dobson and Dearbhail McDonald set out in search of the lesser-spotted Irish Catholic missionary, travelling around Ireland and the world to learn how the movement evolved and how it changed the religious and political landscape around the globe over the past couple of centuries. At its peak in the 1960s, the movement saw 6,000 Irish missionaries scattered to the four corners of the world, exerting huge moral and cultural influence in some of the world's poorest countries, but now there are fewer than 450 active missionaries in the field, most of them nearing retirement age, and the ranks of new missionaries are fast dwindling. Dobson and McDonald look at the origins of the missions, when Irish abbot and evangelist Columba departed from Derry to bring the Gospel to the pagan tribes of Picts in Scotland, and how the movement grew to become a fixture of Irish life, with almost every Irish family having a son 'in the missions'. They examine the positive legacy of the movement, as missionaries worked to help those affected by poverty, disease and oppression, and also the dark side, with stories of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people in remote places. Dobson and McDonald meet many former and current missionaries to get insights on the legacy of the movement, and to glean some clues as to what the future may hold for the Irish missions in an age when vocations are falling away. Highlights Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert: 2025 Sunday, BBC Four, 8pm It's a summer night's dream for music lovers as the Vienna Philharmonic performs its annual summer gig in the city's Schönbrunn Palace Gardens, and this year the orchestra will be under the baton of star conductor Tugan Sokhiev. The audience in the Austrian capital will be taken on a musical tour of Europe, with excerpts from operas and operettas across the continent, plus special guest appearances by world-renowned Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, who will perform arias from Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's Turandot, and the Vienna Boys' Choir, making its debut at the Summer Concert. The Couple Next Door Monday, Channel 4, 9pm The Couple Next Door: Annabel Scholey and Sam Palladio How do you follow up a dark psychological thriller in which new neighbours are caught up in a web of lust, lies and maybe even murder? Simple: just turn it into an anthology series, introducing a new foursome and a new storyline into the same street. This second series stars Sam Palladio, Annabel Scholey, Aggy K Adams and Sendhil Ramamurthy in a brand new love rectangle, with one returning cast member – Hugh Dennis as creepy neighbour Alan. Heart surgeon Charlotte (Scholey) and consultant anaesthetist Jacob (Palladio) are having a busy married life, but when their new colleague at the hospital, the mysterious Mia (Adams), moves in next door, their relationship is put to the ultimate test. Soon Mia has insinuated herself into their lives – and into their bed, but when patients at the hospital start dying, things take a darker, deadlier turn. The Veil Monday, RTÉ2, 10.30pm The Veil: Elisabeth Moss. Photograph: FX Elisabeth Moss stars in a globe-trotting spy series written by Steven Knight , the creator of Peaky Blinders, and if you can get past Moss's dodgy Brit accent, you might just enjoy this romp, which has been called a love child of Homeland and Killing Eve. Moss is MI6 operative Imogen Salter, whose special skills include adopting different identities and extricating targets from tricky situations. Her assignment is to get suspected Isis agent Aldilah El Idrissi (Yumna Marwan) out of a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey and get information out of her that could prevent a huge terrorist attack, but who's on whose side? The two women soon become locked in a cat-and-mouse game where the only winners may be the dogs of war. READ MORE Mix Tape Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm Mix Tape: Teresa Palmer and Jim Sturgess Adapted from the novel by Jane Sanderson, and filmed in Sydney and Dublin, Mix Tape is a romantic drama that time-jumps between the 1980s and the present day. Teresa Palmer stars as Alison, with Jim Sturgess as Daniel, former girlfriend and boyfriend who are now living different lives on opposite sides of the world. But there's always those classic 1980s tunes to remind them of their past romance – and one tune in particular reopens the connection between them. Is it Hungry Like the Wolf? Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? She Drives Me Crazy? You'll just have to watch it to find out. Safe to say this effervescent four-parter will be soundtracked by lots of bangers from the era, as the action flashes back to the blossoming romance between the teenage Alison and Daniel, played by Florence Hunt and Rory Walton-Smith. Noraid: Irish America & the IRA Wednesday, RTÉ One, 9.35pm This two-part documentary series tells the story of the Irish-Americans who raised funds for the republican movement during the Troubles, and in the second episode, we learn about those who went beyond fundraising to play an active part in furthering the IRA's cause, including a member of the notorious Whitey Bulger gang in south Boston. The episode also looks at how New York district attorney and Noraid spokesman Martin Galvin put pressure on US president Bill Clinton to grant a US visa to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. Home – The Story of Zak Moradi Wednesday, RTÉ One, 10.35pm Home – The Story of Zak Moradi It's been the strangest path to GAA glory for Iraqi-born Zak Moradi. He was born in a Kurdish refugee camp in Ramadi, Iraq, in 1991, on the same day the Gulf War began, and in 2002 he and his family fled the country to settle in Ireland. Growing up in Carrick-on-Shannon, Moradi found his tribe among the Leitrim hurling community, becoming a senior hurler for the county. Now retired from GAA, Moradi takes an emotional journey into his past, recalling the challenges his family faced as they set out in search of a better life in Ireland. This documentary film is directed by Trevor Whelan, and had its premiere at the 2024 Galway Film Fleadh. 