Quirke

[Rodo]

Has anybody watched this yet? I have it on tape.

I ask because I have seen that there have been complaints again about sound, and also about poor lighting.

[Osc]

I loved it (we have seen the whole series over here some months ago) and actually have just finished reading one of the books. Gabriel Byrne is so well cast, and Dublin looks as dull and dreary as it must have been in the 1950s. I think the lighting thing is deliberate to create the atmosphere of Dublin at the time and we had no problems with the sound.

[Rodo]

You are the first person to say something good about it! Most people gave up on it. Hmmm....I will probably save it and make up my mind later.

[TheOstrich]

We saw it; I quite enjoyed it, Rodo, whilst Mrs O was a bit more ho-hum.

It was slightly difficult to follow the accents (could have done without the background music at times), but in contrast the plot was easy to follow, Mrs O (on the couch) predicting many of the developments before they happened! Nothing wrong in that ....

And yes, it was set in a dark and dreary, rainy 1950's or 60's Dublin - effectively it was a "noir" but that was quite acceptable in context.

Gabriel Byrne extremely well cast, as Osc said. We'd certainly be watching the rest of the series.

I did wonder once or twice if "Crimea Street" was the same set as used in "Ripper Street" ......

Overall, from an Irish drama point of view, I'd say better than "Jack Taylor", not as good as "Single-Handed" - I don't know if you'd agree, Osc ....

[Osc]

Never saw Jack Taylor and only a couple of episodes of Singlehanded, Ossie.........never saw Ripper Street either, come to think of it, but as I understand it was filmed in Dublin also, I'm sure locations would be used again. A useless fact you might like to know - the author of the Quirke books, John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, lives about 10 houses away from us on the same street!

[Kaz]

We only watched a little bit - all drama lately seems to be so filmed to look soooo dark!!!! I know that is the genre but we find it unwatchable

Must be interesting to spot places you know though Osc

[Kaz]

A useless fact you might like to know - the author of the Quirke books, John Banville writing as Benjamin Black, lives about 10 houses away from us on the same street

What is he like Osc, have you met him? We saw him interviewed on BBC Breakfast and he came over as rather arrogant Perhaps he was just uncomfortable being interviewed live.......................

[Paddypix]

I really liked it too, although I agree that the Dublin scenes were very dark and dreary. The accents were no problem to me, although as Osc knows the Dublin and Belfast accents are nothing alike. We are probable just more used to hearing the Dublin accent than those of you in England. I agree that the plot was easy to follow and I really enjoyed it. Such a nice change (if nice is the right word considering the subject matter) from unnecessarily complicated plots with all sorts of twists and turns.

I didn't know John Banville still lived in Dublin Osc. You live in exalted company. I didn't know that he wrote as Benjamin Black until I Googled him yesterday because I was confused when I looked at the Quirke books on Amazon, expecting to see Banville as the author and finding Black instead.

[Osc]

He lived around the corner from us with his wife, who I think is now his ex-wife - but he still seems to be around a lot and always seems to be on good terms with her. I would mainly know him as a customer in the post office, and can understand how he might appear arrogant. I used to think he was a bit snooty, but then heard him interviewed on the radio one time, and he had a very dry killer sense of humour - I remarked on this to the ex and she said that so many people just never see that side of him. I tried harder with him at work then and I think basically he is rather quiet, very intelligent, and probably lives in a little world of his own. Paddy, it sort of amuses me that for so long, people didn't really know that he was Benjamin Black, so you have to wonder how he feels about the way the books are named now as JB writing as BB - surely the point of an alter ego is to write different kinds of books without readers realising it is you

I've only read one of his books apart from the Quirke one, The Book of Evidence, which was heavy going but beautifully written - I do find him rather wordy. But there is no doubt that the Quirke series does capture a Dublin that did exist.

Oh, and Paddy - we lived in London in the '70s and you would be surprised how many people thought we had the same accent as people from Belfast!!!

[Workingman]

I missed the start, but saw a trailer yesterday evening and think that I might have to do some catching up.