RTÉ is proud of its investigations, but did they really tell us much?
RTÉ INVESTIGATES
RTÉ One, Monday, 9.35pm
PRIME TIME
RTÉ One, Tuesday, 9.35pm
BLUE LIGHTS
BBC One, Monday, 9pm
FAIR CITY
RTÉ One, Tuesday, 8pm
EMMERDALE
Virgin Media One, Tuesday, 7.30pm
The national broadcaster was quite pleased with itself this week, following two major journalistic inquiries – the first on RTÉ Investigates about alleged shortcomings in the abortion system in Ireland since its introduction; and the second on Prime Time about self-harm content being funnelled to young people on TikTok.
Both were heavily promoted on news bulletins and across the daily radio shows. Fair enough. In a cut-throat media world, we all need to big up our content.
Is it unfair, all the same, to wonder whether either programme merited such a rowdy fanfare? RTÉ Investigates’ main finding was that some women are still finding it difficult to access abortions and that some counselling services aren’t as impartial as they might seem at first glance.
Both are legitimate areas of criticism, but the idea that Irish abortion law is too “conservative” is quite a stretch when the number of abortions currently being carried out greatly exceeds that expected at the time the 8th Amendment was repealed.
That counselling services need to be regulated is also probably something on which everyone can agree; but it really didn’t need a seven-month undercover investigation to make that case, did it?
The only example of potentially misleading pregnancy advice was from a single centre in Derry.
It felt as if the documentary was plucking fairly low-hanging fruit – an accusation which could also be levelled against Prime Time’s investigation into TikTok. The addictive nature of social media is a legitimate cause for anger too. Tech companies need to be held accountable for the toxic content they peddle to over-trusting teens and youths.
But in focusing on videos encouraging self harm, Prime Time went for a very easy target.
I did a quick search on TikTok after watching the programme and was also able within seconds to find videos encouraging young people to question their gender and assuring them that, for example, puberty blockers are safe. None of these claims are factchecked or moderated either. They’re just thrown at vulnerable children by the algorithms.
If we want a serious conversation about the dangerous experiments the internet is conducting on young minds, it will need programmes like Prime Time to dig much deeper. And, more importantly, to get much braver.
Second seasons can be tricky. You have to keep fans of the first series happy, while also moving the story and characters on in new ways that keep it fresh for you as the creator.
As the surprise hit of 2023, Blue Lights had a tough act to follow. No one knew what to expect of the Belfast-based cop drama, so there was nothing to lose. Now there are high expectations and they are also forced to start this season – spoiler alert – without everyone’s favourite character, Gerry, who was killed off at the end of the final episode.
Writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson have stuck by the ageold advice “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The one difference is that, whereas before the threat came from republican drug dealers, this time it’s rival loyalist gangs.
The name of the bar where they sometimes hang out, “The Loyal Pub”, was a bit lame, but we’ll forgive them for that.
Threaded throughout is the same underlying theme of how post-Troubles Northern Ireland is struggling with mental health issues worsened by those drugs.
“Is everything just f**ked?” wondered young Catholic police officer Annie as this latest story got under way, and the answer would appear to be: Hell, yes.
Blue Lights doesn’t flinch from that reality, but it does it with humanity and humour, with the cops portrayed as decent people doing their best in the face of personal and manpower challenges.
“Same but different” is the usual formula for any successful drama that aims to be – and here’s hoping this one is – long running.
The verdict on Season Two so far is that “it’s great to have it back, but not as great as it would have been if Gerry was still in it”. Could they not have made it so that the first series was a dream as an excuse to resurrect him, like Dallas did when they realised they made a mistake by bumping off Bobby Ewing too soon?
What’s good about Blue Lights is that, even though there’s a lot going on, the frenetic plot never overwhelms the characters. That’s a lesson that could be learned by soap operas, where consistency of character increasingly seems to be an afterthought.
I haven’t watched Fair City ina while, but I tuned in on Tuesday to discover that yer woman who found out that yer man had plotted to kidnap her ma, and who’d been pledging over Christmas to destroy his life, was now back with yer same man and telling the ma that she was just going to have to accept the relationship.
In a doomed effort to keep up, I went online for more information, only to see this described as the reconciled couple agreeing
“to accept each other’s flaws”.
Not putting the toilet seat down is a flaw. Last time I checked, kidnap was a serious crime.
That was still better than Emmerdale, though. I haven’t watched that in a month of Sundays, and, within seconds of turning on Tuesday’s episode, I remembered why, as some woman began praying to a photograph of Cher in the hope that her necklace would turn out to be worth lots of money so that she could pay for her daughter’s wedding.
Life’s too short. It may be a few more years before I tune in again.