Charlie drama offers new twist on a familiar tale

Even if it was not about the rise and fall of former taoiseach Charles Haughey, RTÉ’s three-part drama would still have great entertainment value.

But Charlie is about someone we all thought we knew, so RTÉ has done the viewing public some service.

From the get go, viewers are caught up in the drama, which opens with the leadership heave of 1979 in which Haughey ousted the sitting taoiseach, Jack Lynch.