List of Irish Traveller-related depictions and documentaries

This page cites Irish Traveller-related books, films, documentaries, and other forms of media documentation and/or depiction.

Documentaries

• My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding and spinoff series Big Fat Gypsy Weddings — a Channel 4 television documentary series about Irish Traveller weddings.
• Southpaw: The Francis Barrett Story — a documentary following Galway boxer Francis (Francie) Barrett for three years and showing Francie overcoming discrimination as he progresses up the amateur boxing ranks to eventually carry the Irish flag and box for Ireland at the age of 19 during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.^[1] The film won the Audience Prize at the 1999 New York Irish Film Festival.
• King Of The Gypsies (1995) — a documentary film about Bartley Gorman, undefeated Bareknuckle Champion of Ireland and Great Britain.
• Traveller, a documentary by Alen MacWeeney^[2]
• "Blood of the Travellers" — a 2011 RTE broadcast documentary of Francis Barrett interviewing Travellers and social historians and using DNA to find out the origin of the Travellers as a group.^[3][4]

Movies

• Snatch — A 2000 film featuring Brad Pitt as a comically stereotyped "Pikey" who is also a bareknuckle boxing champion.^[5]
• Into the West — a film that tells the story of two Traveller boys running away from their drab home in Dublin.
• The Field — a 1990 film in which farmer Bull McCabe's only son runs away with a family of travellers.
• Man About Dog — A 2004 film featuring a group of Irish Traveller characters.
• Traveller — A 1997 film, starring Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, and Julianna Margulies, about a man joining a group of nomadic con artists in rural North Carolina.
• Strength and Honour — 2007 film dealing with a man joining a Traveller boxing tournament in order to win money for his son's operation.
• Trojan Eddie – 1996 crime drama film directed by Gillies MacKinnon starring Stephen Rea, Richard Harris, Stuart Townsend, Aislín McGuckin, Brendan Gleeson and Sean McGinley. Soundtrack features Tinker's Lullaby, written and performed by Pecker Dunne.
• Pavee Lackeen — Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl is a 2005 film directed by Perry Ogden. The film tells the story of an Irish Traveller girl (Winnie Maughan) and her family. Most of the characters are played by the Maughan family themselves, including Winnie, the youngest daughter.

Novels

• See You Down the Road by Kim Ablon Whitney — A novel about Travelers in the United States (written for readers aged 14 and older).^[6]
• Fork in the Road, a novel by Denis Hamill^[7]
• The Killing of the Tinkers, a novel by Ken Bruen^[7]
• Traveller Wedding — eNovel by film director Graham Jones.
• The Wheel of Time — Robert Jordan's series of fantasy novels featuring a group of nomadic people based on the Irish Travellers, the Tuatha'an, who share the name "Tinkers" and a reputation (portrayed in the books as largely undeserved) for petty theft.
• The Tent and Other Stories by Liam O'Flaherty. Jonathan Cape (London, England): 1926.
• The Blue Horse, a novel by Marita Conlon-McKenna
• Child of the Prophecy, by Juliet Marillier – Fainne's friend, Darragh, and his family are known as "tinkers" and horse-traders who travel the length of Ireland every year

TV series

• The Riches — An FX television series starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, the father and mother of an American family of Irish Traveller con artists and thieves. The series revolves around their decision to steal the identities of a dead "buffer" family and hide out in their lavish mansion in suburban Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 2, Episode 18, Up the Long Ladder (May 22, 1989) — In this episode of the television show, the Enterprise encounters a society, the Bringloidis, (cf. brionglóid: meaning "dream" in the Irish language), that was founded by humans who left Earth centuries earlier to found a colony. They appear to be descended from Irish Travellers, possessing their accented form of the English language and a culture that appears very similar.^[8]
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Season 2, Episode 21, Graansha — this episode of the NBC television show focuses on the murder of a probation officer who hailed from an Irish Traveller family.
• The Riordans (1964–1979) — In this Irish television soap opera, many issues affecting the Traveller community were portrayed through the challenges faced by the Maher family.
• Glenroe (1983–2001) — A spin-off of The Riordans featuring the Connors, a family of settled travellers.
• Killinaskully — This RTÉ Irish sitcom features a Traveller character named Pa Connors, played by Pat Shortt.
• Pavee Lackeen (Traveller Girl) — 2005 documentary-style film depicting the life of a young Traveller girl that features non-actors in the lead roles. Its director and co-writer, Perry Ogden, won an IFTA Award in the category of Breakthrough Talent.^[9]
• Midsomer Murders, Episode 4, Series Two, Blood Will Out (1999) — This episode of the British television drama features a local magistrate in an English village attempting to oust Travellers from his jurisdiction by means of a paramilitary vigilante attack.
• Without a Trace — an episode of this CBS television show features a woman of Irish Traveller descent who had left the community and gone missing.
• Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey includes as major characters the Connell family who are part of a group of Irish Travellers.
• Singin' Bernie Walsh — Character created and played by Irish comedienne Katherine Lynch. Known for her album Friends In Hi Aces, her singles Dundalk, Dundalk, Don't Knock Knock 'Til You've Tried It and Stand By Your Van, Singin' Bernie Walsh featured in both of Lynch's RTE comedy series Wonderwomen and Working Girls which show her attempts at topping the Irish charts and achieving "inter-county-nental" fame.
• Jim Henson's The Storyteller — The Episode Fearnot is a folk tale of a youth in search of fear. He befriends a "Tinker" on his journey.

Theatre

• Mobile the Play — written and performed by Michael Collins and directed by Mick Rafferty
• The Trailer of Bridget Dinnigan — written and directed by Dylan Tighe
• The Tinker's Curse by Michael Harding^[10]
• The Tinker's Wedding by J. M. Synge
• By the Bog of Cats (1998) by Marina Carr

References