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Angola After the War

A new documentary film by Colin Murphy, with stills photography by Guy Tillim (as below), screening on Thursday September 23 on RTE One, at 10.50pm, and on the RTE Player at www.rte.ie/player.

On tour with Terminus

‘Terminus’ is back at the Peacock in Dublin. This article was first published in the Sunday Tribune on January 13, 2008. It is six hours before Mark O’Rowe’s play, ‘Terminus’, opens in New York. The cast are doing the technical rehearsal. They’ve never been in the theatre before. Eileen Walsh is standing in a dim… read more +

Alegre’s Story. A World Report from Kuito, Angola

I’ve just returned from Angola, where I was filming a documentary on recovery and reconstruction in the town of Kuito, since the end of the war. This is a short radio essay telling the story of one of the people I met there, Alegre. It was broadcast on World Report on RTE Radio One.

New voices in Irish politics

In the run up to the local elections, I travelled around the country talking to immigrant candidates. This podcast, for FOMACS and Le Monde Diplomatique, is one of the results. New voices in Irish politics

Memories of Ireland v Wales in Cardiff, 2005

In 2005, Wales beat Ireland on the final weekend of the Six Nations to win the Grand Slam for the first time in 27 years. Had Ireland won, they would have taken the Triple Crown. Colin Murphy was there, just about. Coming off the train at Cardiff, a crumpled looking fellow in a Welsh jersey… read more +

The change is a coming

Listen to my extended radio report from Harlem on US presidential election night, and after. Includes an interview with the Rev Al Sharpton on the challenges ahead for the Obama administration and for the civil rights movement.

There’s a bright side somewhere, in Harlem

There’s a Bright Side Somewhere Jenkins Washington sings gospel, like his grandparents taught him.

Election night, November 4, Harlem

“Everybody here that voted for John McCain, raise your hand!” said Michael Hardy into the microphone. Nobody raised their hand. On 145th Street in Upper Harlem, the crowd in the meeting room of the House of Justice (motto: “No Justice, No Peace”) was feeling good. “It certainly looks like there’s gonna be a new day… read more +

Fear and loathing at the Edinburgh Fringe

A long time ago (the days before cheap flights), in a city far, far away (by road, at least), a young, earnest Irishman found a job paying £2.50 an hour, for a ten-to-twelve hour day, in a theatre. Actually, it wasn’t a theatre, but was an old, rambling building, that was pretending to be a… read more +

From Morocco: Thanks to Smile

A shorter version of this was broadcast on RTE Radio One’s World Report on July 26 The charity’s office was clean and bare, with two pcs humming on office desks, and some generic charts on the wall. The administrator was apologetic. The director had had to leave for an urgent meeting in the capital, and… read more +