The Snapper

I didn't want to be defined by, say, my novel, The Commitments, and the film that was made of it, which was huge here in Ireland.

And then The Snapper kind of repeated that, the second novel.

And the film in Ire- you know, The Snapper is more popular, I think, than The Commitments here in Ireland.

It's broadcast four or five times a year, and there are people who know it off by heart.

They know it much better than I do know it.

Back in the early 90s, during this run, he also did this Irish film that I absolutely love.

It's called The Snapper.

He played a father's teenage daughter and that got pregnant.

Rather than the traditional way they handled it back in Ireland, he was like...

Um, Spanish.

What Irish famous writer wrote "The Snapper" and "The Commitments"?

Oh, God.

Pass.

...

in Brazil.

The Irish famous writer that wrote "The Snapper" and "The Commitments" was Roddy Doyle.

And 2004 is when the smoking ban came into Ireland.

It's not obvious because I'm quite an affable person, but it's sometimes, but I think it came from fear.

So I was invited by the BBC to write a television series, an original one, not based, originally the producer wanted The Snapper, but The Snapper was up and running already.

And so they said, well, you write something original.

So literally I was walking to the meeting, got off the train, Tara Street Station, walking down O'Connell Street to meet the producer.

And, you know, Mustang Sally eventually became a traditional Irish song.

And half of Dublin still claims they were in it, you know.

Two years later, The Snapper was broadcast by the BBC and it became Dublin's film.

The people in Dublin, a lot of them know it off by heart.

And there was two judges.

I had Gloria Hunniford and, um, oh, I can't think of her name, but she was in the Snapper.

You know, the, the, not the, yeah, the Snapper-

Yeah, the Snapper, yeah

...

the lead actor.

She was in the Snapper.

Yeah.