The Plastic Podcasts

Pauline Nevins is the author of Fudge , The Downs and Ups of a Bi-Racial, Half-Irish, British War Baby. Born the only mixed race child in a family of eight white children, hers is a story of family secrets, revelations and reunions. Raised in Wellingborough, and now a resident of California,. Pauline’s story has been featured in two exhibitions organised by The Mixed Museum , one in conjunction wi...

Jo Neary is an actor, writer, comedian, artist, puppeteer, singer…the list goes on. Nominated for a Perrier Award in 2004, she is arguably best known as Judith in the BBC series “Ideal”, starring Johnny Vegas. Born in Coventry, but raised in Cornwall, to an Irish father and Welsh mother, she talks accents, growing up below the poverty line, going untouched by school bullies, her mercurial Irish gr...

Writer, journalist, editor and PR guru, Adrian Lunney graduated in English at Cambridge and was EMAP’s feature writer of the year in 1991. He now runs Adrian Lunney PR. Born to Northern Irish parents in West London in 1960, Adrian’s story covers the rise of The Troubles on both sides of the water as well as left wing activism, the Catholic Church, the joys of Rory Gallagher and becoming reconciled...

Patrick Gaul, Angela Billing and Niall Gibney of Liverpool Irish Centre talk about facing the challenges of Covid and staging virtual performances as well as the shopping lists you can fill at their Irish Shop. They also discuss the history of both city and centre, the question of being Irish, English or Liverpudlian, the centre’s role in the wider community and the rise of the Irish-themed bar in...

Maureen (“Mo”) O’Connell and Mary Tynan are actor-writer-directors who went from Ireland to England for professional reasons and who both returned to Dublin and Galway respectively in 2015/2016. Mo is an award-winning film maker whose feature “ Spa Weekend ” is currently being feted with awards wherever it goes. She is also the founder of the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival Mary is the c...

Dr Laurence Cox is an associate professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth. He is also one of the three authors of “The Irish Buddhist” , the story of U Dhammaloka and his clashes with the British Empire in the early 20 th century. We talk about Dhammaloka (born Laurence Carroll in Dublin, or so we think), Buddhism among the Irish, going native, Kipling’s “Kim”, the I...

Nathan Mannion is the senior curator at EPIC, which stands proudly on Custom House Quay in Dublin. Founded by Neville Isdell in 2016, EPIC tells the story of Ireland’s emigrant people throughout the ages. IOT’s been visited by some 750,000 people in its first four years and was voted Europe’s Leading Tourist Attraction for an unprecedented two years running in 2019 and 2020 at the World Travel Awa...

One of the country’s leading stand-ups, Zoe Lyons tones’ have been heard on everything from Clive Anderson’s Chat Show to Just A Minute. A fixture on the comedy circuit, her 2007 debut show “Fight or Flight” saw her nominated as Best Newcomer at Edinburgh Fringe. A second generation member of the diaspora, she recorded a personal documentary series “Zoe Lyons: Passport Paddy” for Radio 4 in 2018....

Rosemary is the founder and former CEO of AMRI, the Association of Mixed Race Irish, a campaign and support group with members in Britain, Ireland, the US and China. Born in Ireland to a white mother and Ghanaian father, her childhood was a series of foster homes and industrial schools. After moving to London at the age of 20, she gained a Masters in Social Policy and worked in Social Housing befo...

Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu is, in her own words, “a black British woman of Irish-Nigerian heritage, thank you very much”. She is an activist, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at University of West London, where she created the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice. Her memoir, “MIxed Blessings From A Cambridge Union” tells of how her parents met in 19...

Journalist and writer Sheron Boyle – along with chairman Liam Thompson and manager Tommy McLoughlin – share stories of Leeds Irish Centre and talk about what it’s meant, not just to the diaspora but to the whole of the community, as it marks its golden anniversary with a book . Tales of Gabby Logan, Chris Moyles and Oasis abound – along with the finest three words ever uttered on a podcast. Plus p...

