GOD-GIVEN TALENT

Philip Nolan’s verdict on Fr Ray on Britain’s Got Talent and Emma Murphy’s series on domestic violence

On Monday night, a severe electrical storm in the London area interrupted the live transmission of the first semi-final of Britain’s Got Talent. By Friday night, I wished it had hung around a little longer. There was a time when you looked at the semi-final line-up and were invested in the competitors, because they had genuine talent – or just a really, really good sob story (and nowadays, unless your entire family was on a bus that slid down a ravine into a river filled with crocodiles, we’re just not interested). This week, it was hard to muster the enthusiasm for more than a handful, which rather suggests that 12 series in, Britain really doesn’t have much undiscovered talent left to mine.

There were some absolute horrors that even made the judges wonder aloud what they were on when they put them through – a contortionist opera singer stuffing her mouth with spaghetti while wrapped into an inhuman shape; a postmodern clown who guaranteed his own exit by soaking Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon with a water cannon; and a South Korean man who stripped naked, covered his bits with a napkin, then had it ripped away by a drone, leaving only a dessert spoon between him and having his collar felt for indecent exposure. You had to feel sorry for him, because a tablespoon at least should have been necessary. Poor little chap.

There were hilarious cock-ups too. At the end of the performance by Acrocadabra, a young dance troupe that incorporated magic into the act, a boy was put in a glass cage that was wrapped in fabric. When it was removed, the boy was gone, but clearly visible was a stagehand mouthing the words ‘what the f***?’

Later, a stage invader dashed in front of the judges and pushed the red buzzer, before being tackled to the ground by security guards. He was funnier than any of the comedians who made the semi-finals.

Irish hopes were riding on Fr Ray Kelly. On Friday night, he sang Vince Gill’s Go Rest High On That Mountain, backed by a gospel choir, and he certainly delivered the goods, arms raised and looking more like an evangelical preacher than an elderly parish priest in a sleepy part of Co. Meath. He didn’t make it though, sadly (at the time of writing, there is no word on the wildcard act, so it’s possible he still might be in tonight’s final), but at least he’s free to come home now and hear his share of the 1.4m confessions that apparently are needed to atone for the sin of voting Yes.

Of course, we’ll all tune in anyway, no matter how bad Britain’s

Got Talent actually gets. It has struggled for years to replicate its Susan Boyle moment and, on this week’s evidence, that remains a spectacular one-off, but we live in foolish hope.

Channel 4’s Carry On Brussels continued its fly-on-the-wall look at the European Parliament by concentrating on Hermann Kelly, a Derry-born journalist who briefly worked in this parish and now is a senior adviser to Nigel Farage and other enthusiastic supporters of Brexit. Mr Kelly proved to be the very opposite of The Thick Of It’s Malcolm Tucker, a much more sedate and focused spin doctor who, nevertheless, was capable of taking advantage of terrorist acts for political gain.

It was a fascinating insight into the reasons why many are sceptical of the EU, not least when it was revealed the parliament building has a floor five-anda-half, a perfect metaphor for the sort of fudges Europe often delivers. What no one seemed to enunciate was that the EU nonetheless has operated in the longest continuous period of peace in Europe, and with a new war starting – this time a trade war with the USA – you would think everyone would realise we’re better together.

Better apart are women who suffer violent abuse at the hands of their partners.

Three years ago, Dubliner Emma Murphy posted a video on Face- book bearing the black eye she received from her partner. Within a day, it had two million views, and a stream of comments from women who found themselves in the same horrific situation. RTÉ2’s Emma Murphy Fights

Back followed her as she revisited her own abuse and talked to other survivors, the people who care for them, a lawyer and a psychologist who explained dependence and the means of escape.

There is something compelling about any show in which the presenter has personal experience, and an unusual empathy that makes for riveting television.

Emma proved an absolute natural, and it would be a shame to think this is the only time we see her on camera. She has a very easy interviewing style and seems naturally inquisitive.

With women and the abuse they endure in the spotlight as never before – and one of the TV highlights of the week was Harvey Weinstein in handcuffs – Emma should be placed permanently on the beat to help other women find the courage she herself found.