I've seen lots of TV dramas and reckon, usually after someone is shot, the most heard name is O'God.

Is that Irish?

TV drama! Isn't that the stuff on the box where the people run around & shout a lot.

After I realized that good drama ABC style had lots of moody people staring silently, & meaningfully at a camera, followed by lots of very loud shouting, I stopped watching any of it. I found no fun once I understood the formula.

Tell me, is this still the system, & does the ABC still rate the quality of the drama by how many decibels the shouting reaches, higher the better?

Hasbeen, you're thinking of Mrs Brown's Boys.
The ABC has had some decent drama of late, I caught bit of "The time of our lives" and though not a fan of TV in general I sat through a whole episode and I pronounce it to be "excellent".
But, as ever, the best drama is found in novels.

There's been quite a few entertaining dramas
on TV lately. The Bletchley Circle,
Midsommer Murders, Ripper Street, Underbelly:Squizzy,
to name just a few. I didn't notice any Irish named
"baddies" that stood out. However, I'll have to pay
greater attention in future and not get lost in the
story line.

These stories just reflect the period in which they were written. The Irish were often perceived as 'poor Irish' and untrustworthy especially by the privileged English aristocracy and middle classes. It is ironic really when one considers the evils and arrogance of English colonialism and then to demean those who essentially oppose it or become victim to it.

If you read a bit about American History, the Irish did create the first mafia groups (the Irish mob) particularly around Chicago, New York and Boston well before the Italians dominated organised crime.

You might be right, Doog - I'd keep an eye on Irish stew futures if I was you, I think they're already going up - that Turnbull, he's an Irish-stew master.

It's interesting how stereotypes and cultural 'baddies' always seem to be a couple of generations behind the times. The Irish haven't been 'Irish' in the sense of ultra-criminal for at least fifty years or more, here or in the US.

It's ironic, I have at least nine ancestors who were convicts (which puts me up amongst the bunyip aristocracy), but only one ancestor who was Irish (Fermanagh), as far as I can tell, and he (arrived 1844) was one of the few who wasn't a convict - probably the most boring of the lot. Others, Welsh, Scottish, even English, seemed to have lived much more violent and colorful lives. Epigenetics would suggest that I have inherited all of their bad traits, but my Irish ancestors may have redeemed me. Isn't ancestry fascinating ?

Joe