An acclaimed RTÉ radio play about how late broadcaster Terry Wogan helped Ireland's image during The Troubles is to be repeated on RTÉ Radio 1 on St Stephen's Day.
Wogan’s Sweet Sixteen by entertainment journalist Kenneth Sweeney stars Irish actor Al McKenna sounding uncannily like the Irish radio icon and is set when Terry had just started working on BBC radio during the wave of anti-Irish feeling that was sparked by republican violence.
The 40-minute play, which was a runner-up at the PJ O'Connor Radio Drama Awards last year, will be aired for a second time just two weeks since its debuted and after it received critical acclaim.
Featuring prominently is the Irish music that Terry played on the BBC, including When You Were Sweet Sixteen by Davy Arthur and The Furey Brothers and Frank Kelly’s Christmas Countdown - two songs which the celebrated broadcaster helped get on Top Of The Pops.
Sweeney says that what the Irish suffered in Britain during the decades of IRA bombs is a mirror image of what Muslims endure today, with demand for Irish people in the UK to account and apologise for the actions of a few extremists.
"The hardest part for anyone Irish living in Britain then was going into work the day after an IRA bomb," he says.
"You’d feel all eyes were on you, hear colleagues talk about it in the canteen. There was shame. What must it have been like for Terry, going on BBC Radio 2, straight after a news bulletin about an IRA attack?"
Wogan’s Sweet Sixteen airs on Stephen’s Day on RTÉ Radio One at 8.00pm.
It can also be heard here.
