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Airdate: Irish Road Trip with Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes is joined by one of Ireland's Senator Lynn Ruane in the camper van, on SBS.

Documentary series Irish Road Trip with Miriam Margolyes screens on SBS from tonight.

This is a two part special which appears to be retitled from Lady Gregory: Ireland’s First Social Influencer.

She recently told TV Tonight, “I’m going to do a documentary in Ireland about Lady Gregory, an Irish patriot who was a friend of WB Yeats, and a great famous lady in the 1920s. I didn’t know anything about her. They asked me if I’d like to discover her. So I said I would. I’m going to do that with an Irish lady politician called Lynn Ruane.”

This is the UK synopsis:

Presented by Miriam Margoyles, Lady Gregory shines a new light on Lady Augusta Gregory, whose work, influence and impact on Irish political and literary life has often been neglected. An arts documentary that shines new light on a brilliant, driven and complex woman whose work, influence and impact on Irish political and literary life has often been neglected in favour of those who she brought together around her dinner table and who drank her cellar dry.

Award-winning, British/Australian Actress and Activist, Miriam Margolyes, joins one of Ireland’s newest and most high-profile political figures, Dubliner, Senator Lynn Ruane in the camper van for this journey.

The road trip takes viewers across Ireland in order to incorporate three major historical events (the famine, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence) that were most significant in Lady Gregory’s life.

8:30pm Monday on SBS.

2 Responses

  1. This TV show seems like it wants to present a version of Irish history that is acceptable to English people by glossing over the atrocities they committed toward the Irish. For example, Lady Gregory came from a family which was given land seized during the Protestant Ascendancy. This action obviously disenfranchised the peasant and laboring class in Ireland but no matter, let us just feel sad for the loss of large fancy mansions. Second, Lady Gregory’s husband Sir William Henry Gregory was partly responsible for the laws during the Irish famine but the show stated that he tried to make up for his mistakes during his later political career. How do you make up for the deaths of a million people? Finally, Lady Gregory had to travel to the Aran Islands before she realised that the Irish could govern themselves i.e., home rule. I am not sure Lady Gregory is someone I want to look up to even if she did start a theatre. I would rather watch Adrian Dunbar’s ‘Irish Road Trip’ again instead.

  2. Miriam is a treasure, she doesn’t hold back saying what she thinks and at her age doesn’t give a hoot about dropping the occasional “f” bomb either which only makes her more endearing to me because I admit I do the same at my age. Kudos to her, she will give anything a go and make it enjoyable to watch including sizing up a coffin for herself. 👏

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