There’s nothing that screams Friday night quite like settling down for the evening and tuning into The Graham Norton Show - I love it. From Norton’s always A-list sofa to his quippy questions and witty repartee, it is the gold standard in TV talk shows.
Redmayne began discussing his experience of working with a combat expert for his new show. He revealed that he was shown how to use a phone as a weapon should he be attacked. This provoked some joviality, with Mescal questioning, “Who’s actually going to do that, though?”
Ronan, who clearly felt differently to her male counterparts, spent quite a while trying to add to the conversation and after an initial failed attempt to make herself heard through the male noise, managed to make quite the impact with the blunt observation: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time”
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It’s at this point things get a bit tense. Redmayne offers a rather awkward nod of understanding and Mescal quietly mutters something along the lines of ‘yes of course’ – both clearly clocking that they had made a bit of a faux pas. Ronan turns to the audience with a rousing “amirite ladies?”. And Norton, ever the poised presenter, is quick to swiftly move the conversation along. The internet is not so easily distracted, however, and the episode has gone viral and been scrutinised ever since.
A snippet of the exchange was posted on X shortly after the show aired and so far it has been viewed 60 million times. When clips go viral, it’s because they’ve struck a chord with people and in this case it resonated with women all over the world because they could instantly identify with Ronan’s view.
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Women have got pretty good at planning their self-defence using phones, torches or even hairspray if they are attacked, and sad to say recent statistics about the worst sort of violence against women have made for grim reading.
Since 2020, 24 women across Northern Ireland have been killed. The murder of Mary Ward in Belfast last month meant four of these victims were added to this tally within six weeks of each other.
Things are so concerning that a new Northern Ireland Women’s Night Safety Charter has been proposed to Belfast City Council supported by White Ribbon NI, a global movement seeking to end violence against women.
Read more: Immediate progress needed to tackle violence against women - The Irish News view
The increase in violence against women extends beyond Northern Ireland. In Scotland rape allegations have surged by nearly 20%. Police Scotland have launched a campaign to encourage young men to “have a quiet word with a mate” if they see them acting inappropriately towards women.
So perhaps it would have been helpful for Redmayne and Mescal to give us girls a little demonstration of how to defend ourselves with a mobile phone – because as absurd and preposterous as it seemed to them, the combat expert clearly thought it worth knowing…
