Podcast Corner: The best Irish shows of 2023
Some of Eoghan O'Sullivan's podcast picks: Eoin McGee (left); Alfie Hudson Taylor (right); and the suspect in the Death By Rooster case (centre) - fowl play suspected
From the RTÉ Doc on One team, who have skin in the podcast game through acclaimed series such as The Nobody Zone and GunPlot, released this seven-part series in the first half of the year, and it’s one that stuck with us since as it sought to unravel the wild world of Samantha Azzopardi, the ‘GPO girl’.
Co-hosted by Alfie Hudson-Taylor and up-and-coming Cork artist Fionnán Barrett aka Finscéalta, this show is refreshing in its honest look behind the curtain at the ever-changing music industry. Hudson Taylor, the band of which Alfie was one half with his brother Harry, split in 2022 - it sounds like it was a long-time coming as we hear the reasons why. At a time when it seems ever harder to ‘make it’, let alone make a career in music, this show dispells myths and proves an eye-opener.
Friends, TG4 presenters, and “women in their n/early 30s”, Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, Louise Cantillon, and Síomha Ní Ruairc say they live their lives bilingually and as Gaeilge. As per the bio: “You will not learn the modh coinníollach on this pod - forget gramadach agus obair bhaile. This is giving bilingual bottomless brunch, car chats with your cairde, an stuff atá i do ghrúpa whatsapp.” Their banter sets you in the room alongside the trio and you’ll be quickly laughing along. And maybe even pick up cupla focail.
Half the country must know at this stage how to be good with money thanks to owning McGee’s books, and his podcast helps take our knowledge a step further. An engaging and refreshing voice, McGee covers all the topics we need, from getting mortgage ready to debt to ‘the daily rules’.
A five-part documentary chronicling some of the worst atrocities of the Civil War, both around the capital and further afield in Kerry, this series was produced by Kevin Brannigan (Second Captains) and presented by Trinity College historian Brian Hanley. There are few sound effects or the like to distract the listener, a couple talking heads expanding on Hanley’s telling, making vivid a gruesome period of Irish history.
The Irish Examiner has released some stellar short-run series over the course of 2023. Death by Rooster tells the remarkable life story of Jasper Kraus, who was killed by a rooster in Ballinasloe in 2022, a case which made headlines around the world. A Dangerous Hell sees award-winning journalist Ann Murphy investigate the scandal of sex for rent. Forgiven, also helmed by Murphy, is a two-parter on the brutal murder of an Irish priest in a lonely Texas hotel room.
