This goes back over a hundred years for a drama set in the midst of the ‘Spanish Flu’.

During the 1918 ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic, a desperate father brings his sick daughter to find the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny.

‘1918 Ireland: Having just lost his wife from Spanish Flu, a desperate father vows to bring his sick daughter through a politically divided Ireland to find the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny, a place rumoured to cure the illness.’

Based on the written accounts by the Irish during the Spanish Flu, this story is a fictionalised version of a local Meath legend. In it, a father (Sean Sheridan) brought his sick daughter (Mary Sheridan) in a cart to the ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny, Co Leitrim. The cart got stuck and the horse pulling the cart was shot by a roving gang. Sean had to bring her the rest of the way on foot. This ‘Miracle Well’ in Gubacreeny was apparently blessed by the local priest and anyone that visited it was cured of the ‘Big Flu’.

Drama on Newstalk presents SANDWICH, an original radio comedy-drama that follows a frazzled single mum, Eleanor, who is plunged into turmoil when her eco-activist teen daughter, Hazel, is arrested for holding the Minister of the Environment hostage live on TV. While trying to dissuade the police from charging her, Eleanor learns that her estranged and difficult mother with dementia, Phyllis, has a crisis of her own and can no longer live alone. As Eleanor is an only child, she has no choice but to drag a resistant Hazel across the country to her backwater home town of Craughbeg to look after Phyllis. Eleanor hates being back and has made a promise to Hazel (and herself) that this arrangement is temporary – just enough time to find a suitable nursing home for Phyllis. Craughbeg holds too many painful memories, not least Eleanor’s shameful secret – the identity of Hazel’s biological father. How will the three generations cope with this new living arrangement and will Eleanor manage to keep the secrets of the past buried? Sandwich looks at the multigenerational squeeze, a predicament that an increasing number of people, mostly women, find themselves in – having to care for both children and elderly parents. This is the Sandwich Generation.

SANDWICH was written and directed by Anna Merritt & Deborah Wiseman. It was produced and edited by Amy O’Dwyer. The cast are Deborah Wiseman, Evanne Kilgallon, Deirdre Monaghan, Donncha O’Dea and Mary Murray.

Funded by Coimisiún na Mean with the Television Licence Fee.

Drama on Newstalk presents a new drama produced by Jonathan Farrelly and Katerina Economides. Lansdowne ‘73 is a fictionalised version of historical events.

ln January 1973, the English Rugby Team came to play lreland at Lansdowne, nearly a year to the day of Bloody Sunday... even though they were warned there could be a bomb in the stadium.

This is a fictionalised version and an alternate history of that fateful game.

Two Garda are tasked with defusing the bomb before it goes off… but in order to save the day, they need to learn to tolerate each other first!

Lansdowne ‘73 was produced by Jonathan Farrelly and Katerina Economides. The programme was funded by the Coimisiún na Meán with the television licence fee.

Acting Credits: JP Wright, Olivia Kenna, Gary Kenna, Katerina Economides, Marty AVG, Jonny Farrelly, Mark Manning and Michael Ryan.