Oh, Those Lovely Irish Lads

It is the time of year when snuggling up with some knitting and a good movie has much to recommend itself. Since I am madly knitting away on my Shawl of Falling Leaves and Shooting Stars in order to include it in the knitting book I have been spending a good bit of time in front of the television as I work. This thanks to two recent Netflix discoveries, a couple of Irish mini-series that sucked me in and kept me fascinated from beginning to end. I posted a couple days ago about Toby Stephens in Jane Eyre and I have rhapsodized here before about my appreciation for “beasts” --- those bad boys we love despite everything. Well, here are two more to add to the collection:

Liam Cunningham as Mossie Sheehan in Falling for A Dancer

Smolder? You want to talk about smolder? Mossie Sheehan is the quintessence of smoldering passion. His passion is directed toward Elizabeth, the 19 year old bride of his older cousin and neighbor Neely Scollard with whom, surprise, surprise, he has a long-standing feud. Poor Elizabeth has gotten herself in to this unwanted marriage because the little minx went and got herself knocked up by a good-for-nothing actor and in 1930s Ireland the choice was Magdalene Laundry or marry someone far way. The thing is despite his inappropriateness as a groom, Neely has four young children and Elizabeth is a sweet and loving girl. Even if she doesn't love Neely she soon grows to deeply love his children and her own when it is born.

As for Mossie, well, he's younger, he's strong, he's single and he can't stop looking at her. I mean he REALLY can't stop looking at her. One of those naughty YouTube video artists created this little compilation from the series and it works fine for me. The series has stunning cinematography and I don't know why this is in black and white but it works just fine.

So there is a teaser for Mossie Sheehan to warm your cold and blustery winter evenings.

Daniel Payne as Ned Andrews in Random Passage

This 2002 Canadian miniseries is 6 hours long and I swear I loved every minute of it. Filmed in Newfoundland, the set they built for it is now a living history site where you can go and learn more about the days of cod fishing in Canada. Set in the early 1800s the story is about a group of Irish immigrants who are forced to put in to Cape Random as winter sets in. It is a small fishing station of six people and the newcomers are most unwelcome. They are all crowded, freezing and starving but their dark evenings are brightened as much as they can be by the entertaining Ned Andrews, a tall, good-natured, red-haired fellow who sings in a lovely voice, plays the penny whistle and tells wonderful stories. Of course, it is also Ned's fault that they are there in the first place because he cheated his employer and got his family kicked out of Ireland.

The first segment is a little confusing because so many stories are being set up at the same time but eventually they all converge and things get really interesting. In the first episode, when the immigrants and the residents of Cape Random are struggling to survive it reminded me a lot of the opening chapters of Joe Garland's wonderful Lone Voyager, about Gloucester seaman Howard Blackburn. The scenes of the immigrants struggling to survive by hunting seals, hauling cod from the sea and salting and drying them on fish flakes could have been set in Gloucester as easily as Newfoundland.

And through it all there is the red-haired Ned, tall and smiling and filled with stories and songs. The role was ably played by Irish musician Daniel Payne and he is irresistible in the part. How can you not love a man with hair that color? There are a number of other interesting men in the series --- all little-known actors except for Colm Meaney whom I only remembered as Chief Miles O'Brien in Star Trek. He is fascinating as a tough man with a secret that prevents him from returning the love of a woman who loves him. A fine tale for a cold winter's night --- in fact, several of them.

Thanks for reading and happy watching.