My gambling problem: ‘Online there’s no concept of the money’‘The bookies were open 24 hours a day online. There was always something to gamble on – racing in the US, football in South America’Sat May 16 2015 - 01:00
Footballer Oisín McConville: Gambling beat the sh*t out of meThe former Armagh GAA player spent years betting compulsively, losing tens of thousands of euro before confronting his problemsFri May 15 2015 - 14:30
Derek Davis: ‘Everybody comes off a little bit scarred by RTÉ’Patrick Freyne remembers a happy few hours spent with the broadcaster in 2008Wed May 13 2015 - 13:37
Patrick Freyne: Empire is built around Cookie but she’s not the only scene-chewing monsterCookie and Cookie Monster are fabulous divas who know what they want. Cookie Monster wants cookies. Cookie wants ‘what’s mine’ (possibly cookies)Fri May 08 2015 - 09:08
‘You don’t need to be suicidal to ring the Samaritans’At the Samaritans office in Dublin, the team talk about why people ring them, how they help those in distress, and those dreaded calls when the line goes deadMon May 04 2015 - 06:00
Oh lord: next generation takes the keys to Waterford countyWhen he inherited Curraghmore House – and the title of Lord Waterford – Henry de la Poer Beresford had to change the name on his bank cards. But he’s happy to embrace his newly conferred role, which includes hosting the Curraghmore Bluebell FestivalSat May 02 2015 - 01:00
Patrick Freyne: Remembering a time when murder was fun and shorts were skimpyWhen it comes to catching killers, Thomas Magnum will always have the edgeThu Apr 30 2015 - 15:04
‘Video is the internet’: meet the young Irish YouTubersAs YouTube celebrates its 10th birthday, Ireland’s vloggers discuss community, authenticity and the problems that come with putting their lives on showMon Apr 27 2015 - 06:00
Secrets of a ‘grassrootsy’ start-upCould you become a social entrepreneur? Paul O’Hara wants Irish people to launch 100 community projects in 100 days, and will provide the high-tech backup to make it happenSat Apr 25 2015 - 01:00
Patrick Freyne: Wannabe pop star Nadia Forde is chasing the dream; and when she catches up with it, it’s f***edThe poor dream. It doesn’t make you a screaming environmentalist to find dream-hunting cruel.Thu Apr 23 2015 - 17:45
Numb: war journalist ‘memoir’ originally written as novelAuthor Colin Carroll promoted his book as a work of non-fictionSun Apr 19 2015 - 14:52
‘Numb’: Louis La Roc and the war memoir mysteryA supposedly factual new book about ‘Alan Buckby’, a war reporter with a double lifeSat Apr 18 2015 - 01:00
The problem with politics: ‘Everyone wants to be the kids in the back seat’Journalist and author Zoe Williams thinks that we need to reclaim politics from politicians and that it’s folly to believe ‘the right party will come along and everything will be fine’Fri Apr 17 2015 - 06:00
Patrick Freyne: Game of Thrones is back and with it, more dragons and zombies and shapeshifters“The future is shit, just like the past,” Tyrion says before vomiting on the carpet, thus summing up the wider message of Game of ThronesWed Apr 15 2015 - 13:00
Ghost-writer denies memoir of war correspondent is fiction‘Louis La Roc’ says late British journalist was involved in gang rape, murder and other crimesFri Apr 10 2015 - 15:11
‘It’s quite terrifying’: staging To Kill a MockingbirdRacist Chelsea fans, Ukip, the shooting of Michael Brown . . . the stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird is not intended as a museum piece about 1930s AlabamaFri Apr 10 2015 - 02:00
Bear Grylls is the latest in a string of despots with islands. Will he have more luck than Dr Moreau?"I once hoped Bear Grylls was a programme about an ursine barbecue enthusiast. Sadly, this was not the case."Thu Apr 09 2015 - 22:00
Patrick Freyne: Look, it’s a drama made by E! – what did you expect, Downton Abbey?The Royals takes place in no identifiable time period, though the presence of Elizabeth Hurley suggests it’s probably 1994Wed Apr 01 2015 - 22:00
Mary Berry: Queen of puddingsMary Berry tells of her journey from teaching people how to use their ovens to fronting one of the most popular programmes on British television.Sat Mar 28 2015 - 19:00
Alastair Campbell: walking with winnersWhy should we win? The political strategist admits that’s one question he never asksFri Mar 27 2015 - 08:00
Like some crazed monarch, Ant and Dec could probably cover up a live-on-air killing if they wishedFrom PJ and and Duncan to the dual-headed light-entertainment hydra Ant-and-Dec, they have complete control of your television scheduleThu Mar 26 2015 - 11:00
Hollywood bites after seeing Irish director's proof-of-concept trailerIrish film-maker Ruairí Robinson’s latest project 'The Leviathan' has been picked up by X-Men writer and producer Simon Kinberg and Chappie director Neill BlomkampWed Mar 25 2015 - 10:27
I like tricorn hats as much as the next guy, but enough with the angry clown-peopleThe Mr Darcification of period drama notwithstanding, ‘Poldark’ is more enjoyable than ‘Banished’, which is no fun at allWed Mar 11 2015 - 15:00
Mr Underwood goes to Washington and paints the White House a bloody shade of redBefore reading this, please note that there will be spoilers and you need to picture me turning to the camera: I’ve binged on all of ’House of Cards’ so you don’t have toThu Mar 05 2015 - 06:00
