Radio ReviewSometimes radio recycling does produce results. Not radio repeats - of which there are far too many - but proper recycling where previously used stuff is taken and made into something new and useful, writes Bernice Harrison.
In Philip Boucher-Hayes's Investigation on 1 (RTÉ Radio 1, Monday) he takes the material he unearthed for his reports, mostly for Today with Pat Kenny, and edits them together into what is a solidly interesting half-hour of radio.
Boucher-Hayes heads up the station's investigation unit, and daytime listeners will know that in the past year he's tackled all sorts of subjects, from the state of the water in Galway to bank overcharging, and each report had all the signs that he's been given enough time and resources to try to get to the heart of the real story. So it makes an enormous amount of sense to repackage these feature items, which are usually broadcast over a number of days in small segments, as programmes.
This week's first programme focused on the death of young Shane Tuohey, who went missing in 2002 and whose body was found in the River Brosna. The family always suspected foul play but the Garda investigation, the state pathologist and the inquest discounted that theory. Boucher-Hayes talked to the family, who reject the idea of suicide and consider the Garda investigation a botched job. Two US forensic experts indicated to him that there were enough unanswered questions about the death to reopen the case.
There was no neat tying-up of loose ends in this programme but it did offer food for thought and for informed speculation, which is just as satisfying. Another plus is that the show is aired at a time that's usually filled with music - a bonus for talk-radio fans.
Colin Murphy, a comedian familiar to fans of The Panel on RTÉ 2, is doing his own bit of recycling in a new series, Paper Chase (BBC Radio Ulster, Saturday), that probably looked more hilarious on paper than it ever could be on air. The idea is that he goes on the road in Northern Ireland to investigate some of the stranger stories he has read in local newspapers. There wasn't a hint of man bites dog about this, though; instead he had to try - with increasing levels of desperation - to squeeze a few minutes of humour out of stories such as the one about the cigarette-eating goat in Cushendun or the oldest cat in the UK in Ards.
But Radio Ulster is one of those local radio stations that doesn't travel south too well, perhaps because, as many of the voices heard in The Blurring Line (RTÉ Radio 1, Monday) said, we're really very different from each other.
John Cunningham and Elizabeth Laragy's five-part series looked at communities on either side of the border, from Donegal to South Armagh, and set out to explore how Nordies and Mexicans view each other. "Mexicans", we heard, is a term Nordies use to describe those who live south of the border - though I'm not quite sure I believe it; it's far too colourful.
The series finished up in Belcoo in Co Fermanagh and Blacklion in Co Cavan this week. These tiny villages straddle the border, and all that lies between them is a short bridge. Superchef Neven Maguire, who has single-handedly put Blacklion on the map with his restaurant, was relentlessly upbeat about the relationship between the two communities; some of his staff come from Belcoo, he said, and the only problem is the hassle of them earning in euro and living in sterling. He remembers a time when diners had the rather grim view of a border checkpoint to go with their dinner.
Over in Belcoo, a self-described "old spinster" remarked on the differences between her community and her very near neighbours. People across the border are "more relaxed, less sharp on time"; her friend said that even though a job mightn't be done, "they'd take time for a holiday, it's a different country, a different government".
You don't have to dig too far to knock your shovel against the great big subtext that's going on there. In the end, the blurring line of the title turns out to be an optimistic goal. "The Deeply Etched in the Mind Border" might have been a more accurate title (though admittedly a less catchy one).