'It was an honour being trusted to lead this documentary and tell Zak's story of resilience and hope,' says Whelan. Listen to the Land Speak Thursday, RTÉ One, 10.10pm Listen to the Land Speak: Manchán Magan. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Lend an ear to the landscape around you and you may hear some profound truths. That's what Manchán Magan believes, and in this two-part series, he shows how Ireland's rivers, mountains, lakes and valleys harbour deep knowledge and wisdom – we just have to learn how to attune ourselves to it. Magan's journey of rediscovery will take him through four seasons, from the winter solstice through Bealtaine, Reek Sunday and Samhain, and will see him travel through some of Ireland's most stunning scenery, beginning with his home in the ancient site of Loughcrew, Co Meath, where he recalls how he first became enamoured of ancient folklore and legend. For Magan this is a deeply personal odyssey as he deals with his own cancer diagnosis, and seeks spiritual healing by reconnecting with nature. Streaming The Summer I Turned Pretty From Wednesday, July 16th, Prime Video Get the sunblock, swimsuit and tissues ready for one last visit to Cousins Beach. Lola Tung returns as Isabel 'Belly' Conklin, a teenager who just can't seem to make up her mind. She's locked in a puppy-love triangle with brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, but now it looks as if she's decided that Conrad is her past and Jeremiah her future. As the third and final series of the romantic teen drama begins, Belly has finished her junior year in college and is looking forward to an idyllic summer with Jeremiah. The stakes are raised when he proposes marriage, sending their moms into a bit of a tailspin. And when Conrad unexpectedly comes back on the scene, all bets are off. Untamed From Thursday, July 17th, Netflix Kyle Turner is a special agent for the National Park Service, and his beat is the vast and untamed wilderness of Yosemite National Park, in California, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the US. The thousands of visitors who come here every week see only 'maybe 10 per cent of the park', Turner tells rookie park ranger Naya Vasquez, adding ominously: 'Things happen different out here.' When someone is murdered in the park, Turner and Vasquez – who knows about policing in the city – must pool their disparate talents to track down a killer whose knowledge of this wilderness seems almost as good as Turner's. Eric Bana is the gimlet-eyed Turner, with Lily Santiago as Vasquez and Sam Neill as chief park ranger Paul Souter.
RTÉ News
13-07-2025
- RTÉ News
Meet The Last Irish Missionaries - making the new RTÉ documentary
Author and broadcaster, Dearbhail McDonald, introduces the documentary series, The Last Irish Missionaries, that she co-hosts with Bryan Dobson and which charts the unique evolution of the Irish missionary movement. MY earliest memory of Ireland's missionaries is the annual Trócaire Lenten campaign, a rite of passage where every mantlepiece was adorned with those cardboard cartons inviting us to think about those less fortunate than ourselves. I think, too, of the beautiful grounds and lake at Dromantine, outside of my home town of Newry. With a history dating back to the Middle Ages, the estate was bought in 1926 by the Cork based Society of African Missions (SMA). Such was the surge in men and women from Ireland joining the missions after independence – when the country was experiencing a fusion of nationalism and Catholicism that seems alien to us now - the SMA bought the large, storied property to prepare their students for missionary work in Africa. Some 600 men trained there between 1926 and 1972, yet only a small handful of returned missionaries live in retirement now at Dromantine, a retreat house and conference centre that is also home to a stunning collection of African art and carvings. From early medieval times, Ireland's missionaries – our fabled "saints and scholars" – took their faith, heritage and our history to every corner of the world. And their evolution spans not just a large arc of time, but also spans a huge arc of influence in terms of the evolution of their roles, from religious colonialists to heroic acts of self-sacrifice and philanthropy; as educators and healthcare providers; from a flourishing of Irish "soft power" to, inevitably, tawdry scandals of abuse and cover-up that have plagued the institutional church at home and overseas. Today, the Irish missionary chapter is drawing to a close, resulting in my co-host Bryan Dobson and I setting out on a remarkable journey across the world to explore why so many Irish priests, nuns, lay people and others felt called to spread the Gospel to the farthest reaches of the world. The stories we heard and the people we encountered, in Ireland, Africa and Asia – in truth, we could have travelled to every continent - are as diverse as they are extraordinary. I think of my encounter in the slums of Nairobi with Sr Mary Killeen, an Irish nun who has transformed Kenya's Mukuru slums after nearly 50 years of building state-of-the-art schools that have educated 170,000 children, as well as building training and healthcare facilities in a city where over 60pc of the population live in these distressing informal settlements. Walking through the