Entertainment
Call Centre drama takes the Office to new heights
TV Watch with Dave O’Connell
Those who reckoned that The Office could only ever have been a figment of Ricky Gervais’ vivid imagination have obviously never heard of Nev Wilshire, peacock-proud CEO of the third biggest call centre in Swansea.
Nev makes David Brent look like a cartoon character, because he is the looniest, most lovable, un-PC boss on the face of the planet – and he has surrounded himself with a cast of similarly doolally staff.
The Call Centre started out as a fly-on-the-wall on BBC Three and is now getting a well earned re-run on BBC1 – and it wouldn’t be any funnier if it was scripted by the team from Father Ted.
Nev himself is a balding, podgy 53 year old proud Welshman, who bases his management style on Napoleon and makes it his business to know the ins and outs of the call centre workers’ professional and private lives.
Born and bred in Swansea, he’s a big fan of Swansea City – and of John Wayne, who was one of the good guys as he puts it.
Key to the drama is the fact that Nev believes only ‘happy people sell’ and he has developed a unique approach to managing his young workforce – keeping them smiling and the sales rolling in.
This stretches to organising blind dates for those on a barren spell, and being utterly politically incorrect almost every minute of the day.
And yet it would be hard to take offence to Big Nev, who only has the best interests of his workforce at heart – quite a job in itself as his call centre has gone from eight staff sharing three desks just three years ago. He now employs 700 people at 250 desks.
With all due respects to those who work in call centres, it’s not a career choice you’d make for yourself as a lifetime ambition – and yet the staff at Swansea’s third largest centre couldn’t be happier if they worked for Apple or Google.
Their actual work seems to involve cold-calling customers to try and sell them cavity wall insulation for their houses, but that’s almost a backdrop to their lives – because this is a hot-bed of hormones and high jinks, led from the front by Nev himself.
Call centres can provide rich pickings for inter-staff relationships – there are now over a million people working in UK call centres, with an average age of just 26.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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