BBC | Business Post

Changing channel: can RTÉ keep its focus and remain relevant in the digital age?

A glance at RTÉ’s finances is enough to show the national broadcaster is not on a sustainable footing. While this has been the case for the past 20 years, it is now faced with competition from a multiplicity of streaming services. Some argue that it should identify and concentrate on core activities. But what are those core activities?

Willie O’Reilly: In revealing America’s toxic underbelly, Louis Theroux has a dilemma

Forbidden America, the BBC’s new documentary on digital media-savvy white supremacists, comes dangerously close to promoting the nest of vipers it seeks to expose

Willie O’Reilly: Why we need roaming for our holiday viewing

European television could do with some harmonisation, but even when you’re far from home, you can still immerse yourself in events on our little island

TV review: Suspicion and claustrophobia collide deep under the sea

Vigil features the reliably impressive Suranne Jones as a police investigator dissecting a murder below decks on a nuclear submarine

TV review: Christy Moore’s musical voyage still going strong after 52 years

Mark McLoughlin’s 2016 documentary focuses more on the singer’s strengths as a performer than on his life and times

The Profile: Jeremy Clarkson

After being fired by the BBC from Top Gear for assaulting an Irish producer, Jeremy Clarkson has found himself with an unlikely hit on Amazon Prime: a farming reality show set on his 1,000 acres of land in Oxfordshire

TV review: Documentary reveals how also-rans of horse racing meet horrifyingly cruel end

BBC’s Panorama uncovers that, far from having their post-racing welfare looked after, some equine ex-champions are euthanised inappropriately and sold for food

Department of Agriculture officials deny knowledge of injured racehorses being sent to Britain for slaughter

A BBC Panorama programme claimed to expose the practice which contravenes animal welfare rights

Radio: How our bodies shape our world and how we take them for granted

Sinéad Gleeson and Sarah Perry are guests on Guide Books, a radio programme about how books can help us navigate life

Interview: Kate O’Riordan on why making Smother was a breath of fresh air

The author, playwright and screenwriter has gone from working in travel agencies to being a high-flying co-executive producer on period drama Mr Selfridge. But her latest work, the RTÉ hit drama Smother, is what’s really made her career soar

TV review: A busman’s holiday for Bannon as he navigates a small world

Architect Dermot Bannon made a brief return to Sunday night TV with a two-part show that looked at clever builds and conversions

TV review: A forensic examination of Ireland’s biggest ever bank robbery

Darragh McIntyre and Sam McBride laid out the details of the Northern Bank Robbery in a well-constructed and clear manner, but were unable to point to a culprit

TV Review: A Turkish thriller anchored by its one-woman tour de force

Netflix’s new Middle Eastern drama Fatma is powered by a superb performance from Burcu Biricik

Willie O’Reilly: BBC was too desperate to look loyal and royal

Clearing the schedules entirely to mark the death of Prince Philip was a huge own goal by the British state broadcaster

TV review: In Germany, the past remains a foreign country

Deutschland 89, All4’s Cold War espionage drama, lives up to the high standards set by its two predecessors

Willie O’Reilly: RTÉ’s digital shutdown is a lost opportunity

The decision to dump digital audio broadcasting 15 years into this service is a poor strategic move which may have to be revisited in the future

TV review: Moody Northern thriller reawakens a troubled past

A brooding James Nesbitt stars in Sunday-night drama Bloodlands, from Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio