Nobody asked for a Paudfather Part 2, but Virgin Media One has provided it anyway. Having had 15 seconds of social media hyper-fame on the back of his appearance on The Traitors Ireland, retired prison officer Paudie Moloney is back on the airwaves as a new cast member of Gogglebox Ireland (Virgin Media One, 9pm) alongside his son (and fellow Traitors contestant) Andrew and daughter Aoife.
Moloney is from Kilmallock in Limerick, but his contribution to Gogglebox is filmed in Ovens, Co Cork, at the home of a family member. This has nothing to do with his Traitors’ celebrity but instead with the fact that he worked as a prison officer for 30 years and would prefer that details of his place of residence not be beamed to the nation.
Paudie, Aoife and Andrew make for an endearing everyday triumvirate of 60-something father and grown-up kids. They start by addressing the controversy over Andrew referring to his pater as “daddy” on The Traitors.
“I didn’t realise how divisive it would be lads,” he says. “A man of 33 years.”
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Paudie, however, doesn’t think his son has anything to be embarrassed about. “I called my father daddy all my life,” he says. “The Dubs wouldn’t understand. It’s ‘ma’ and ‘da’ except in Dublin 4, where it’s ‘mum’ and ‘dad’.”
Aoife concurs: “We’re all mammy and daddy in the rest of Ireland.”
Gogglebox was a big hit in the UK, where it launched on Channel 4 in 2013 – spawning spin-offs and the inevitable celebrity editions (featuring Liam Gallagher, Jeremy Corbyn, etc) and making a star of Scarlett Moffatt.
The concept is that instead of watching television, we watch average families watching television. Alas, the Irish edition comes with an aura of Marmite – there is a degree of swearing (though nothing like Traitors Ireland). For some reason, Virgin Media is more of the opinion that Irish people sit down to watch nothing but British telly.
[ The Traitors craic, wit and wolfhounds has restored my pride in IrelandOpens in new window ]
This week, the fare includes news bulletins about Prince Andrew being stripped of his Royal Titles and a Channel 4 documentary about artificial intelligence. There is some Irish stuff – several families are agape at the documentary Made of Stone, about a middle-aged influencer from Waterford seeking to revive the ancient Irish practice of stone lifting. “It’s cute when older men and women find their niche,” says Kayleigh from Dublin. “He’s going around finding stones.”
There is also much incredulity at Channel 4’s Will AI Take My Job? – fronted by a computer-generated presenter and featuring a segment in which an AI GP meets patients. “I remember when I had to drop my pants for the first time for a doctor. It was the most uncomfortable moment in my life,” says David from Dundalk, Co Louth. His couch companion, Sarah, is unimpressed. “What do you think a robot is going to do?”
Over 10 years the Gogglebox format has become staid, raising the question of whether random members of the public monologuing about ITV quizshows is really the entertainment we need in our lives. But the Moloneys enjoy their further adventures in light entertainment. Given the continued hype around The Traitors, Virgin Media One will presumably have received a ratings bump to boot.
