# The Meaning of Life (TV series)

The Meaning of Life is an Irish television programme, broadcast on RTÉ One. Presented by Gay Byrne, each edition involves the veteran broadcaster interviewing a prominent public figure.
Interviews with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and actors Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker during the second series attracted media attention. Ahern spoke of his religious habits, Byrne and Fricker of being sexually abused as children.
Joe Duffy took over as host from Gay Byrne in 2020.

## Episode list
### First series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 1 | 19 April 2009 | Colin Farrell |
| The actor spoke of topics such as his father and his addictions. |||
| 2 | 26 April 2009 | Gerry Adams |
| The Sinn Féin leader spoke of the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offence, difference or mistake, and ceasing to demand punishment or restitution, the great unknown, Final Judgment and how his beliefs have affected his life as a republican. Byrne said this meeting with Adams had lacked any confrontation but described it as "an interview where you certainly had to think on your feet". |||
| 3 | 3 May 2009 | Maeve Binchy |
| The writer spoke of losing her beliefs as a Roman Catholic during a journey to Jerusalem as a young adult, describing it as "the Road to Damascus experience in reverse". |||
| 4 | 10 May 2009 | Ronan Keating |
| The singer was described by Byrne as "a revelation" after the episode. Keating spoke of his disagreements with his manager Louis Walsh, the death of his mother from cancer and the Marie Keating Foundation which resulted. |||
| 5 | 17 May 2009 | Sinéad O'Connor |
| The musician spoke of her views about the deity of her belief system and how this affects her artistic output. She later said she an Byrne had had "a lovely morning together". The interview was filmed in January 2009 at O'Connor's house. Byrne referenced the interview in an article he wrote for the Sunday Independent later that day. |||
| 6 | 24 May 2009 | Neil Jordan |
| The writer and filmmaker immediately denied being religious, but indicated spiritual beliefs when he stated his view that life continues after the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a living organism. Jordan recalled his father telling him he would return after death and their subsequent post-death encounter during a stormy fixed-wing aircraft flight. |||

### Second series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 7 | 17 January 2010 | Gabriel Byrne |
| The actor spoke for the first time about sexual abuse he had received from the Christian Brothers when he was a boy and also said he had left the priesthood after he "walked up the stairs behind two girls in miniskirts" while on a bus in London. |||
| 8 | 24 January 2010 | Tommy Tiernan |
| 9 | 31 January 2010 | Brenda Fricker |
| The actress spoke about being beaten by her mother and sexually abused by a friend. |||
| 10 | 7 February 2010 | Bertie Ahern |
| The former Taoiseach confessed he had not confessed in the past 40 years but often went to Mass and spoke of the intimacy he shared with Ian Paisley over their religion while in London in 2004. |||
| 11 | 14 February 2010 | Mary Robinson |
| 12 | 21 February 2010 | Edna O'Brien |

### Third series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 13 | 26 September 2010 | Terry Wogan |
| The BBC broadcaster discussed his atheism. |||
| 14 | 3 October 2010 | Fionnula Flanagan |
| 15 | 10 October 2010 | Deepak Chopra |
| 16 | 17 October 2010 | Ian Paisley |
| 17 | TBA | Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh |
| 18 | TBA | Dana Rosemary Scallon |

### Fourth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 19 | TBA | Michael Parkinson |
| 20 | TBA | Brendan O'Carroll |
| 21 | TBA | Mark Patrick Hederman |
| 22 | TBA | Brian Cody |
| 23 | TBA | Martin Sheen |
| The actor spoke of his pro-life views and said his wife was conceived through a rape and he says had her mother aborted her, or dumped her in the Ohio River as she had considered, his wife would not exist. He also talked about three of his grandchildren who were conceived out of wedlock, saying his sons "were not happy at the time but they came to love these children. We have three grown grandchildren, two of them are married, they're some of the greatest source of joy in our lives." |||
| 24 | TBA | Ben Dunne |

### Fifth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 25 | 8 January 2012 | Andrea Corr |
| 26 | 15 January 2012 | Paddy Moloney |
| 27 | 22 January 2012 | Shay Cullen |
| 28 | 29 January 2012 | Richard Branson |
| 29 | 5 February 2012 | Bob Geldof |
| 30 | TBA | Mary Byrne |

