The Forgotten Irish

sockpuppets

TV3 showed part one of The Forgotten Irish tonight. Did anyone see it? I thought it was very difficult to watch, especially the guy who had become an alcoholic and came home to meet his family having not seen them in 20 years. Poor guy must have had a tough life

Cris Jones

Meant to watch that, wish I'd seen it, I thought it would be good. The trailers for the Cutting Edge programme on Channel 4 got me watching that at 9 pm instead.

Meeja Ireland

sockpuppets wrote: »

TV3 showed part one of The Forgotten Irish tonight. Did anyone see it? I thought it was very difficult to watch, especially the guy who had become an alcoholic and came home to meet his family having not seen them in 20 years. Poor guy must have had a tough life

It was wonderful. Very moving.

The second part, next Thursday, deals with women emigrants from Ireland. If it is anywhere as good as Part One, I would urge everyone to set the old SkyBox.

It's easy to think of TV3 as the breakfast show and nothing much more, but this is really exceptional television.

(And it will win the TV Now award for best documentary next year, even if RTE film the return of Jesus, on a unicorn, with twenty-eight forgotten Beatles songs on a solid platinum master tape. Because they're rigged. But that stupidly obvious corruption shouldn't detract from the quality of this programme.)

davehey79

hardest bit was seeing him say to the old lady at the gate i bet you dont know who i am and she says no and it turns out it's his sister. Tough stuff but a definite worthwhile watch if only to show the plight of many a forgotton Irishman or woman in the UK. I think nearly everyone has or knows someone in the same situation that many of them in the programme are or were in.

cashback

Cris Jones wrote: »

Meant to watch that, wish I'd seen it, I thought it would be good. The trailers for the Cutting Edge programme on Channel 4 got me watching that at 9 pm instead.

They might put it up on their website later.

I hadn't planned on watching this but I'm glad I did as it's one of the best documentaries I've seen in years.
It was very moving watching the old man from Waterford return home. You just wished he could stay there, though he did seem a bit happier in his new lodgings.
I'm glad there was no presenter trying to hog the limelight and show how touched they were by the stories. The producers just left the camera on the subjects and let them recall their experiences.

sockpuppets

davehey79 wrote: »

hardest bit was seeing him say to the old lady at the gate i bet you dont know who i am and she says no and it turns out it's his sister. Tough stuff but a definite worthwhile watch if only to show the plight of many a forgotton Irishman or woman in the UK. I think nearly everyone has or knows someone in the same situation that many of them in the programme are or were in.

yeah that was very sad, the poor guy has nothing. its something you never think about. particularly our generation. but when you see what they went through in those days it really hits home. terrible times. its on vincent brown now

sockpuppets

cashback wrote: »

They might put it up on their website later.



its up on tv3.ie
http://www.tv3.ie/shows.php?request=theforgottenirish

davehey79

jesus its a sad programme missed first 15 mins or so bring a tear to your eye no matter how hard ya reckon ya are

EU RULES

davehey79 wrote: »

hardest bit was seeing him say to the old lady at the gate i bet you dont know who i am and she says no and it turns out it's his sister. Tough stuff but a definite worthwhile watch if only to show the plight of many a forgotton Irishman or woman in the UK. I think nearly everyone has or knows someone in the same situation that many of them in the programme are or were in.

we can see this in ireland with many eastern european people who came here for work and since have been made unemployed have ended up on the streets. very sad.

Shane10

davehey79 wrote: »

hardest bit was seeing him say to the old lady at the gate i bet you dont know who i am and she says no and it turns out it's his sister. Tough stuff but a definite worthwhile watch if only to show the plight of many a forgotton Irishman or woman in the UK. I think nearly everyone has or knows someone in the same situation that many of them in the programme are or were in.

wasnt going to watch it but ended up flicking over to it. it was so sad this programme. especially as you said here when his own sister didnt even recognize him. nearly had a tear in my eye have to say. i thought how can this man go back to england, surley he could stay at home maybe with his sister. so sad. suppose we forget about all our own people over there alone some of them.

Aidric

TV3 in good programming shocker!
I have to admit I only caught the last fifteen minutes of this last night but I was immediately drawn in. It was an exceptional piece of television, honest to god storytelling from people with a real story to tell. The guy returning from England and not having many people recognise him, his own sister included, was very heart rendering and in no way did the program attempt to be mawkish with it's subjects. It managed to capture the hardship and isolation of the people involved whilst allowing the audience right in to their world.
I'll definetely be tuning in for the second part.

JP Liz

Its on Thursday at 9pm on TV3 - one of their better shows - its quite sad in parts

The Forgotten Irish is a two part TV3 documentary, which tells the stories of Irish men and women who took the boat to England in search of work in the forties and fifties.
This series tells their story. It is an intimate and simple series that documents the lives and loneliness of some of these people. Many of these elderly & vulnerable Irish people are now living in poverty, and are truly The Forgotten Irish.

Cris Jones

Didn't see the first episode but did see the second and it was really interesting.

Gekko

To be blunt I find it too miserable to watch and it's too full of self pity of the people featured.

deisemum

I thought it was a very sad programme and it reminded me so much of some of the older Irish I met when I emigrated to the UK in the early 80's. Also seeing some of the London venues brought it all back to the places I used to frequent.

Having spoken with some of the older irish people that I worked with who'd gone to the UK in the late 50's and 60's it's hard not to have some sympathy for some of them when you think how they went over to the UK without an education and worked their way up.

When good old Ireland didn't even have a pot to pee in so many of these people sent money home, billions in fact to keep their families afloat and once their family members at home got an education and did well for themselves some of them weren't long forgetting about their siblings in the UK.

Gathering

I've just been watching this very moving documentary....does anyone know who the voice is speaking at the very beginning of the first episode?