Return path to success
RTE’S comedy output has made us cringe more than laugh in the past but a rare exception was Paths to Freedom.
Filmed as a mockumentary, the comedy drama from 2000 followed two prisoners released from Mountjoy Prison.
It starred Brendan Coyle as middle-class Jeremy, locked up for drink-driving and Michael Mcelhatton, inset, as Rats, a habitual offender.
This week, Mcelhatton, who co-wrote the series with Ian Fitzgibbon, teased that it could make a comeback. “Never say never”, he said.
It might be just what RTE needs to prove it still makes decent TV and not just indecent fortunes for former executives.
✱AND speaking of the national broadcaster, is anyone really surprised RTE has plunged to the bottom of a “corporate reputations” league table?
A survey revealed the station has suffered the largest reputational decline over the last 15 years and is now in 99th place out of 100.
Its reputation is likely to remain on the floor after the disclosure that invoices for €400,000 of transactions involving key executives who refused to cooperate with an inquiry have gone missing.
No one will be surprised the credit union movement topped the rankings for a second consecutive year.
ISRAEL can rightly be accused of many crimes, including genocide, but scuppering Ireland’s chances of winning Eurovision is not one of them. In an incoherent and expletive-laden rant after the contest, Bambi Thug made allegations against an Israeli TV station and the European Broadcasting Union. But it was the juries and the European public which made their choices, not the Israelis or the EBU. At the end of the day, exhibitionism just really is no substitute for a decent song.