Laura Slattery

RTÉ to boycott Eurovision Song Contest over Israel RTÉ will not participate in or broadcast next year's Eurovision Song Contest after organiser the European Broadcasting Union confirmed today that Israel will be allowed to take part.

Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have all withdrawn from #Eurovision2026. Slovenia likely to drop out too. www.rte.ie/entertainmen...

It’s a pity that Kelly Brook has been voted off #IACGMOOH — she was a great narrator of events in the Bush Telegraph and the show needs someone like that.

The BBC’s decision to broadcast that pointless, nonsensical, agent-devised cash-grab spectacle of a tennis match between Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios is farcical and pathetic.

My column today is on the risk of TV shows outstaying their welcome: I love #Pluribus on Apple TV. But will I still love it when it reaches season four?
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

‘Parasocial’ relationships are very 2025 apparently. They’re also perfectly normal Enjoying the feeling of connection with well-known people you have never met is not inherently ‘unhealthy’

My column today: Parasocial relationships are very 2025 apparently. They’re also perfectly normal
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

It’s happened again. I find a headline in The Irish Times archive from November-December 2019, think “I forgot that happened”, then click on the story and it turns out I wrote it. Anything immediately pre-pandemic just got pushed out of my head months later.

I loved the second season of #Obituary — so many audacious lines and great performances — and I’ll be sad if that’s the end of Elvira, Emerson and co, but it feels like it might be given where they left it.

My column today: You don’t have to understand every word of artists such as Rosalía and Gwenno to love them
www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer

A beautiful tribute to Observer journalist Rachel Cooke, whose writing I loved. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

BBC’s near permacrisis is a cautionary tale for RTÉ about what can happen if editorial oversight starts to drift
www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

I don’t want to kick the BBC when it’s down, but it broadcast a three-part #GirlbandsForever series that failed to get an interview with any member of Girls Aloud so therefore chose to erase them completely. There should be a parliamentary inquiry.

Hollywood’s obsession with reissued films makes cinemas feel like museums with popcorn Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the cinema, along comes another anniversary rerelease

My column today: Hollywood’s obsession with reissued films makes cinemas feel like museums with popcorn
www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

RTÉ’s Radio 1 reboot: ‘We weren’t aware that this level of a shake-up was on the cards’ It’s the biggest change to the station’s weekday line-up since 1999. But what does that really mean?

My preview piece on RTÉ’s Radio 1 reboot, which starts on Monday: ‘We weren’t aware that this level of a shake-up was on the cards’
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

That was absolutely incredible — I feel like I was totally fooled by the edit all along. Brilliant work. #TheCelebrityTraitors

That third season of #BlueLights was great stuff — so much tension. You know something is probably shaping up to be good when Michael Smiley joins the cast, and so it proved.

I loved the “that’s television” line on this week’s #GoggleboxIRL after a hilarious sequence about Hollyoaks. But what I loved even more was the way the episode showed what people sometimes forget: that #Gogglebox isn’t ultimately about television, it’s about us.

Matt Cooper on the Dunnes dynasty: ‘Ben was obsessed with proving himself’ Broadcaster and journalist on writing about the Dunne dynasty, his podcast with Ivan Yates and his future at Today FM

Matt Cooper on the Dunnes dynasty: ‘Ben was obsessed with proving himself’
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Miriam O’Callaghan: ‘Receptiongate was the most stressful moment of my entire career’ This is her life: the RTÉ presenter on loving her job, her ‘red-line feminist issue’ and how the death of her sister Anne changed everything

My interview with Miriam O’Callaghan as she publishes her memoir: ‘Receptiongate was the most stressful moment of my entire career’
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

Crying my eyes out at #OnceUponATimeInSpace and they haven’t even used the word Challenger yet.

YouTube video by nothinking4meman The Zombies - She's Not There

I loved hearing She’s Not There so prominently at the end of this week’s Slow Horses — just the perfect verse to pre-chorus to chorus transitions wrapped in a classic Sixties sound, everything ambling along right up until it isn’t. youtube.com/watch?v=_2hX...

This week’s column: Art deco is 100 years old. Isn’t it time we gave it some love?
www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

David Gillick: ‘I was angry and bitter but I also had fear - if I’m not running, what the hell do I do?’ The national men’s 400m record holder on the ‘cutthroat’ world of athletics, life after the track and his medal-worthy interviews with a new generation of Irish stars

The presidential election is done and dusted. Move on by reading my interview with David Gillick: ‘I was angry and bitter but I also had fear - if I’m not running, what the hell do I do?’
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

David Gillick: ‘I was angry and bitter but I also had fear - if I’m not running, what the hell do I do?’ The national men’s 400m record holder on the ‘cutthroat’ world of athletics, life after the track and his medal-worthy interviews with a new generation of Irish stars

The presidential election is done and dusted. Move on by reading my interview with David Gillick: ‘I was angry and bitter but I also had fear - if I’m not running, what the hell do I do?’
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

I’m doing pretty well on #UniversityChallenge tonight. I can’t prove it, but I am.

David McCullagh: ‘There’s plenty of people in the long grass hoping I’ll fall flat on my face’ The RTÉ presenter on his new book, From Crown to Harp, taking over Radio 1’s Today show and what people say to him on the street

David McCullagh: ‘There’s plenty of people in the long grass hoping I’ll fall flat on my face’
www.irishtimes.com/life-style/p...

RTÉ’s quest to find the next Derry Girls, Young Offenders or Mrs Brown’s Boys The broadcaster is seeking proposals for sitcoms that are ‘accessible, inclusive, mainstream’ and funny. What could go wrong?

My column today: RTÉ has plans for sitcoms that are ‘accessible, inclusive, mainstream’ and funny. What could go wrong?
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

These are the most emotional speeches I’ve ever seen in my life. 🎾

This Rinderknech-Vacherot final in Shanghai is the best thing that’s happened in men’s tennis all year. #BattleOfTheCousins

The Graham Norton Show is 50 minutes of chatshow alchemy delivered with aplomb Some people hate laughter. But Norton’s chatshow loyalists will be relieved by the BBC’s new deal

My column today is on the BBC’s new three-year deal with a source of joy in my life: The Graham Norton Show is 50 minutes of chatshow alchemy delivered with aplomb #TheGNShow
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

Sunday night fear is real. #Aras25