From Off the Ball's best interviews of 2015 to the video games to look forward to in 2016, there's plenty to choose from in this week's long reads.

Newsmakers: These six people hit the headlines in 2015

The historic result in the marriage equality referendum and the worst refugee crisis since World War II were just some of the stories that made headlines last year, and we hear from some of the people behind the biggest news stories of 2015.

Here's every new show, returning show and original movie hitting Netflix in 2016

After a tremendous year in 2015 with their films and programming, Netflix looks set to impress even more with their original line-up for next year.

In case you're planning your binge-watching in advance, we've got a list of every returning show, brand new series, and Netflix-backed original movie that is scheduled to fill up our screens in 2016.

The Off The Ball team pick the best sporting interviews of 2015

A year flies by so quickly that you almost forget some of the moments that fill the gap between January 1st and December 31st.

It was another unforgettable year of sport as Ireland won a Six Nations before dropping out of the World Cup at the quarter-finals again, while the football team went from unlikely Euro 2016 qualifiers to booking flights to France next summer and corruption scandals have sullied the beautiful game and athletics. 

All the excitement, controversy and unique stories have featured on Off The Ball over the past 12 months, so the team take a look back at some of the pieces and interviews that stopped them in their tracks on the show during the year. 

Let's play: 14 video games to look forward to in 2016

It’s hard to know what games we’ll have our hands on by Christmas 2016 - whether that’s the inevitable delays to already announced titles, or the as yet unknown titles we’ll be hearing about over the first few months of the new year (culminating in the flurry of announcements at E3).

There’s even a good chance that Nintendo will have launched a new piece of hardware when it’s time to write this article’s follow-up in 12 months time, but since, as of now, we barely know a thing about the Nintendo ‘NX’, here are just a few games that should be released into the wild before 2017 rolls around.

The highs and lows of a roller-coaster year for Irish rugby

For a year that began with Connacht beating Munster for the first time in six years and featured a successful Irish defence of the Six Nations title for the first time, 2015 has ultimately proved to be a disheartening one for Irish rugby.

The World Cup, the provinces struggling in Europe and the talk of a transitional period for the national team has somewhat dampened optimism, but there was certainly plenty to talk about throughout 2015, as Cian Murtagh picks through the bones of a fascinating year and highlights some moments that shouldn't be forgotten.