Documentary on Newstalk

The Congolese guitar maestro, composer, and singer Niwel Tsumbu has become one of the most sought-after musicians in Ireland since he made this country his home in 2004. And this without ever consciously pursuing a career in music. Music was simply a passion he pursued, and it created its own road for him. Niwel: A Life in Music explores Niwel Tsumbu's life in Africa, his reasons for emigrating to...

Producer Patricia Baker of Curious Broadcast explores how food connects cultures, communities, and generations in Melting Pot. Melting Pot is a story about food, recipes passed down through generations, dishes that remind us of home and family. From Ukraine and Moldova to Nigeria, Lebanon, the Liberties of Dublin, and Zimbabwe, these are foods that carry memory. They hold the flavours of...

On this episode of Documentary and Drama on Newstalk, reporter Emma Tyrrell delves into the history of Dublin’s tenement buildings in “Beyond The Hall Door: Life in a Dublin Tenement”. The documentary features firsthand accounts of former residents on what life was like in the capital’s most densely populated accommodation from the 1940s to the 1970s, from cooking and cleaning to school and work....

Radio documentary ‘The Power of The People’ examines the significant impact of the ‘Dunnes Strikers’ on Ireland’s relations with South Africa and their contribution to the abolition of apartheid On 19 July 1984 Mary Manning, a shop worker in Dunnes Stores on Henry Street in Dublin, refused to handle two grapefruit which had been imported from South Africa following an instruction from her union as...

In the mid-1980s, young people began leaving an economically devastated Ireland for other countries. By 1986, an estimated 150,000 undocumented Irish men and women were living in the United States. Without proper paperwork they could not access healthcare, report crime or keep bank accounts - and they faced arrest and deportation by INS agents. A group of young Irish immigrants, many of them in th...

Take a festive journey through A History of Irish Panto, a light-hearted and informative unveiling of the story of pantomime in Ireland. This two-part documentary series focuses on the seasonal theatrical extravaganzas, from their origins on the streets of Venice in the 1500s, to their first mention in an Irish newspaper in the 1731. From the productions that spread across the country in the 1800s...

Take a festive journey through A History of Irish Panto, a light-hearted and informative unveiling of the story of pantomime in Ireland. This two-part documentary series focuses on the seasonal theatrical extravaganzas, from their origins on the streets of Venice in the 1500s, to their first mention in an Irish newspaper in the 1731. From the productions that spread across the country in the 1800s...

A warning that sensitive topics and upsetting content are discussed in this documentary, including eating disorders, suicide and suicidal ideation. It’s a common misconception that eating disorders only affect women. The fact is that an eating disorder can affect both men and women, boys and girls. “Dying to Get Ripped” is a two-episode series by radio producer Orla Riordan for Newstalk that explo...

A warning that sensitive topics and upsetting content are discussed in this documentary, including eating disorders, suicide and suicidal ideation. It’s a common misconception that eating disorders only affect women. The fact is that an eating disorder can affect both men and women, boys and girls. “Dying to Get Ripped” is a two-episode series by radio producer Orla Riordan for Newstalk that explo...

On Documentary and Drama on Newstalk, reporter Josh Crosbie brings us ‘The Fragility of Peace: Tigray’s Forgotten War.’ This year’s IMRO-award-winning reporter travelled to the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia with Trócaire to examine the impact of conflict. The Tigray war lasted from November 2020 to November 2022. It’s estimated that one million people have died since the war started and a fur...

A warning that sensitive topics and upsetting content are discussed in this documentary, including eating disorders, suicide and suicidal ideation. It’s a common misconception that eating disorders only affect women. The fact is that an eating disorder can affect both men and women, boys and girls. “Dying to Get Ripped” is a two-episode series by radio producer Orla Riordan for Newstalk that explo...

On Documentary & Drama on Newstalk, producer Mary Lavery Carrig brings you into the life of Mistura Oyebanj, a Muslim woman in her mid-20s. In June 2024, Mistura stood as a candidate in the Local Elections for the Tralee municipal district area, in Co Kerry. From her arrival as a refugee child, to losing her mother in a tragic car accident, to putting her name on the ballot paper as a candidat...

