In Episode One, directed and produced by Mary Martin, John visits Co. Derry, Co. Cavan, Co. Leitrim and Co. Donegal. In Derry’s Bogside he meets the Undertones bass player Mickey Bradley and lead singer Paul Mcloone, where he chats about growing up in Derry and the place name of Derry and Londonderry. In Co. Cavan he explores the poetry and culture behind place names with Michael Harding
In Episode Two, directed and produced by Barry Donnellan, John meets singer/songwriter John Spillane to talk about our love of place in song and even manages to knock a few tunes out of him! John heads down into the bowels of the Cave of the Cats in Roscommon in search of the origin of Halloween! And he takes an early morning hot air balloon ride with travel writer Manchán Magan to get perspective on where our place names originated from. He also cracks the code behind place names in Co. Dublin, Co. Meath, Co. Wicklow, Co. Westmeath and Co. Galway.
John heads to Spancilhill in Co Clare to meet his friend - comedian Jon Kenny - and finds out the story behind the name while attending the famous Horse Fair. Last in the series.
John Creedon returns to explore more of the true meanings behind Irish place names, beginning by investigating how the country came to be called Ireland. Also: actor and comedian Ardal O’Hanlon joins John in Cork at the site of the moving statue in Ballinspittle to uncover the true meaning behind the place name and to reflect on their own visits there in 1985. John also meets Professor Luke O Neill who tests the water in some local holy wells to find out if indeed they do have healing properties.
John Creedon visits the Burren to see if local cave Pollnagollum might have inspired JRR Tolkien's character Gollum from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
In Episode three, Directed and produced by Déirdre Ní Mhairtín, John explores how we map the world today as he meets Paddy Flynn VP, GEO Data Operations at Google. Former Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, takes a trip down memory lane as he goes on a journey with John back to his childhood neighbourhood Ballyfermot and we also learn about his fascination with Dublin Bus Routes. Nora Owen talks to John about how Fingal got it’s origins and her life in Malahide and the lost language of Fingallian, John also visits Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu who tells us why sense of place is so important, and John discovers how the first resident of Dublin’s Mansion House, Joshua Dawson, played his part in creating the South Side of Dublin we know of today.
John starts his journey pondering why the word �bard� appears in so many place names right across the country. Emmett Kirwan, Pat Shortt and Hugh Wallace all bump into John on his travels across Ireland in episode one, from Tallaght, to Tipperary, and Waterford to the Beara Peninsula.