‘The Late Late Show’ is madness itself but it cannot change because nobody knows why or how it worksLast week, someone left both Chris de Burgh and a guitar on the couch... then came God and the Devil on a haunted trainThu Feb 26 2015 - 13:35
My Cork: a lost paradise of Datsun Sunnys and winding streetsWe left the real capital when I was six, so for years I used to be from Cork. Then I discovered that I’m always from the citySat Feb 21 2015 - 01:00
Put the knife down, Meryl: your guide to watching the OscarsCup of hotdog water? Check. Cruel jibes to aim at actors who are wearing their clothes all wrong? Check. Existential angst for the dead actors montage? Check. Okay, you’re all setFri Feb 20 2015 - 06:00
Falling for the fierce cuteness of the animal kingdom, from hummingbirds to koalasWhoever came up with this programme is basically an evil genius, writes Patrick FreyneThu Feb 19 2015 - 12:25
Patrick Freyne on ‘Taking New York’In the hope of finding sweet telly glory, watching hunks frolic is the price we must be willing to payFri Feb 13 2015 - 06:00
Fifty Shades: Women on fun night joined by uncomfortable men‘It’s soft porn. There was chick-lit and Mills and Boon but ladies maybe require a bit more now’Fri Feb 13 2015 - 01:00
Who is God?For Stephen Fry, God is ‘monstrous’ and ‘a maniac’. But what do people in Ireland think? We asked some of themSat Feb 07 2015 - 06:00
Josie Long: ‘Everyone expects me to talk about politics’She is known for political comedy, but in her new show she opens up about family and her broken heartFri Feb 06 2015 - 13:40
Why are we here? Is there a god? What is the meaning of ‘The Meaning of Life’?The meaning of life according to some celebrity is etched on Gay Byrne’s Big FaceWed Feb 04 2015 - 16:16
My Cork: John Spillane‘The city always seemed magical, mythical and fantastic to me’Sat Jan 31 2015 - 01:00
So Walter O’Brien is one of the five smartest people alive. Who are the other four?RTE's new drama ‘Scorpion’, based on a 'real-life' Irish computer whiz Walter O’Brien, is not actualy about a magic crime-fighting robot-wizardFri Jan 30 2015 - 10:58
David Chase: ‘Most American movies are cartoons or stories where toys are the central characters’David Chase revolutionised TV with ‘The Sopranos’ but at heart, he’s always wanted to be a filmmaker, he tells Patrick FreyneThu Jan 29 2015 - 11:45
So Wright, it can’t be wrong: Patrick Freyne on RTÉ’s ‘Clubland’The Wright Venue – ‘a nightclub that sprang into existence when an enchanted copy of the Sindo’s Life Magazine was hit by lightning’ – featured in the first episode RTÉ’s new Reality Bites seriesThu Jan 22 2015 - 12:35
Finbar Furey: ‘I’m winding down the clock’Furey is back on the road after a period of grieving for his brother, and an injury that could have put him out of business as a piper. Catch him while you canMon Jan 19 2015 - 01:00
Don’t buy stuff. Do stuffThe futurist James Wallman, author of ‘Stuffocation’, says that, having accumulated too many possessions in the 20th century, people now prefer ‘doing stuff’ to ‘having stuff’. Rich experiences should make us happier, but are they simply a new way to keep up with the Joneses?Sat Jan 17 2015 - 01:00
Patrick Freyne on The VoiceKian Egan is one of five Lego-men transformed into a boyband by an evil wizard – and he resents BressieFri Jan 16 2015 - 06:00
Patrick Freyne: ‘The Musketeers’ return with a new series of adventuresThe story of a bunch of counter-revolutionary monarchists who strive to keep a Tony Blair lookalike in power as king of France.Fri Jan 09 2015 - 06:00
Charles Haughey drama: ‘This is a story about power’While being true to much of the Haughey story, there were some things RTÉ couldn’t stretch toSat Jan 03 2015 - 06:00
Gallery: Patrick Freyne wishes you a heroic 2015Fancy getting a new habit for the new year? Check out these comic book heroes of a different stripeThu Jan 01 2015 - 06:30
Patrick Freyne’s cultural highs and lows of 2014Guardians of the Galaxy made me laugh, starring, as it did, a wise-cracking racoon.Sat Dec 27 2014 - 01:00
1886: The last Christmas Day edition of The Irish TimesIn those days the news never stopped - and neither did the adverts, apparentlyFri Dec 26 2014 - 14:30
Doctor conference with a difference: rappers, undertaker-poets and medical start-ups confer in DublinDotmed offers up the changing face of medicine at its annual ‘creative medical conference’ in Smock AlleyTue Dec 16 2014 - 10:00
Brendan Gleeson and sons: ‘There’s no such thing as a normal family’Brendan Gleeson and sons Domhnall and Brian have established a recent acting dynasty. So what will happen when they finally share a stage together for the first time?Tue Dec 16 2014 - 06:00
Citizens need voice between electionsThe man behind the ‘people’s conversation’ initiative believes that some national soul-searching can help us create a better countrySat Dec 13 2014 - 06:00
Are you a solutionist or a zero-growth economist?10 terms every modern social reformer should knowSat Dec 13 2014 - 06:00
ITV’s spin-off reality show captures the essence of Joey EssexI have to say, I could listen to Joey Essex guessing what a ‘glacier’ is all dayFri Dec 12 2014 - 08:00
