Life

Radio review: Dealing with shocking news

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann

Nuala McCann is an Irish News columnist and writes a weekly radio review.

Nuala McCann
Nuala McCann Nuala McCann

The Shock Radio 4

Jude Rogers was five years old when her father died unexpectedly – he was just 33.

She took us by the hand to watch her five-year-old self on that long-ago morning at school just before she got the news.

Jude paints vivid, sensual memories - the little plastic chair she sat on, the picture of a witch swimming through the sea on the front of her story book and the tap, tap, tap of her feet as she walked to the headmaster’s office where her grandmother was waiting to take her home.

It was, she said, as if the volume was turned up – the bird song loud; the strong smell of polish on the floor – and how time slowed down.

This was an exploration of what happens to us when we are in shock and our brains go into survival mode.

The science was interesting – how time slows down when you go into shock; the body’s fight and flight response; the vivid nature of the everyday and that sense of distance from reality.

But it was the individual stories that drew the listener in.

There was Times war correspondent Anthony Lloyd whose pin sharp focus helped him escape his kidnappers in Syria. He described a big four wheeler racing alongside him, being pushed into a boot, how he was cuffed, blindfolded, hooded.

How he knew he had to get away or die. He’s back reporting in Syria again, it has not stopped him.

Marianne was a student who found a hooded burglar in her flat. She pushed him away, smashing a mirror.

“In our most desperate moments, it’s like we become super heroes,” said Jude.

Journalist Suzanne Moore got the phone call every parent dreads: “Your daughter has had a serious accident.”

And John Samuel, whose mother had died, recalled the moment when he found out about the two sisters and half brother he never knew existed.

That was a good shock... but a shock nevertheless.