Poet and performer SuAndi, OBE, is a third-generation member of the diaspora with a grandmother from Wicklow and a Nigerian father. She is the freelance Cultural Director of the National Black Arts Alliance , has been awarded honorary degrees by Lancaster University and Manchester Metropolitan University and a Lifetime Award by Manchester BME Network. Her one-woman show, The Story of M , is a trib...

A pleasure: a genuine pleasure and privilege to talk to the poet and author of “Famished”. In the usual freewheeling Plastic Podcast style we get to talk about voices and finding your own, about Covid and The Potato Famine, about America and Northern Ireland. Plus a genuinely beautiful idea. All of this and Tony Murray goes rogue with The Plastic Pedestal. What more is there to ask?

A truly marvellous chat with the charming and thoughtful Tony Murray. Director of the Irish Writers in London Summer School and curator of the Archive of the Irish in Britain. We talk punk, walking the streets during lockdown and the nature of the London Irish. Plus Niamh Lear raises Samantha Barry onto The Plastic Pedestal

After a week away we’re back in full flow with Niamh Lear, whose current PhD thesis at Newcastle University studies the curious phenomenon of “Passport Paddies.” Reviving the spirit of the salon, we talk geography, history and Boyzone, plus our unexpected family connection. Also, Jess Moriarty places the legend that is Edna O’Brien on The Plastic Pedestal…

The full plastic of our interview with Jess Moriarty, writer and academic. We talk writing courses, grandmothers, Brexit, Covid, seeing her dad literally play God. Oh, and witches… Plus Craig Jordan-Baker raises Moy McCrory onto the Plastic Pedestal…

Writer, lecturer and self-confessed folkie, Craig Jordan-Baker tells all on the eve of the launch of his debut novel, The Nacullians (published by Epoque Press ). We talk grandparents, Nazis, Flann O’Brien, Samuel Beckett and fantasy islands. Plus Doug Devaney adds another Plastic Pedestal…

The full plastic with Nick: singer, songwriter, playwright, documentarian and anarchist. It’s a freewheeling, at times hard-hitting, discussion, drawing in music, politics, medical care, home, hearth, family and an old bloke taking a dump on the street.

Actor Paul Moriarty has been a constant in our lives, whether with The Gentle Touch, Ashes To Ashes, Pride and Prejudice or as George Palmer in EastEnders. He has also had a distinguished theatre career, working with Caryl Churchill, Alan Bennett, Peter Brook and Lindsay Anderson, to name just four. Not bad for a boy from County Kilburn… Plus Bridget Whelan raises Shane McGowan onto The Plastic Pe...

Journalist, novelist and teacher, Bridget Whelan’s career took her from Catholic weekly The Universe to working with Paul Foot on The Daily Mirror and beyond. It’s a fascinating story and in it we discuss changes not only for the Irish in Britain but also in the role of newspapers in this country, as well as the courtship of her parents in postwar Britain and the meaning of that deceptively simple...

The daughter of Brian and the niece of Brendan, Janet Behan is a playwright, actress and seaside gardener. She’s also thoughtful, funny and occasionally potty mouthed*. We talk Brendan and the IRA, Brian and the Communist Party, republicanism, booze and fame, typecasting, women writing in their sixties and her plays “Brendan At The Chelsea”, “Why Shouldn’t I Go” and the forthcoming “Kathleen and M...

Trade union activist, campaigner, playwright and performer, Paddy O’Keeffe has worn a number of hats since arriving in England in 1964. This is the full bells and whistles podcast, and is a fascinating talk with a man blessed with optimism and humanity. Plus, John O’Donoghue raises Brian Behan onto The Plastic Pedestal

Poet, author, publisher, academic. We’re proud to have John as our first interviewee. This is the podcast with all the bells and whistles. In it, John discusses literature and depression, the London Irish and winding your neck in, and lock-down eyebrows. Featuring our first ever Plastic Pedestal (not to be found on the mini-casts). John’s award-winning memoir “Sectioned: A Life Interrupted” can be...