Set in 1980s Ireland, a new drama series explores the cultural phenomenon of 'video nasties' and the quest of three teenagers to collect banned VHS tapes.
Television: Series follows Dublin teenagers seeking to complete their collection of banned VHS movies It has become voguish to portray 1980s Ireland as a God-fearing hellscape, and while the decade undoubtedly had its grimmer moments, the caricature doesn’t tell the entire story.
Yes, there were moving statues,playing pass the parcel with the office of taoiseach, and an ongoing economic implosion that reduced much of the country to a rust belt in the rain. But people felt less beholden to thethan at any previous point in modern Irish history, while pop culture was exploding. It was a detonation that produced, among other things, the moral panic of the video nasty. Driller Killer, I Spit On Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust ... those of a certain vintage will recall the hushed tones with which schoolmates spoke of these semi-mythical VHS tapes. There was always that friend of a friend who claimed to have watched one – invariably with both eyes closed so that they could not actually recall any of the details. Aside from confirmed sightings in the wild of Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian, they were the last word cultural contraband.’s cheeky, cheerful and charming Video Nasty . Here is that all-too-rare drama set in 1980s Ireland that bears a more than passing resemblance to the real thing. Stygian video libraries, a visceral loathing of the clergy, parents trapped in loveless marriages. It’s all here and given a pulp sheen by British horror director Christopher Smith and Irish writer Hugh Travers , who is recovering fromThree sporting events to watch this week: Your handy guide to sport on televisionDancing with the Stars review: Mickey Joe Harte first to be voted off this year’s show The three leads have a whizzing chemistry. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but there is something intensely 1980s about them. Maybe it’s Murphy’s frizzy haircut, beamed in straight from the video to T’pau’s China In Your Hands., and it shows. Both have a fondness for genre – historically looked down upon by those who call the shots in the arts in Ireland – and have been made by people who know how to put a working drama together. It won’t blow your mind – but it is great fun. For a dull Monday in January, that’s more than enough and much better than anything RTÉ has to offer.Three sporting events to watch this week: Your handy guide to sport on televisionIreland’s 11 billionaires saw their wealth grow by a third to €50bn in 2024‘The phone would ring and it would be Mike Scott from the Waterboys or Bono from U2. Everyone wanted to talk to my father’ Trump inauguration as it happened: ‘We will be the envy of every nation,’ Donald Trump says as he becomes 47th US presidentAlison Curtis: ‘To pay for my wedding and a down payment on a house, I used funds I inherited as a teen when my parents passed’Trump inauguration as it happened: ‘We will be the envy of every nation,’ Donald Trump says as he becomes 47th US presidentCork dog breeder warned by judge that he may face jail over his neglect of dogs and pups at his home
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