slums with Sr Mary, known as the "Mother of Mukuru" is an almost impossible task as she is mobbed by residents who continually thank her. Fearless and ferociously witty, the now 80 year old retains a relentlessness in improving the conditions for millions of slum dwellers and has no qualms about taking on patriarchies or hierarchies – civil or clerical. Sr Mary has no intention of retiring, but her age does beg the question: who, if anyone, will pick up the baton, when, eventually, she decides her race is run? Today, there are only about 450 Irish missionaries still scattered around the world: by the end of this decade, that number is likely to fall below 200. The global reach of Ireland's missionaries is poignantly reflected in St Austin's Cemetery, also in Nairobi, the final resting place for many Irish missionaries, including lay missionary Edel Quinn, who many, today, wish to see canonised. St Austin's had once hosted the remains of Bishop Joseph Shanahan, widely regarded as the founder of the modern Irish missionary movement, credited with a mass evangelisation campaign in Nigeria – now home to the world's largest Catholic seminary. Bishop Shanahan died in 1943 was buried at St Austin's. But his remains were exhumed in 1995 and reinterred at Onitsha cathedral in the heart of the land of the lgbos, Southern Nigeria. Bishop Shanahan also founded the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary (MSHR), an Irish female order who recently celebrated a century of sending religious sisters to Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, England, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, USA, and Zambia. At their convent-cum-retirement home in Dublin, I met a remarkable group of MSHR sisters, most in their 90s, who had endured war, famine, post-traumatic stress and countless other hardships. They included Sr Grainne Fitzpatrick, a fellow County Down native, now 92, who I first saw in the haunting Radharc documentary, Night Flight to Uli. Filmed in Biafra at the height of the Nigerian civil war, the film sparked not just an awareness of the war, but also fomented, in the Irish population, an enduring flame of consciousness and conscience about the developing world. This, in turn, has led to Ireland's reputation, globally, as a world leader in overseas aid and development, as the missionaries, over time, handed over the baton to international aid organisations and NGO's, including Concern and Trócaire. What was striking about Sr Grainne, and her colleagues all over the world, is the strength of their conviction and a willingness, if allowed, to do it all over again. The Irish Missionary movement is not without its complexities. Was this our form of colonialism? Undoubtedly, in the early evangelist waves, it was. Did the Mission fields we furrowed become dumping grounds for some known and suspected abusers? Were children and others, including religious sisters, abused overseas? The answer, sadly, is yes. But Ireland's missionaries are not 'the other'. Their history is our history. Today, there are only about 450 Irish missionaries still scattered around the world: by the end of this decade, that number is likely to fall below 200. Will we miss them when they are gone? And is their story really over? Long starved of vocations in Ireland, our elder missionaries are now recruiting new vocations overseas to carry on their work there, but also to re-evangelise the Irish at home. As one missionary chapter closes, another may just be beginning.
Extra.ie
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Former RTÉ legend makes surprise return to national broadcaster
Retired RTÉ Newscaster Bryan Dobson will make a return to our television screens this summer with a new documentary he co-presents with Dearbhail McDonald. The former News at One host who is 65, retired from the State Broadcaster in January 2024 after 37 years hosting both radio and television news programmes. This new documentary 'The Irish Missionaries' is among a slew of new home produced programmes set to hit our screens this summer and will see Dobson and co-presenter Dearbhail McDonald examine the evolution of the 'Irish Missionary Movement', from the cover ups of countless reports of abuse to heroic acts of self-sacrifice and philanthropy. Bryan Dobson and Dearbhail McDonald feature in The Last Irish Missionaries documentary. Pic: RTÉ The Documentary also sees Dearbhail and Bryan exploring why so many people feel called to the religious life and felt compelled to spread the Gospel in some of the most remote parts of the globe. Another programme set to air this summer is 'The Phone Box Babies', which tells the stories of three newborns who were all abandoned in the 1960s in different parts of Ireland. The programme brings together these three strangers with very similar beginnings as babies, across different parts of the country. Random passersby had discovered the infants in phone boxes, and in a car, without any identifying information or clues as to where they belonged. Helen Ward, John Dowling and David McBride who feature in The Phone Box Babies. Pic: RTÉ This new documentary uncovers details about the babies' `birth parents, where they were born, and why they were given up, and sees them come together as adults 50 years later, to embark on an emotional rollercoaster journey to uncover their true identities. Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson will also present her own programme entitled 'Mrs Robinson' in which she will look back over her career to date with particular emphasis on her struggles to right the wrongs on the battles for justice and equality over the last 50 years. All in all, a number of interesting home grown programmes to watch out for this summer season.
