A Course Called Ireland review: Bill Murray leaves no cliche unbothered in this schmaltzy Oirish tour

A few things have been lost in translation as Bill Murray touches down in the old sod for his toe-curling, golf-themed travelogue, A Course Called Ireland (BBC One, Friday 10.40pm). It really is the worst possible case of Groundhog Day as Murray and his British production crew set off on a tour of the country, filling up their bingo card of musty stereotypes and condescending chestnuts as they go.

No cliche is left unbothered. Faux-trad diddly-dee muzak, the strategic deployment of the word “feck” in a script that clearly did not come within light years of an actual Irish person, and jokes about the Irish and their quirky patois (look at how they spell “Cove” as “Cobh”, lol)… it’s not quite EastEnders go to Wicklow and meet a donkey but it’s not all that far removed either.

Murray is famously an odd fish – with a reputation for eccentricity that for most of his career was regarded as adorable but which, a few years ago, put him at risk of cancellation (there were sexual misconduct allegations against him on the set of a movie in 2022). So perhaps A Course Called Ireland is the latest salvo in his campaign for rehabilitation. Then again it might just be part of the BBC’s historic mission to portray Ireland as a leprechaun reservation, where uncouth locals roam free and uncivilised, forever tipsy on their inexhaustible supplies of whimsy.

The actor clearly wants to be a good sport as the journey begins on the Old Head of Kinsale golf course but he struggles throughout to connect with the people he meets.

A feature of the super-famous in the United States is that they are so removed from ordinary life that they find it hard to interact with everyday individuals and there is some of that with Murray. In his conversations with passersby, there is never a moment where he cannot fathom not being the centre of attention: he’s the famous one so of course it has to be all about him.

The series also has lots of the traditional ‘othering’ of the Irish. Instead of having Murray narrate, they rope in a Cobh woman to read the script and there is an unspoken assumption throughout that we find her and her Irish ways amusing.

Similar forces are at play in a segment where Murray and his American golfing companion Tom Coyne go road bowling in Cork and the producer interviews one of the organisers. He talks to him the way an anthropologist might interact with a member of a “lost” tribe for a BBC natural history documentary in 1965.

Murray is a lively presence but never exactly funny – the most amusing moment is when a passerby confuses him for Bill Cosby (though perhaps that will change when he interacts with celebrities such as Chris O’Dowd and Joanne McNally in later episodes). He is, if anything, at his most engaging when speaking from the heart, such as when recalling how Irish people were marginalised when he was growing up in Chicago. He sits at the harbour in Cobh with tears practically welling in his eyes – very Irish American but nonetheless extremely affecting.

But these moments of heartfelt reflection are eclipsed by the schmaltz and the donkey-staring-over-a-stone-wall vibes. Who ya gonna call if you want a thoughtful meditation on the Irish American experience as conveyed through the medium of golf? Not Bill Murray, that’s for sure.

A Course Called Ireland is on BBC One, Friday, 10.40pm