How far can contemporary Ireland recognise itself in Glenroe and Fair City? To what extent do its characters, settings and storylines testify to the temper of the times? What relation do these serials bear to the lives we lead? This paper will look at Ireland's two running television serials in terms of the larger pattern of social experience. It will query both the presences and the absences in their representation of contemporary Ireland. It will explore the soap opera form in terms of its potential for imagining Ireland in a more expansive and penetrating fashion. It will draw strong conclusions about the failure of existing serials to fulfill this potential.