RTÉ - Arena Podcast

Join Oscar nominated actor Ciarán Hinds as he remembers his friend - and ours - Seán Rocks who passed away in July. Ciarán will guide us through a selection of Seán's best Arena interviews from the last few years. (For copyright reasons the full tracks performed during these interviews cannot be podcast)

Join Oscar nominated actor Ciarán Hinds as he remembers his friend - and ours - Seán Rocks who passed away in July. Ciarán will guide us through a selection of Seán's best Arena interviews from the last few years.

Arena's year-end review special where Rick and a panel made up of Arena regulars (Paul Whitington, Zara Hedderman, Sinéad Gleeson and Chris Wasser) discuss the standout music, films, books, and TV from the year.

Two teams made up of our regular contributors (Eamon Sweeney, Sarina Bellissimo, John Meagher, John Maguire, Louise Bruton, Nadine O'Regan) battle it out in the inaugural Arena Christmas Quiz.  

TV reviews - Festive reflections - Culture vulture gifts.

Saipan Review - Film Reviews - Wish You Were Here at 50

Robin and Dawn - Sentimental Value - Playboy of the Western World review

The 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth - Other Voices: Home in Dublin

TV reviews - The best music books and gigs of the year

Film Reviews - Winter Poetry

Goodbye June - Brian Eno's "Discreet Music" at 50 - Ciaran Carson's "The Brimming World: Selected Essays"

Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2023-2025 - Réalt an Rince - Nativity art

James L. Brooks - How to Live an Artful Life -The Spy Who Came in from the Cold at 60

TV reviews - Hidden Gems and Rediscoveries

Film reviews - Eternity - An Irish literary walking tour of Rome

An Alternative Irish Christmas - Namanlagh - Colin Davidson

David Szalay - Joe Philpott - The best crime novels of 2025

Paul Muldoon - Queen's A Night At the Opera at 50 - 100 Years of British and Irish Art: A Fermanagh Collection

Alexander Skarsgård - TV reviews - Album reviews

Film reviews - Cait O'Riordan - Dog Days

Toy Story at 30 - YFEL - Tolka Issue Ten

Who is Karl Ove Knausgård? - Handel's Messiah - The Beatles Anthology series

Remembering Paul Costelloe - Cosima - Future Boy by Michael J Fox review - Steve Wall

TV reviews - Album reviews

Film reviews - The Bartered Bride - Football as Never Before

Lisa O'Neill - Ar an gCoigríochan - Insomnia by Robbie Robertson

Chris Thile - Abode - Anthony Burrill - Dublin's Stained Glass

The Drums by Mike Joyce review - Mildred Pierce at 80 - The music of ‘a woman scorned'

TV reviews - Album reviews

Paul Whitington and Sarina Bellissimo review Nuremberg, The Running Man, Keeper and Park Avenue.    

Hidden Assets - A Christmas Carol at The Gate - Ferocity review

Butler, Blake & Grant - Hymn to all the restless girls - Dublin Gothic

2025 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature - The Kiss - Andrew Michael Hurley

TV Reviews - Album Reviews

Film reviews - Bryce Dessner - Útóipe Cheilteach

Live from 1WML's Townhall, Arena celebrates the 100th issue of The Dublin Review. Rick is joined by editor Brendan Barrington, alongside contributors Sara Baume, Patrick Freyne, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and Mark O'Connell. The evening also featured a musical performance by Seán Mac Erlaine and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh.

Horslips - Die My Love - Aoife Ní Bhriain

Anemone - Train Dreams - On Friendship by Andrew O'Hagan

Rick embraces the Gothic and the Supernatural across the artistic realms with help from John Connolly, Jess Fahy, John Maguire and Louise Bruton.

Zadie Smith - Film reviews - Down Cemetery Road preview

Martin Parr - Bugonia - Dracula: The Hunt

Rita Ann Higgins - Ruán Magan - The Mirror Stage