The life and times of one of Ireland’s most important writers.
Still writing at 83, Ben Kiely, the grand old man of Irish literature, with ten novels, countless master short stories, and a long career as a journalist and broadcaster behind him, is something of a legend in his own lifetime. One of Ireland’s most important and influential writers, this film follows the life and times of one of Brendan Behan’s closest friends and drinking buddies, and over half a century in a changing Ireland.
Key interviews with his friends, including Seamus Heaney, John Montague and Tom Kilroy, explore his childhood and the impact on him of partition, censorship and the Troubles. The programme celebrates and investigates the achievement, sociability and Chaucerian love of life of this fascinating figure, at ease in many social situations, yet often masking his real feelings and private life from view.