Arts picks: Damian McCarney

Arts highlights of 2023

Damian McCarney

Celt deputy editor

Best arts event: The Determinator by John McManus was brimming with laughs, admirable writing and a hero embarking on a thrilling quest played by the indefatigable Charlie McGuinness.

One to watch: Dirty Marmalade have a class lo-fi style, and on tracks like Why Else, Love Bomb and Runs in My Blood they prove they're much more than your average drum and guitar combo. The home movie videos are worth a gander too.

Best film: I Don't Feel at Home in This World was wonderfully different, a strange story of a believable everyday hero breaking out of the everyday mould.

Best TV: Top Boy will go down as England's Wire, we also loved Suburra: Blood on Rome, where the hi-jinx and bromance of the broody Aureliano and lovable Spadino kept us up after bedtime most nights.

Best music: Ciaran O'Neill's How do you do? but and honourable mention to Spoke in the Wheel or Moonlit River by Finn Conaty (he's half Cavan and all brilliant).

Best theatre: The Ulster Touring Orchestra's performance of the Barber of Seville sung in English in the Townhall Cavan was one of the most enjoyable theatre experiences ever. We were in the hands of professionals performing mighty tunes to a wonderfully daft plot.

Best podcast: I'll never tire of the New Yorker poetry podcast, but I've been bingeing and re-bingeing on the Revolutions podcast - series 10 which is the Russian one. Unbelievable that these events actually happened, I had to listen to it again.