Podcast Corner: The five best Irish podcasts of 2020
The Nobody Zone and Where Is George Gibney feature among the best of the year.
With trad band Lankum stuck in Dublin rather than touring the world, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ian Lynch doubled down on his show that seeks to trace the line between old and new songs, old folk tales' parallels with the likes of Metallica's 'One' providing a surprising soundtrack. A three-part series on the history of 'The Wild Rover', going back centuries, has been fascinating.
This is interesting in itself for being a joint production between Second Captains and BBC Sounds. Creator Mark Horgan remembered the story of swimming coach Gibney from a special episode on Second Captains a couple years ago and wondered how what happened to him. A cross-continent investigation ensues but it is the personal tales of Gibney's victims, told from kitchen tables, that grips, with people reclaiming their lives and stories. A garda probe has gained momentum in the interim. A powerful 10-part series.
Another joint production investigative series, this time from RTÉ's Documentaries on One and Third Ear in Denmark, this looked at the story of Kieran Patrick Kelly, who seemingly decided to come clean in 1983 and confess to police about a series of murders he says he committed on the streets of London. The tapes of the police interviews with Kelly have the listener leaning in, straining to glean the truth from what the Irishman claims. Narrated by Tim Hinman, the soundscape evokes the eerie, dark undercurrents of the story. Like Where is George Gibney, this investigative series returned with its final two episodes after a break for fresh evidence to come to light.
In a year where we longed for connections, there was something so warming about checking in with Eddie Lenihan every month or so. A reassuring voice, every breath and whisper intentional, the Clare-based storyteller regales us with the fairies and the tale of Biddy Early, the spiritual power of trees, and, last week, Christmas customs and traditions in Ireland. One to recall when the conversations ebbs over Christmas dinner.
A social history podcast dedicated to the story of Dublin city, this weekly series will make you open your eyes walking down any given street of the capital. No matter what you're into, Donal Fallon offers something for everyone, from the literary history of the beloved pub Grogan's to a fair assessment of the RUC commemoration plans (remember that?) to 1977, when punk came to Dublin. A great one to impress your friends.
