“I was a bit player in my parents’ drama, a parentified eldest daughter”

Joining Brendan to discuss the best TV and films coming this week are Grainne Humphries, Festival Director of the Dublin International Film Festival and Eoin Sweeney, TV and radio producer. Previews include Niall Breslin’s new documentary ‘All That Remains’ as well as movies like Jessie Buckley’s ‘The Bride’ and ‘Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artist Dorothy Cross tells Brendan about her Cork childhood, competitive swimming, the thrill of having her art first exhibited by the Tate in London, turning 70 and the joys of the sea. She picked five songs that meant something special to her throughout her life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Novelist and video game critic for The Guardian, Sarah Maria Griffin explains to Brendan how she has rediscovered the 30-year-old Nintendo game recently as a mother and has a new appreciation for it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joining Brendan to discuss the Sunday papers are Ellen Coyne, Political Correspondent at the Irish Times; Gerard Howlin, former government adviser and Public Affairs Consultant; Susanne Rogers, with Social Justice Ireland and Dan Mulhall, Former Irish Ambassador to Washington. Security Analyst Declan Power joins by phone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where is JD Vance? Is Rubio the coming man? One week into the US-Israel war on Iran, Brendan speaks to host of The Rest is Politics US, and President Trump’s former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pól O’Conghaile, Travel Editor of the Irish Independent, joins Brendan with his pick of the prettiest places to visit in Ireland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oscar winner and award-winning writer Neil Jordan tells Brendan about his first foray into science-fiction with ‘The Library of Traumatic Memory’. As an Academy member, he also discusses casting his vote for this year’s Oscars, Jessie Buckley’s chance of taking home Best Actress, and why he was always wary of Harvey Weinstein.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who has recently returned from the US, gives his take on the fall of the Iranian regime as the war enters its second week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First-time author Clíodhna O’Sullivan has written a romantasy novel, ‘Her Hidden Fire’ which has been chosen as a Good Morning America Bookclub pick for March 2026. She talked to Brendan about her father’s alcoholism, her mother’s mental health problems, the duties of the eldest daughter, and how fantasy novels were always an escape.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TV Chef & Asia Market MD, Eva Pau, has easy recipes for delicious stir fry recipes such as simple fried rice, black pepper beef and a veggie stir fry. She also talks through the best equipment to use when stir frying. A new series of ‘Eva Pau’s Asian Kitchen’ started this week on RTÉ Television.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.