Tag Archives: staying in tonight?

From top: Sheridan Smith and her newborn in Becoming Mum; ITV’s This Morning earlier

Course you are?

Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum.

An ITV Documentary Special.

Breeda Murphy writes:

This incredible documentary airs tonight at 9pm on ITV. It tackles many issues relevant at this particular moment during the pandemic as it follows actress Sheridan Smith in the latter months of her first pregnancy.

Sheridan has spoken of challenges before related to her mental health and in this documentary she explains the pressures that caused her to doubt herself and her ability to cope on occasions during her life.

Anxiety associated with first time birthing and motherhood looming closer, Sheridan allows us to invade on that private space to share her vulnerability but also her coping mechanisms which are due in no small way to finding love, learning to trust, talking – sharing and awakening to enjoy her first time new mummy role.

On social media, I’ve read countless stories of first time mums here in Ireland attending alone at hospital while partner or main supporter waits, filled with anxiety too, in a separate area.

It’s such a milestone, a life changing moment becoming a family and brings with it a range of emotions more pronounced during Covid19 . Medicines for any illness need careful monitoring during pregnancy and Sheridan like many mums-to-be worry about side effects, etc.

Earlier today with Holly and Phil on This Morning (above) Sheridan explained the rollercoaster ride and her speaking out so that other women would feel equally empowered or breathe a sigh of relief to know they are not alone.

A doctor explained that many women suffer silently as there is a stigma attached to admitting weakness, asking for help causing those suffering to retreat and remain silent.

Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum on ITV at 9pm.

Pic: ITV

Course you are.

Acclaimed documentary ‘Land Without God‘ receives its Irish TV premiere on RTÉ One.

Co-directed by abuse survivor and Dublin City Councillor Gerard Mannix Flynn (whose story the film tells), Maedhbh McMahon, and Lotta Petronella, – Land Without God examines the legacy of Institutional abuse by the Irish Church and State over the last century.

Land Without God on RTÉ One on at 10.10pm.

Land Without God – examining the legacy of Institutional abuse (Mannix Flynn, RTÉ)

Tonight.

On RTÉ 1.

At 11.20pm.

Syria: The Impossible Revolution.

A documentary by Anne Daly and Ronan Tynan, of Esperanza Productions, who say:

Three years in the making this feature length documentary offers unique insights into the roots of the Syrian Revolution and how what began as a peaceful uprising turned into a very brutal conflict as the Assad regime cracked down.

Syria – The Impossible Revolution seeks to unravel the roots and ‘complexities’ of the bloodiest conflict in the Middle East as well as the politics of the Western response.

It also examines why some elements on the Left are on the same page as the extreme Right defending the Assad regime against “US imperialism” apparently oblivious to the role of Iran and especially Russia and her indiscriminate bombing of civilians as well as targeting hospitals which many charge are warcrimes?

The film traces the roots of the Syrian revolution through the regime of Assad’s father up to the fall of Aleppo.

Using extensive archive and interviews with a wide range of people directly involved as well as experts on the region, the documentary seeks to offer some understanding about a conflict that has plumbed new depths in terms of the toll it has extracted on civilians.

Some suggest more than 500,000 are already dead, half the population have fled their homes and five millions are now refugees in Europe and neighbouring countries with little prospect of returning any time soon.

The film also examines the rise of the jihadis including Islamic State and Al Qaeda with evidence partly nurtured by Assad as he continues to present himself as “fighting the war on terror”.

Syria: The Impossible Revolution (Vimeo)

Thanks Anne

‘Leaving Again’

A new documentary with YouTube star Stephen Byrne re-sitting his Leaving Cert airing tonight on RTÉ One.

Melanie O’Connor writes:

Nine years after broadcaster Stephen Byrne sat his Leaving Cert, he decided to do the unthinkable and sit the exam all over again!

In this personal and honest one-hour documentary, 27-year-old Byrne returns to school to attempt the same seven subjects he studied the first time around.

He describes his 2009 Leaving Cert year as one of the worst year’ of his life. He had moved school, was coming to terms with his sexuality…

…Mix that with a normal helping of teenage angst and you’ve got a recipe for Leaving Cert disaster…

‘Leaving Again’ on RTÉ One at 10.15pm.

Grace Scott (top) in an original ‘crying chair’

Staying in Tonight?

At 9.35pm on RTÉ One.

Our Lives in Property: Oxmantown Road.

A documentary about the property market as experienced by residents of Oxmantown Road in Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.

Gareth Naughton, of RTE, writes:

This is a street where five years ago you could buy a house for €140,000 but where prices now regularly top out at or around €400,000. At the height of the boom in 2006, asking prices rose as high as €423,000

The first house offered for sale on Oxmantown Road sold in 1961 for £800 – about twice the average industrial wage. To buy a home on the street now requires almost ten times the average industrial wage.

For renters, the situation is just as bad with average rents rising from €950 monthly in 2010 to around €1,700 a month this year.

The documentary hears from people from all walks of life including Grace Scott (92) who has been living on Oxmantown Road as a renter for 88 years.

Above  she talks about missing out on a bargain as her mother, and subsequently herself, chose not to buy their home even as they saw prices rise.

Related: I called it a ‘fixer-upper’ when I knew it was a ‘falling-downer’ (Conor Pope, The Irish Times)

Tonight.

On RTÉ One at 9.35pm.

Brendan O’Connor’s Time Out.

Gareth Naughton, of RTE, writes:

Chic’s Nile Rodgers tells Brendan O’Connor’s Time Out on RTÉ One tonight about his heart break over his mother Beverly’s advancing Alzheimer’s Disease.

“It is really breaking my heart,” he tells Brendan O’Connor, “Last night, her doctor sent me her latest brain scan and you could see her brain actually dying. You could see areas that are well lit and quite alive and other areas that are basically just dead. Fibrosis has set in in such large areas. It is really painful but I must say that I have seen my Mom more in the last three years than I have since I was 14 years old.”

Previously: Staying In Tonight?

On First Dates Ireland…

Gareth Naughton, of RTE, writes:

Tonight on RTÉ2 First Dates Ireland welcomes a well-known dater as former Head 2 Toe presenter Pat O’Mahony enters the restaurant in search of love.

Pat is matched with Gemma, who will be familiar to First Dates Ireland fans from series one when she came to the restaurant only to find she had been matched with a man she had already been on a date with….

First Dates Ireland on RTE Two at 9.30pm.

Tonight.

On RTE Two’s First Dates Ireland…

Gareth Naughton, of RTE, writes:

Dun Laoghaire woman Angie (68) dates retired trucker Denis (75) from Drimnagh and shares her life-story of growing up in an industrial school while her mother was in the Magdalene Laundries.

First Dates Ireland is on RTE Two at 9.30pm