Say Nothing .. but watch the show
One of the best TV shows in a year is worth your time.
As long time readers of this substack know, I spent about three weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland in the summer of 2023. The distinction of calling out “Northern Ireland” is not something I think most Americans do intuitively, and I was fairly aware that the strife that had - and still does - rankle the country was not something I understood nearly enough.
I’m old, so I lived through what has been called “The Troubles” which, I think, is not nearly a suitable enough description for what occurred throughout Northern Ireland, Ireland and the UK in general for decades. I knew that we would be staying in Derry, but wasn’t quite sure why sometimes I saw the name of that city referred to as Londonderry, and so forth.
Both because of this and due to numerous recommendations, I picked up Patrick Radden Keefe’s book, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. It is stunningly good, which tells the story of all the fighting and history but frames it around a woman’s abduction, Jean McConville, who was pulled from her flat one night leaving her ten children alone for decades wondering what had happened. Keefe expands this to tell the story of key participants in the IRA such as Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, Dolours Price, and Gerry Adams.
Where the book - and the TV show - got me is by both making these IRA members protagonists but not remotely trying to paint them as heroes or flawless or anything even close.
When I grew up, I knew of the IRA as a “terrorist” organization - and certainly, their bombings and murders, etc., qualified them as exactly that. I never bothered to learn why they were so deadset on their fight, or what was at stake. I went to a few bars in San Francisco that had paintings of people like Gerry Adams behind the bar and was told in no uncertain terms NOT to talk about them, etc.
But at the end of the day, I really didn’t understand how much this was a war - and how despite the “low” amount of casualties compared to massive wars across countries, how much it impacted everyone in Northern Ireland, and elsewhere in the UK where the threat of the IRA was a daily concern and often a reality.
The book is simply brilliant - and I can’t recommend it enough. And while there’s no way a nine-episode TV series can encapsulate a 400+ page book, I’m not sure what this should have done otherwise to bring it to the screen. The acting, direction, casting, writing … it’s all SO spot on. With one or two exceptions, these are actors you haven’t seen before and with zero exceptions, there’s not a miss among them.
Of course, this isn’t a FUN show per se, as it’s about brutality and hardship and children losing their parents, etc. But it’s so compelling, and artfully done. One thing that baffles me is how good the casting is when showing different actors playing the same (real-life) person. Not only do they look so similar, but they look like an older, more haunted version of their prior self. It’s uncanny in the best possible way.
Along with “Shogun,” this is easily on my list of favorite TV shows of the year. It might not leave you with a smile on your face but I do think the sheer craftmanship will be something almost everyone will enjoy. Go check it out.