30 things for March: TV & streaming picks, new books, upcoming gigs
March attractions: Tori Amos, Margaret Atwood, Bridgerton.
Joe Exotic may not be getting out of prison any time soon, but this new drama may provide an outlet for fans of the Tiger King. His nemesis Carole Baskin is just as prominent in a series based around their rivalry.
Patrick Stewart, 81, and co return for ten more episodes, with his character Picard having to travel back in time to the 21st century in a desperate attempt to save Earth. Hopefully, he succeeds.
New four-part run of the series uses a combination of pundits and archive footage to reflect on life in Ireland in the 20th century. First up is a look at courtship and sexuality, from the Catholic Church-dominated decades right up to the introduction of divorce and decriminalisation of homosexuality.
The world's longest-running soap opera begins a new chapter with a move to three hour-long episodes at 8pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Abi Webster features prominently in the upcoming episodes, with Kevin finding out about her one-night stand, and the fall-out seeing her back on the drugs and badly injured in a terrible car accident.
Despite the waning pandemic, it looks as if non-cinema releases are here to stay, with Pixar's major animation premiering on the Disney streaming service. It follows 13-year-old Mei Lee, a teenager who turns into a giant red panda.
A new season of of the London crime drama has the Summerhouse crew raking in piles of cash, but as ever, facing various issues to stay on track. Returning cast include Ashley Walters, Little Simz and Irish actress Lisa Dwan.
Another film being released via a streaming network. Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas star in an erotic thriller about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks and allow each other see other people. But then some of those lovers are found dead.
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A second season of the innovative period drama arrives without fan favourite Regé-Jean Page, but the fun and games continue without him. Much of the focus this time around is on Lord Anthony Bridgerton as his search for a wife shows promise with a new arrival from India.
Over eight weeks, we'll follow the American pop star as 10 women move into the 'Big Grrrls House' in the hope of being chosen for the dance crew on her world tour.
The West Cork-made adaptation of Graham Norton's novel is a darkly-funny murder mystery with a stellar cast that includes  Siobhán McSweeney, Brenda Fricker, and Conleth Hill.
- Des O'Driscoll
From author Margaret Atwood comes a brilliant collection of funny, erudite, endlessly curious, uncannily prescient essays.
Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk’s memoir is an honest account of the highs and lows of showbiz and what it was like to reinvent himself as an action film star at 50.
In this heartbreaking novel, sisters Emma and Audrey try to survive the horrors of the Belfast Blitz, four nights of bombings, during World War II.
Fans of country legend Dolly Parton will love her foray into fiction with this story of a star on the run, which is complemented by an album of 12 original songs made for the novel.
Wilde has uncovered a major break in a case that may hold the key to revealing his origins. But it links him with a present-day disappearance and a presumed suicide.
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An actor lands the leading role in a hugely successful but controversial play based on the true story of a mysterious death.
An ecologist’s nature memoir brings you on a journey around Ireland’s coastline by boat, by foot and sometimes by air to visit the best remaining wild places.
Amy Dunne, who was known as Miss D during a High Court case in 2007 in which she fought for her right to travel for an abortion, reflects in this memoir on the culture of shame she lived through.
Full of heartbreak and hilarity, French Braid is a perceptive journey into one family’s foibles, from the 1950s right up to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dora Conlon wakes one morning to discover her 17-year old daughter Ellie has not come home after a party and she takes it upon herself to find her daughter - even if it means taking justice into her own hands.
- Denise O'DonoghueÂ
 Endlessly subverting popular culture, gender and musical expectations with a refined but deeply experimental cocktail of rock, psychedelia and modern electronica, Yves Tumor is going to go down in history as a game-changing figure for music, both independently and in the mainstream, by the time all is said and done. If you can get a ticket, bear witness.
 Ireland's new queen of country Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson combines ramshackle country music with broader pop and disco influences, and a knowingly detailed aesthetic.
With the 30th anniversary of breakout album Immigrants, Emigrants and Me serving as an opportunity for Dublin indie outfit Power of Dreams to reunite, the band will have a deep well of both catalogue and new tunes to draw on, performing in Cork as part of an Irish tour with a new line-up and promoting upcoming extended-player 'Baby Boy'.
A one-time resident of Kinsale, Tori Amos brings over thirty years of a songbook that's covered the broad spectrum of alternative and subversive sounds over the years, from the chart peaks of drum 'n' bass-inflected 'Professional Widow', to a visceral depiction of sexual assault in 'Me and a Gun'.
After a difficult Covid-19 period that saw Dundalk DIY balladeers The Mary Wallopers make the best of it with streams and postponed touring, the thought of banging out working-class tunes in a Vicar Street headliner on Paddy's night must surely be the best way to come back with a bang. Sold out gigs in St. Luke's in Cork on the following two nights, too.
Landing somewhere between post-punk, alt-rock and Kevin Shields-esque sonic excess, and revelling in the density that two drummers and three guitarists will grant a band, Thumper are one of those outfits whose post-Covid excursions will see them regain their momentum in a hurry, as they launch debut LP 'Delusions of Grandeur'.
One-third of US indie supergroup Boygenius (alongside Phoebe Bridgers) and an established singer and songwriter, Lucy Dacus' next Dublin excursion has been bumped up to the Olympia Theatre due to overwhelming ticket demand - a sign of her star being on the rise internationally.
 Australia has been a hive of DIY, psychedelic and garage-rock activity in the past number of years - and no more viral an example of the country's rock ingenue exists than irreverent punks The Chats, whose single 'Smoko' has evoked more than just a grin from genre fans worldwide, but millions of views and streams.
Dublin post-punker Skinner and band hold a mirror up to the grotty details of growing up and becoming an adult in the 21st Century. Last year's extended-player 'Gunge' sees that mix of no-wave and Dublin post-punk reach potency amid the pressures of the housing crisis.
Drawing equally from Dublin city’s dance-music culture and Ireland’s burgeoning hip-hop scene, duo Mango and Mathman have pulled no punches on their way up from raves, to Dublin’s NCH and London’s Barbican Theatre.
- Mike McGrath-BryanÂ
