Radio Review: What's happened to the Ranelagh Rottweiler - no not that one, best to leave Michael McDowell's transformation to the news pages - I mean his near-neighbour, Eamon Dunphy, writes Bernice Harrison
For Conversations with Eamon Dunphy (RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday) he's traded in his trademark energy and bite for the characteristics of an ancient Labrador snoozing in front of the fire. His new programme is similar to Carrie Crowley's popular interview slot scrapped a couple of years ago. It's not an Irish version of Desert Island Discs - but more of that later.
Dunphy's first guest was Noel Pearson, described as "our great impresario". As a producer, his credits include plays in Dublin and on Broadway - from spectacular failures to rip-roaring successes as well as the Oscar-winning My Left Foot, so listeners could reasonably expect him to arrive in studio with a sackful of amusing and colourful anecdotes. He probably has them, but he left them at home as the two men, sounding like long-time friends grown slightly bored with each other, rambled through three-quarters of an hour of airtime. Music - and the reminiscences that naturally go with it - might have livened up proceedings but they only played three songs - too few to make a difference in the overlong programme. It's a curious way for RTÉ to use an expensive signing - isn't such a sleepy slot a waste of Dunphy's proven and entertaining talent for stirring things up?
There were also two other new conversation offerings last weekend: Kirsty Young started as presenter of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and David Norris took to the airwaves with his interview programme, Sunday with Norris, on Newstalk 106.
Desert Island Discs is a perfect interview format - guests are interviewed about their life and work, play their favourite music and it all ends up with them picking a book, piece of music and luxury they'd want if they were stranded on a desert island. It's an institution and nobody expects any edginess or revelations. Former news reader Kirsty Young has taken over from Sue Lawley, who had presented the programme for decades and the changeover should encourage the return of listeners who had grown weary of Lawley's chilly and sometimes snooty-sounding approach. Young is a far warmer and down-to-earth questioner and she chose as her first castaway, illustrator Quentin Blake. A low-key choice because presumably she had her pick of TV and movie celebrities. He was Britain's first children's laureate in 1999 and best known as the illustrator of Roald Dahl's stories. He talked about his close working relationship with the very exacting Dahl, particularly as he was working on visualising the BFG with his giant sandal and snozzcumbers.
For the past while I've been a bit of a Sue Lawley when it comes to Senator David Norris. It started when he did the voiceover for the Tesco ads, not the most senatorial nixer perhaps, and now his distinctive voice is advertising some hotel chain or other. So I was sceptical about Sunday with Norris. But I was wrong to be, and if he keeps picking guests as thoroughly engaging as his first one, Brendan Kennelly, then he'll be on to a winner. It helped that Norris had done his homework, mentioning poems and past events in the poet's life, and seemed genuinely delighted to be talking to Kennelly - though who wouldn't be? His skill was being able to transmit that delight. "More and more I find other people more interesting than myself," said Kennelly sounding genuinely inquisitive instead of someone full of cod deprecation. Listeners grown weary of the stream of Fianna Fáil politicians sent out to defend the Bertie begging bowl could find no fault with Kennelly's analysis of the way politics works. "They're in the world of power," he said in his soft Kerry voice. "They're not in the world of work. Their goal is to stay in power."
Derek Mooney took over the afternoon slot on RTÉ Radio 1 with his new magazine programme, Mooney (RTÉ Radio 1, Mon-Fri). It's the first week so it all sounded a bit hysterical, from reporter Brenda O'Donohue's over-enthusiastic response to just about everything to Mooney's operatic "Bye-eeee" at the end. It did roam around the country which is refreshing and there were good feature items, but it's hard to see what it's all about and who it's supposed to appeal to. Is there really a need for a magazine show - for reference, think Ireland's Own - at that time of the day, every day?