Best known for the hit comedy MRS. BROWN'S BOYS, Brendan O'Carroll returns to his home city of Dublin to give a highly personal account of the origins, development and ultimate collapse of the Easter 1916 Rebellion.
At least two of his relatives were intimately involved in the uprising as members of an ad hoc Irish Nationalist group that took over the Post Office in the center of the city and read out a proclamation in favor of independence from the colonial power. O'Carroll made the point that his relatives were ordinary people, not especially inspired politically, but who harbored lingering resentments over the way in which the Irish had been treated, especially in the previous century as a result of the catastrophic Potato Famine of the 1840s, which caused thousands of deaths and forced many people to emigrate to the United States to survive.
The program made the valid point that at the time the rebel took place, many of Dublin's citizens were not especially in favor of active defiance. They were much more likely to advocate Home Rule. What changed popular attitudes was the brutal way in which the British government dealt with the rebels, once they had surrendered. Many of them were executed in cold blood - even the infirm among them. If the British thought that brutal punishment would lead to the independent spirit being extinguished, they could not be more wrong; in the wake of the Rebellion the move towards self-government became more and more inevitable, leading to the Government of Ireland Act in 1922.
O'Carroll was an informed yet emotionally involved host, gratefully acknowledging the greetings of those who recognized him in the street, yet always aware of the significance of his historical quest.
At least two of his relatives were intimately involved in the uprising as members of an ad hoc Irish Nationalist group that took over the Post Office in the center of the city and read out a proclamation in favor of independence from the colonial power. O'Carroll made the point that his relatives were ordinary people, not especially inspired politically, but who harbored lingering resentments over the way in which the Irish had been treated, especially in the previous century as a result of the catastrophic Potato Famine of the 1840s, which caused thousands of deaths and forced many people to emigrate to the United States to survive.
The program made the valid point that at the time the rebel took place, many of Dublin's citizens were not especially in favor of active defiance. They were much more likely to advocate Home Rule. What changed popular attitudes was the brutal way in which the British government dealt with the rebels, once they had surrendered. Many of them were executed in cold blood - even the infirm among them. If the British thought that brutal punishment would lead to the independent spirit being extinguished, they could not be more wrong; in the wake of the Rebellion the move towards self-government became more and more inevitable, leading to the Government of Ireland Act in 1922.
O'Carroll was an informed yet emotionally involved host, gratefully acknowledging the greetings of those who recognized him in the street, yet always aware of the significance of his historical quest.
