For Irish eyes Toast St. Paddy with TV, books that celebrate the Emerald Isle Take 5
Posted: 4:37 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 16, 2026

It’s St. Patrick’s Day Tuesday, a holiday honouring the patron saint of Ireland. Originally a religious feast day, it has become a more secular celebration that pays homage to Irish culture in general, with parades, pub crawls and green clothing to evoke the Emerald Isle.

Bars across the city will no doubt be busy, serving up pints of Guinness and drams of whiskey.

But if you think a Tuesday night would be better spent without Celtic reels and copious amounts of alcohol, you can settle into your couch with any of these five suggestions to get a dose of Irish spirit.

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How to Get to Heaven From Belfast

Starring Roisin Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne
Eight episodes, all streaming on Netflix

One only need glance at the names of the lead actors to twig to this series’ Irish bona fides (that final name above is pronounced KEE-lin, by the way).

From Lisa McGee, the creator of Derry Girls (see below), it’s a colourful comedy-thriller about three school friends who discover the fourth member of their friend group has died under somewhat suspicious circumstances. They set about to get to the bottom of her mysterious demise, which digs up a lot of dirt from their collective past.

The comedy here largely arises from the women’s disparate personalities — it’s an enduring friendship, but not without its conflicts — and Dunne is particularly funny as a devout Catholic who’s also a lesbian.

As with Bad Sisters (also see below), there’s a handsome young man to complicate matters — in this case, Darragh Hand as Liam, a cop who becomes embroiled in the friends’ shenanigans.

The conclusion doesn’t quite land (it potentially sets up a second season), but the journey is a total ball.

— Jill Wilson

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Bad Sisters

Starring Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Eve Hewson, Claes Bang
Two seasons, streaming on AppleTV+

Possibly only the Irish could make a show that is both black comedy and thriller.

Bad Sisters is about the close-knit Garvey sisters — sardonic Eva (Sharon Horgan), fragile Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), no-nonsense Ursula (Eva Birthistle), brassy Bibi (Sarah Greene) and baby Becka (Eve Hewson) — who find themselves the subject of a life insurance investigation after Grace’s abusive husband John Paul (Claes Bang) dies suddenly.

It’s no secret the Garvey Girls hated JP and openly fantasized about his murder and even tried to get him a few times, but could one of them have actually (successfully) killed him?

What makes this show tick is the chemistry among the sisters, who are so different from one another and all have rich lives on their own. Come for the dishy murder mystery, stay for the complicated knot of sisterly relations. Also, JP is the woooooorst, a credit, truly, to Bang’s performance. You’ll fantasize about killing him, too.

— Jen Zoratti

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Derry Girls

Starring Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland, Nicola Coughlan, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Dylan Llewellyn
Three seasons streaming on Netflix

The troubles of teenagedom — crushes, grades, independence — play out against The Troubles of Northern Ireland in this funny, heartfelt sitcom from Lisa McGee.

Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James (Michelle’s wee English cousin and the only fella at an all-girls Catholic school) are coming of age during the 1990s. The conflict between the Irish Republican Army and British government has been raging in Derry for nearly 30 years, making checkstops and bombings a normal part of life for the teens and their parents.

The dialogue is fast (subtitles recommended), full of swears and laugh-out-loud funny. Few shows boast an equally stellar cast of protagonists and secondary characters — the crushingly blunt Sister Michael, the painfully boring uncle Colm and the thick-as-bricks aunt Sarah are a few favourites.

Derry Girls will draw you in with its wit and humour, while delivering some truly gut-wrenching moments. Life carries on despite it all.

— Eva Wasney

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Walking with Ghosts: A Memoir

By Gabriel Byrne

On stage and screen, Gabriel Byrne has earned a reputation as a contemplative, brooding master of his craft. The star of more than 80 films, numerous TV shows and theatrical productions, the 75-year-old Byrne is one of Hollywood’s most consistently engaging actors.

Byrne became a known entity on this side o’ the pond thanks to his roles in 1990’s Coen brothers film Miller’s Crossing and Bryan Singer’s 1995 thriller The Usual Suspects. On the smaller screen, recent roles have included a psychotherapist in HBO’s In Treatment and the Fox/Studio Canal sci-fi series War of the Worlds.

In Walking with Ghosts, Byrne (who now lives in Maine) effortlessly weaves childhood memories of growing up in Ireland with more recent episodes of his life as an established actor in moving, poetic prose and beautiful turns of phrase. A failed attempt to become a priest led to his subsequent foray into acting — first struggling, then wildly successful.

Byrne’s skill as a memoirist is practically on par with his captivating work in film, television and theatre. Like his work on Broadway and in Hollywood, his writing ivokes a beautiful sense of nostalgia, melancholy and vulnerability.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

— Ben Sigurdson

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Moone Boy

Starring: David Rawle, Chris O’Dowd, Peter McDonald, Deirdre O’ Kane, Aoife Duffin
Streaming free on Hoopla

Imagination and 1980s optimism run feckin wild and free in the town of Boyle, where oblivious, sweet-hearted youngster Martin Moone (David Rawle) cavorts with his firsty-lasty imaginary friend, Sean Murphy (an invisible grown-up played by series creator Chris O’Dowd, an Irish scene-stealer in Bridesmaids and Girls.)

Compared favourably during its three-season run to The Wonder Years and The Goldbergs, it also feels like a cross-Atlantic cousin to Son of a Critch, which deals in similar domestic humour.

Compared with its American forebears, Moone Boy is more charming, less saccharine and more realistic, despite, and maybe because of, its fantastical conceit — plus, it has a ripping theme song, the Sultans of Ping’s Where’s Me Jumper?

O’Dowd and Rawle — along with lowkey indie legend Paddy Considine (Submarine, In America) and Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks — reteamed last year on Small Town, Big Story, a series about a Hollywood film crew rolling into a small Irish town. Familiar terrain? Maybe. But home is where O’Dowd’s heartiest work resides.

— Ben Waldman