### Sixth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 31 | 9 October 2012 | Mary McAleese |
| The former President of Ireland spoke about same-sex marriage. |||
| 32 | 14 October 2012 | Noel Gallagher |
| 33 | 22 January 2012 | Seán Gallagher |
| The businessman gave his first televised interview since his presidential failure. |||
| 34 | 28 October 2012 | Niall Quinn |

### Seventh series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 35 | 6 January 2013 | Colm Tóibín |
| 36 | 12 January 2013 | J. P. Donleavy |
| 37 | 20 January 2013 | John Lonergan |
| Former governor of Mountjoy Prison |||
| 38 | 27 January 2013 | Maureen Gaffney |
| UCD Clinical Psychologist |||
| 39 | 3 February 2013 | Maria Doyle Kennedy |

### Seventh series (Special episode)

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 40 | 25 June 2013 | Bono |
| The musician talked about his humanitarian work, his religious faith, and also his parents' marriage and father's death. |||

### Eighth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 41 | 6 October 2013 | Colm Wilkinson |
| The musical star spoke of his absence of faith. |||
| 42 | TBA | Emily O'Reilly |
| 43 | TBA | Peter McVerry |
| 44 | TBA | Celine Byrne |

### Ninth series

The ninth series began airing on 4 May 2014.
| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 45 | 4 May 2014 | Majella O'Donnell |
| Interview with the cancer sufferer. |||
| 46 | TBA | Rory O'Neill |
| Interview with the man behind the make-up. |||
| 47 | TBA | Sean O'Sullivan |
| Interview with the ex-Dragons' Den star. |||
| 48 | TBA | Eamon Dunphy |
| Interview with the soccer man. |||
| 49 | TBA | David Puttnam |
| Interview with the film producer and British Lord. |||
| 50 | TBA | Enda Kenny |
| Interview with the man behind the make-up. |||

### Tenth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 46 | TBA | Cecila Ahern |
| Interview about growing up with Bertie Aherne. |||
| 47 | TBA | Stephen Fry |
| Actor, Comedian, Writer, and Humanist. |||
| 48 | TBA | Barry McGuigan |
| Boxer talks about his Catholic faith. |||
| 49 | TBA | Mary Black |
| Talks about her disillusion with the Church, her struggles with depression and her mystical experiences. |||
| 50 | TBA | Rowan Williams |
| Former Archbishop of Canterbury and now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. |||

### Eleventh series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 51 | TBA | Hozier |
| Singer. |||
| 52 | TBA | Joan Burton |
| Tánaiste talks about adoption, her early influences, politics and morality. |||
| 53 | TBA | Richard Dawkins |
| Evolutionary biologist. |||
| 54 | TBA | Stanislaus Kennedy |
| Nun. |||
| 55 | TBA | Eckhart Tolle |
| Author. |||

### Twelfth series

| No. | Original air date | Guest |
| 56 | TBA | Ruby Wax |
| Comedienne. |||
| 57 | TBA | Dolores Keane |
| Singer who shares her fight against alcoholism, breast cancer and depression. |||
| 58 | TBA | John Sheahan |
| Former member of The Dubliners. |||
| 59 | TBA | Garry Hynes |
| Theatre director and founder of Druid Theatre Company. |||

## Reception

John Boland of the Irish Independent claimed the series became "more religious in thrust and tone as it progressed". He described the episode featuring Neil Jordan as a "bizarre encounter", in which the writer and filmmaker "grew more and more bemused" as Byrne questioned him in great detail about his religious faith. Jordan answered such questions as "Do you think your religion might return to you on your deathbed?" and "Do you think there's a day of reckoning?" with "I really haven't got a clue" and "I don't know, Gay" but when he commented that "every time I'm in a plane and it's hit by lightning I bless myself", Byrne replied "Hah!", as if, according to Boland, Jordan had "just revealed a basic faith in the Catholic Almighty rather than a reflex reaction to imminent catastrophe".
The Irish Times's Kevin Courtney said of The Meaning of Life: "The title is a bit grandiose – you could just as easily call it Tell Uncle Gaybo All About It.
Byrne prefers not to discuss his own faith:
   I am not going to say, because it would compromise me in terms of the show if people knew I had a position. What you find is that they are all searching. No one has the truth.

## Viewing figures

An average of 247,000 viewers tuned into the first four episodes of the series, featuring interviews with Farrell, Adams, Binchy and Keating. The episode featuring Keating attracted the most viewers, with a total of 258,000 reported. Next was the Adams interview, with 251,000 viewers. This was followed by the interview with Binchy which had 231,000 viewers.