About this season
The Meaning of Life is an Irish television programme, the first series of which was broadcast on RTÉ One in 2009. It is presented by the veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne. Each episode involves Byrne interviewing a well-known public figure. The series is broadcast each Sunday night at 22:20. In 2010 The Meaning of Life returned for both a second and, later, a third series. Interviews with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and actors Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker during the second series attracted media attention when they spoke of their religious habits and child sexual abuse respectively. Gay Byrne appeared on The Late Late Show on 18 December 2009 to discuss the programme. A fourth series soon followed. Then a fifth series from January 2012. And a sixth in October 2012. And a seventh in January 2013.
Episodes (5)
1. Mary McAleese
Aired 7 October 2012 • 47 min
Mary McAleese gives her first televised interview since leaving office, speaking to Gay Byrne with extraordinary candour about how her life has shaped - and been shaped by - her beliefs and attitudes.
2. Noel Gallagher
Aired 14 October 2012 • 27 min
Oasis musician Noel Gallagher discusses his career, and his relationship with his brother Liam.
3. Sean Gallagher
Aired 21 October 2012 • 27 min
In his first televised interview since his presidential campaign, Sean Gallagher tells Gay Byrne what gave an almost-blind schoolboy the self-belief to run for the highest office in the land.
4. Niall Quinn
Aired 28 October 2012 • 27 min
One of Ireland’s most successful and best loved footballers, Niall Quinn, tells Gay how a mixture of faith, family and luck enabled him to “swim in the river without getting wet,” in a sport that was rife with drink, gambling and how he survived the kind of post-career depression that killed his friend Gary Speed.
5. Norah Casey
Aired 4 November 2012 • 28 min
In this profoundly moving interview, Norah Casey tells Gay Byrne how her Catholic faith has both been challenged and also sustained her, in the year since her husband's death.