Christmas crackers
Forget the Civil War, Saipan or Fianna Fáil — the real divisive force in Irish society in recent centuries has been the Killinaskully Christmas special. Every year, critics (ahem) and a significant chunk of the viewing public would scoff at Pat Shortt’s creation, but the shows regularly turned out to be the most watched programmes on Dec 25. Yes, the 28 minutes occupied a handy evening slot — the sandwiches were eaten, but we hadn’t yet settled down for the party games — but to attract around 800,000 viewers, there must have been something else going on. Perhaps people even liked it. Over the years, we were treated/subjected to a skit on the Emergency, a version of A Christmas Carol in which Dan was visited by three ghosts and a concert in which the real live Saw Doctors played in the village. By Christmas 2008, the show had dropped to fourth place in the day’s ratings and we haven’t seen it since.