First on Scene, Last to Heal: Emergency Workers and Fatal Collisions goes behind the scenes with the men and women of An Garda Síochána, the National Ambulance Service and the fire service as they share stories about fatal collisions on Ireland’s roads, and how that impacts their way of thinking. Produced and presented by Alex Rowley, a young journalism student from Wicklow and IMRO-nominated&nbsp...

Producer James Wilson looks at the darkest chapter in European history - the murder of six million Jews by Nazi Germany.  But what impact did this genocide have on Ireland? In the Swastika’s Shadow: Ireland and the Holocaust explores how the Irish State dealt with Hitler, the Jewish community’s fight for survival and the heroism of the Irish people who resisted the Nazis.  Containing int...

‘Roving Out’ is a radio documentary that celebrates the burgeoning musical culture of Ireland, by focusing on musical artists Mohammad Syfkhan, Varo, Qbanaa and Wise Wolf, who have all made Ireland their home. Named after the traditional song, ‘As I Roved Out’, it explores how these musicians decided to leave their own countries, some due to war and persecution, others for adventure to seek a new...

It's two years to the week since fighting broke out in Sudan, instigating what is now the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Reporter Sarah Madden visits Northern Bahr el Ghazal to see the fallout for herself, in 'Can You Hear Me? Dispatches From The World's Forgotten War'.

Telegram Tales from the Central Telegraph's Office, co-produced by Amandine Devine and Ellen McEvoy tells the story of the 24-hour thriving office that kept Ireland's communication on track during the 60s and 70s. Nowadays we are all familiar with instant communication - e-mail, text, and social media, but there was a time when you had to send a telegram if you wanted to contact a person that didn...

Journalist Aisling Moloney brings us along on her move to Australia and tries to find out why thousands of young people from across Ireland are making the move Down Under. The 28-year-old from Dungarvan in Co Waterford emigrated to Sydney in 2024, after several years of living and working in Dublin as a journalist with RTÉ and as Political Correspondent with the Irish Daily Mail. At the beginning...

Groundbreakers Series Two: Three documentaries that chart the life and work of older women who did not just live through a changing Ireland but who were the changemakers. Three groundbreaking women have made positive changes in academia, engineering, the environment, and social justice. These women are known and highly regarded and loved within their area of expertise, but they are not known by th...

Groundbreakers Series Two: Three documentaries that chart the life and work of older women who did not just live through a changing Ireland but who were the changemakers. Three groundbreaking women have made positive changes in academia, engineering, the environment, and social justice. These women are known and highly regarded and loved within their area of expertise, but they are not known by th...

Groundbreakers Series Two: Three documentaries that chart the life and work of older women who did not just live through a changing Ireland but who were the changemakers. Three groundbreaking women have made positive changes in academia, engineering, the environment, and social justice. These women are known and highly regarded and loved within their area of expertise, but they are not known by th...

'Milk to North Kerry is like Oil to the Arabs’, produced and narrated by Mary Lavery Carrig, tells the story of the early days of Kerry Co-Op, a company established in North Kerry 50 years ago, laying roots for the multinational global giant we know today as Kerry PLC. Interviewees are Billy Keane, Eamon Barry, Hugh Friel, Denis Brosnan, Tom O’Connor, Pat Golden and Tom O’Sullivan. They all recall...

A father and his 14-year-old daughter set out on a journey across Japan to discover why Irish traditional and Celtic music have become fused into Japanese culture. In recent years, Nihonjin (Japanese people) have picked up fiddles, whistles, bazoukis and uilleann pipes, and begun playing Irish traditional music. Now Japanese musicians are bringing their take on trad back to us in Ireland. Pavel an...

Eirsat-1: Ireland’s First Satellite is the remarkable story of a group of young Irish scientists and engineers who are determined to make Ireland a space-faring nation – by designing, building and sending Ireland’s first satellite into space. Eirsat-1 is Ireland’s very first spacecraft, a research satellite that passes over our heads six times a day as it orbits the earth. Produced and presented b...

‘45 Years of Listening’ tells the story of the Dublin Lesbian Line – an essential, landmark community-led resource – through a collection of personal reflections from one of the original founders, and current volunteers. Dublin Lesbian Line was founded in 1979 – a time in Ireland when homosexuality was invisible, unmentionable, and profoundly isolating – to provide a way for gay/queer/bi/questioni...