Anyone else took a Dander with Drennan?

[johnneycool]

from the newsletter:


Drennan danders into TV series row

Published Date: 16 August 2008
By Staff reporter
RAMBLING musician Willie Drennan yesterday hit back at claims he made a mockery of one of the bloodiest chapters in Scottish history.
Ulster-Scots experts and viewers of his BBC NI series lashed him for turning the terrifying Killing Times of the 17th century into a "farce".

The storyteller took to the rolling drumlin hills of Lowland Scotland in this week's Dander With Drennan
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show to tell of the atrocities.

They were sparked by the rebellion of supremely staunch Scottish Presbyterians against "popish" Kings, Charles I and James II.

By signing a Covenant which bound members to uphold their "true religion" they had signed their own death warrants.

As the English Civil War raged, the Covenanters were hunted across the moors and murdered.

The worst period of persecution was 1678 to 1685 – the Killing Times – when non-confirmists were shot in front of their families, drowned at the stake and decapitated.

But one of Drennan's former fans wrote to the News Letter that in a few minutes the presenter managed to "reduce history, culture and folklore" to "comedy, parody and farce".

The letter writer said he objected to a "sickening" mix of "meandering interviews" with cheery songs.

Drennan – the best-known face of Ulster-Scots – said he was "astonished" by the attack and never meant to be flippant about the Covenanters' struggle.

He added: "I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Covenanters and a great sense of pride in the stance they took.

"I tried my best to convey that in the programme.

"But this is a show that blends music with history, so I can't be criticised for doing the two in the same programme.

"The producers felt very strongly about the period as well and I tried to tell an important story."

But in a letter to yesterday's News Letter, Ballymena man Dr Lawrence Holden said: "The closest the programme got to historical analysis was a meandering interview in which Drennan calls the Killing Times a 'right bloody time'.

"The interview ends abruptly with his flippant and cheery announcement he was off for a 'wee tune – just the thing hi'.

"Drennan and friends then sing about a place where the 'bones of long lost hippies lie bleaching in the sun, where you think the party's over but it's only just begun'.

"Introduced with persecution and martyrdom and concluding with hippies' bones, a complex and poignant part of history was reduced to mocking travesty."

Chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency, Mark Thompson, distanced himself from the show.

He said: "We wish to make it absolutely clear that we completely disassociate ourselves from the programme."

The News Letter's TV critic, Andrew Johnston, said in a review he was astounded at the "startling ineptitude" of the series.

He said: "It's not a dander – it's more of a tumble, or a wide-eyed lurch."

The third Dander With Drennan instalment is this Monday when Willie will be at Ballintoy harbour on the north Antrim coast.

His four-part series concludes with Drennan bringing his unique style to the streets of Belfast.



The full article contains 526 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

    * Last Updated: 15 August 2008 9:04 PM
    * Source: News Letter
    * Location: Belfast



It must be really bad when even the Ulster scots society are disowning ye

[hitzelsperger]

The one i saw he was discussing shovels with a guy who made them.
There are 52 types of shovel

still wouldnt be enough to shovel the shíté that man talked!

[slow corner back]

I did not see this episode but I saw the one from Armoy the other night. I am from Armoy and I have to say it was totally cringeworthy, someone earlier mentioned spinal tap which just about sums it up!! "3 cras sitting on a wa" wtf???