Class act in The Dome

TV REVIEW

IT must be time for the kids to head back to school when the crown is dusted down and some young cailín has her moment in the Kerry sun.

The Rose of Tralee is one of the few occasions, outside of perhaps Paddy’s Day, when it’s relatively okay to be unashamedly Oirish and waving to mammy and daddy in an audience is acceptable behaviour, nae even encouraged. The general mocking that comes with watching the ‘lovely girls competition’ means many keep their viewership under their hat. Nobody is a fan, yet on average 800,000 people who ‘don’t’ watch the Rose of Tralee still manage to see it because someone else put the television on. The proof is in the numbers – 569,000 viewers tuned in for Monday night’s event, which rose significantly for Tuesday. As for myself, I only watched it because I needed something to review. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
For 26-year-old Cork teacher Nicola McEvoy, it will be a week to remember. Representing Luxembourg, Nicola wowed the crowd with a rendition of La Vie en Rose and was crowned the 2012 Rose of Tralee for her efforts. Rugby hero Ronan O’Gara did the honours of presenting her with her shiny Philip Treacy-designed tiara.
The fun thing, or cringe-worthiness depending on you’re point of view, is that no subject is off-limits – from a nanoscience lesson courtesy of the Dublin Rose, male eyebrow waxing (Tyrone Rose Catherine Sherry’s uncle was a party to this), to queries of possible marriage (Waterford Rose Lorna Ferncombe and her Kilkenny hurler boyfriend Kieran Joyce had an awkward moment on this one as Dáithí tried to engineer a proposal from him).
Party pieces are also a must but they expanded from the usual jigs and reels this year to include magic tricks, bag pipe playing and even a gymnastics display by the Boston Rose.
Dáithí Ó Sé is clearly in his element presenting this gig and the type of eejitry required to pull it off is right up his alley. He has no issue in sacrificing himself on the alter for a quip – at one point he donned a pair of stilettos to unnerve the Denver Rose Tiffany Antikainen, who had to learn how to wear high heels for the competition. He was also gentlemanly-like in helping Melbourne Rose Claire Lynch out of her dress so she could demonstrate Aussie Rules. On Monday night there was even moo-ting of him milking a cow live on stage with Ottawa Rose Avaleigh Eastman. It had to be scrapped as the cow apparently got the jitters before her appearance on stage. Now, that would have been something to write about!
Something I’m not ashamed to own up to is my anticipation for Parade’s End, or Downton Abbey on steroids, Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy published between 1924 and 1928. Beginning on BBC2 this Friday, it is set in England and on the Western Front of World War I.
The Edwardian era is undergoing something of a renaissance and this five-part costume drama is a BBC/HBO co-production, which can only mean one thing – a bucket-load of money was thrown at the production. 
The reason to get really excited however is that it is adapted by screen-writer and playwright Sir Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Shakespeare in Love) and directed by Susanna White (Bleak House, Jane Eyre, Generation Kill).
It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Christopher Tietjens, an aristocrat-cum-statistician serving Britain during World War I and a cuckolded husband to boot.
The story begins in the years before the war, as Tietjens marries socialite Sylvia (Rebecca Hall). Ignoring her dalliances with other men, Tietjens resolves to remain faithful to her, even when he falls for spirited suffragette Valentine Wannop (Adelaide Clemens).
The cast also includes the calibre of Janet McTeer, Stephen Graham, Rupert Everett, Roger Allam, Miranda Richardson and Anne-Marie Duff.

Clare on the box: The Banner featured prominently on RTÉ’s O’Gorman on Tuesday evening. Paddy O’Gorman took a jaunt through West Clare, more specifically on the West Clare Railway from Moyasta to Slieve Callan before heading to Ennis to tune into some jigs and reels at the Fleadh Nua. Catch up with it online.

One to watch: If the Olympics didn’t fully sate the appetite for great sporting endeavours, then feast your eyes on the spectacle that is the Paralympics, which kicks off on August 29 and runs through to September 9. The Games will see the greatest ever number of competing Paralympic athletes with 4,200 from 150 countries. The Irish team comprises 49 athletes across 10 sports. Keep an eye out for Clare hopefuls Jonathan McGrath from Killaloe in the swimming and Clonlara’s Sarah Caffrey in rowing.