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Saturated with atmosphere: The Returned moved glacially but packed a lot of story into its opening episode TV review: Pleasantly surprised by a very unexpected return of the zombies

The French series The Returned is a proper ghost story instead of a zombiefest

Let’s talk softly about sex: Tom Dunne. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill Radio review: The sordid business of talking about the online sex industry

Despite good intentions, Tom Dunne’s investigation into sex workers and their clients came close to airbrushing reality

Least inquisitive children on earth?: Keri Russell, Keidrich Sellati, Mathew Rhys and Holly Taylor in The Americans Television: Say hello to the family of friendly spies next door

Struggling through the sixth series of ‘Mad Men’? ‘The Americans’, with Emmy-worthy performances from Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, could be just what you need

Me, myself and I: Miriam O’Callaghan was a rare female voice in RTÉ radio’s mostly male line-up Radio: A taste of women’s suffrage, then it’s back to the locker room

Miram O’Callaghan interviewed the great-granddaughter of the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst on RTÉ while the sports stars on Newstalk indulged in boorish male banter

The programme for government contains a commitment to develop national standards for home support services but as yet nothing has been done. Photograph: Michael Donne/Science Photo Library Home help sector will be next to be regulated, says Lynch

Minister of State says it is not possible to provide a timeline for regulation

The advertising of foods considered to be high in fat, salt and sugar during programmes aimed at children is to be prohibited under new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland guidelines. Cheese to get more airtime after authority U-turn

New BAI code bans promotion of certain products during children’s programming

“Many journalists have seen their world of journalism shrunk in a matter of years. Not just the job culls which have now reached tens of thousands, but stories, page count, sections, international, national and business news have been scaled down. Some describe it as death by small cuts. Many skillsets have almost vanished. Subs, or copy editors, have been reduced and full-time photographers have become an endangered species.” Time to press ahead and secure the future of journalism
  • Media
  • Jim Boumelha
  • June 4, 2013, 01:00

Opinion: as journalists from 180 countries assemble in Dublin today, the mood is anxious but determined

Touch of melancholy: David and Sally Shaw-Smith, from In Good Hands Television: A three hanky job in John Hinde country

A programme about the decline of traditional craft, ‘In Good Hands’, was poignant, a comedy about suffragettes was funny, but the childcare exposé ‘Breach of Trust’ was plain shocking

Emotional: one caller said her daughter had been strapped into a high chair by a creche worker as a punishment for eating another child’s food. Photograph: Emielke van Wyk/Gallo/Getty Radio: Joe Duffy keeps his cool amid the shouting and the scaremongering

The Liveline host presided over the fraught issue of childcare and abuse after Prime Time’s A Breach of Trust

Senator David Norris speaking at an event to mark World MS Day today. Norris speaks of depression after Presidential election

Former independent candidate accused media of being ‘terribly cruel and heartless’

Lough Corrib: David and Sally Shaw-Smith, the makers of Hands. Photograph: Keith Heneghan/Phocus Old hands at film-making

David and Sally Shaw-Smith, who made RTÉ’s acclaimed Hands films, documenting Ireland’s waning craft and farming traditions from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, are retracing their steps for a new series

Disclosure: Alan Shatter at a press conference this week. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times Radio: Digging up the dirty bits in Alan Shatter and Mick Wallace’s war of words

This week saw rotten tomatoes for Eurovision, ripe prose from the Minister for Justice and a bad Apple deal for Ireland

Mentor: Johnny Murtagh with Wes Doyle, Linda Farrell and their five children Television: Need help clearing the educational hurdles? Call champion jockey Johnny Murtagh

A programme on literacy, The Family Project, and a series about amateur dramatics, Simply Am-Dram, proved surprisingly engaging

No more heroes: James Gandolfini, as Tony Soprano, with Edie Falco and Robert Iler in The Sopranos. Photograph: HBO The death of nice
  • Media
  • Alan Glynn
  • May 25, 2013, 01:00

We used to like our TV heroes clean-cut and likeable. Now, from Tony Soprano to Don Draper and Walter White, we want them flawed and objectionable. What changed?

Jeffrey Tambor and Jason Bateman in Arrested Development The return of Arrested Development

Jason Bateman, Portia Di Rossi and David Cross discuss the long-awaited return of ‘Arrested Development’

Donal Walsh: died after a long battle with cancer. Photograph: Kerry’s Eye/PA Radio Review: a week of sadness after Donal Walsh’s death, but one of uplifting insight too

Death and illness dominated the on-air discussions this week, but the presenters managed to deal with the subjects adroitly and empathy

Prime suspense: Gillian Anderson as DCI Gibson and Simon Delaney as McElroy in The Fall TV Review: Gillian Anderson is fired up in ‘The Fall’, but Mr Whicher is getting suspiciously dull

The former 'X-Files' star channels her inner Helen Mirren in a new crime drama set in Belfast

Presenter Graham Norton during the filming of the Graham Norton Show at The London Studios, south London. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Cork town to honour native son Graham Norton

Bandon Town Council approves proposal to name riverside walk after television star

Novelist Roddy Doyle blamed the Irish secondary school system for causing the groupthink which was the reason “the country was now “f****ed”. Photograph: Jacob Blickenstaff Future of newspapers dominates conference agenda

Media Future event features strong contribution from novelist Roddy Doyle

Clare Duignan, managing director of RTÉ Radio who has announced she is stepping down from the role in June. Clare Duignan to step down as head of RTÉ Radio in June

One of broadcaster’s longest serving executives steps down after four years in radio role

Cliffhanger: Derek Mooney proves an affable, easy-going enthusiast in Secrets of the Irish Landscape Derek Mooney makes a plant the star – just watch he doesn’t run over it in his car

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