Third Time Lucky

The S.P.A. Weekend is a spooky and hilarious new audio drama written by Emily Gillmor Murphy and produced by the award-winning production team of Hugh Hick and Heather MacLeod. The S.P.A. Weekend will be broadcast on Newstalk on Sunday 11th August at 7am, repeated Saturday 17th August at 9pm, and will be available as a podcast, on GoLoud and all major platforms.  Billie and Sophie are booked into a S.P.A. (Supernatural, Paranormal, Activity) weekend with a difference in the infamous Manor Hill House – a place full of bizarre characters and even more bizarre stories. But will they find the ghosts within the walls of the hotel or in their own pasts? One part Fawlty Towers and one part Agatha Christie, The S.P.A. Weekend takes a fresh and witty look at what ghosts still lurk in 21st century Ireland and what we do about them. This is Emily’s second collaboration with Heather and Hugh, after the Prix-Europa nominated drama The Horror Writer. Emily’s sharp and twisting script for the drama was previously shortlisted for 2022 P.J. O’Connor Radio Drama Awards. The cast is led by Lorna Fox and Chloe O’Reilly as two best friends in over their heads when what should be a relaxing weekend together turns into a chaotic mix of hidden secrets, paranormal activity and an out-of-control dog. Rounding out the cast is Mary Murray (BBC Audio Drama Award ‘Best Actress’ winner 2023) alongside Karl Quinn, Donncha O’Dea and Katie McCann. Original music for the play was composed by pianist Justin McCann while Peter Dunne of the internationally acclaimed horror-anthology podcast ‘Petrified’ served as script editor. The S.P.A. Weekend was made with the support of Coimisiún na Mean with the television licence fee.

This goes back over a hundred years for a drama set in the midst of the ‘Spanish Flu’. During the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic, a desperate father brings his sick daughter to find the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny. ‘1918 Ireland: Having just lost his wife from Spanish Flu, a desperate father vows to bring his sick daughter through a politically divided Ireland to find the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny, a place rumoured to cure the illness.’ Based on the written accounts by the Irish during the Spanish Flu, this story is a fictionalised version of a local Meath legend. In it, a father (Sean Sheridan) brought his sick daughter (Mary Sheridan) in a cart to the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny, Co Leitrim. The cart got stuck and the horse pulling the cart was shot by a roving gang. Sean had to bring her the rest of the way on foot. This ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny was apparently blessed by the local priest and anyone that visited it was cured of the ‘Big Flu’.

Drama on Newstalk presents SANDWICH, an original radio comedy-drama that follows a frazzled single mum, Eleanor, who is plunged into turmoil when her eco-activist teen daughter, Hazel, is arrested for holding the Minister of the Environment hostage live on TV. While trying to dissuade the police from charging her, Eleanor learns that her estranged and difficult mother with dementia, Phyllis, has a crisis of her own and can no longer live alone. As Eleanor is an only child, she has no choice but to drag a resistant Hazel across the country to her backwater home town of Craughbeg to look after Phyllis. Eleanor hates being back and has made a promise to Hazel (and herself) that this arrangement is temporary – just enough time to find a suitable nursing home for Phyllis. Craughbeg holds too many painful memories, not least Eleanor’s shameful secret – the identity of Hazel’s biological father. How will the three generations cope with this new living arrangement and will Eleanor manage to keep the secrets of the past buried? Sandwich looks at the multigenerational squeeze, a predicament that an increasing number of people, mostly women, find themselves in – having to care for both children and elderly parents. This is the Sandwich Generation. SANDWICH was written and directed by Anna Merritt & Deborah Wiseman. It was produced and edited by Amy O’Dwyer. The cast are Deborah Wiseman, Evanne Kilgallon, Deirdre Monaghan, Donncha O’Dea and Mary Murray. Funded by Coimisiún na Mean with the Television Licence Fee.

Drama on Newstalk presents a new drama produced by Jonathan Farrelly and Katerina Economides.  Lansdowne ‘73 is a fictionalised version of historical events.  ln January 1973, the English Rugby Team came to play lreland at Lansdowne, nearly a year to the day of Bloody Sunday... even though they were warned there could be a bomb in the stadium. This is a fictionalised version and an alternate history of that fateful game. Two Garda are tasked with defusing the bomb before it goes off… but in order to save the day, they need to learn to tolerate each other first!   Lansdowne ‘73 was produced by Jonathan Farrelly and Katerina Economides. The programme was funded by the Coimisiún na Meán with the television licence fee.  Acting Credits: JP Wright, Olivia Kenna, Gary Kenna, Katerina Economides, Marty AVG, Jonny Farrelly, Mark Manning and Michael Ryan.