Entertainment

Eight Irish people Britain can't get enough of this week

From left to right: Aisling Bea, Adrian Dunbar, Sinead Keenan and Brian F. O'Byrne (Picture: Getty Images)

IT'S BEEN QUITE the week for a number of Irish musicians and actors, as their talents have been recognised by the UK entertainment industry with a long list of awards and award nominations nods for the Irish!

Firstly, the BAFTA TV Awards nominations for 2018 were revealed yesterday with several Irish actors in contention for hotly-contested awards.

Sinead Keenan

Kennan received the leading actress nod for her role in ITV drama series Little Boy Blue. Born and raised in Dublin, she previously played Farrah Phelan in Fair City and appeared in the BBC supernatural drama Being Human.

Brian F. O’Byrne

Sinead Keenan will be joined on the night by co-star Brian F. O'Byrne who received a supporting actor nomination for his role in Little Boy Blue. The Cavan man attended the Samuel Beckett Centre at Trinity College before moving to New York City in 1990. He has appeared in Million Dollar Baby, Intermission and the Broadway play Doubt: A Parable.

Brian F. O'Byrne (left) and Sinead Keenan (right). (Picture: Getty Images)

Adrian Dunbar

Also in the supporting actor category is Northern Irish actor Adrian Dunbar, for his role in the popular Line of Duty series. Best known for his portrayal of Maguire in The Crying Game, Dunbar also played legendary Irish literary figure Brendan Behan in Janet Behan's play Brendan At The Chelsea.

Adrian Dunbar at the BFI & Radio Times TV Festival (Picture: Getty Images)

Graham Norton

Everybody’s favourite talk show host Graham Norton is nominated for entertainment performance alongside comedian Michael McIntyre and Adam Hills.

The Bandon, Co. Cork native received the Special Recognition Award at last years National Television Awards for the success of his long-running Friday night show.

Sharon Horgan

Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan is also nominated for female performance in a comedy programme. Horgan originally worked in a head shop in Camden Town selling bongs when she first moved to London, before carving out a very successful career in tv and comedy.

Here's a fun fact, she's sister to former Ireland rugby player Shane Horgan.

Meanwhile, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards were held at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall last night, and it was another sweep for the Irish.

Donal Lunny

Van Morrison presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to musician and producer Donal Lunny for his contribution to folk music. Lunny was a founding member of a number of popular bands including Planxty, The Bothy Band and Usher's Island. He played on several Christy Moore albums and produced records for Sinead O'Connor, Paul Brady and Elvis Costello.

Van Morrison (left) and Donal Lunny (right). (Picture: Twitter)

Lankum

Emerging Dublin folk group Lankum received the Best Group award from fellow Dub Finbar Furey, and also picked up the Best Original Track award for their song "The Granite Graze".

Formerly known as Lynched, Lankum are a four-piece traditional folk group from Dublin, Ireland, who combine distinctive four-part vocal harmonies with arrangements of uilleann pipes, concertina, Russian accordion, fiddle and guitar. Formed by brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch, their repertoire spans humorous Dublin music-hall ditties and street-songs and classic ballads from the Traveller tradition.

The group also performed another song from their debut album Between Earth and Sky with a powerful rendition of "What Will We Do When We Have No Money?”.

Aisling Bea

It's also worth mentioning that Aisling Bea put in a truly entertaining performance on Great British Bake Off this week. The custard might not have been award-winning but it certainly raised much-needed funds for her chosen charity, Stand Up To Cancer.