Well-Remembered Days by Arthur Mathews, read by Frank Kelly (Macmillan, 2 tapes, 3 hrs, £8.99 in UK)

The first time I saw an episode of Father Ted, I thought it was rubbish: it took a while before I decided it was one of the best…

The first time I saw an episode of Father Ted, I thought it was rubbish: it took a while before I decided it was one of the best things I'd ever seen on TV - if not the best. Perhaps time will work the same miracle on this history of holy Ireland, narrated by UberCatholic Eoin O'Ceallaigh. But this time around, despite - or perhaps because of - Frank Kelly's archly robust reading, I fear I just didn't get it. There are plenty of one-line smiles, but, streaming relentlessly through the headphones, pomposity of the magnitude of O'Ceallaigh's is hard to laugh at - let alone with - for very long.