Great Irish Journeys
New four-part documetary series about famous Irish journeys and the impact they have had on the island and its people.
Taking the journeys are: Grainne Seoige; who will follow in the footsteps of Thomas Carlyle and Charles Gavan Duffy; Evelyn O’Rourke traces the march from West Cork to Leitrim in the depths of winter in one of the last great stories of Gaelic Ireland; Dáithi O’Sé looks at the story of the Great Military Road; and John Creedon retraces Michael Collins’ final 24 hours and his journey into West Cork that fateful day.
Episode one
Carlyle, Duffy & the Great Famine (1849)
In July 1849 Scottish writer and staunch Unionist Thomas Carlyle came to Ireland at the invitation of his friend, nationalist Charles Gavan Duffy. Together this unlikely couple spent a month touring Ireland. In this documentary Grainne Seoige follows in their footsteps and using Carlyle’s book as a guide, sets out to see what can be leant about the famine by looking at the tragedy from the perspective of the ruling elite.