Dublin Doubles for London in the SKY ONE TV Drama THE TAKE
The new UK TV drama series THE TAKE which was filmed entirely on location in Ireland will premiere on SKY One tonight at 9pm.Adapted from Martina Cole's best-selling novel THE TAKE is a gripping drama about love, power, jealousy and betrayal. Set in the East End of London, the story revolves around a family set in the criminal underworld, spanning 10 years from the height of Thatcherism to the birth of New Labour.
Co-produced by Element Pictures (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Garage, Five Minutes of Heaven) in Ireland and Company Pictures for SKY in the UK, the four-part series filmed in locations around Dublin including the Dublin Docklands, the John Player Factory and the Lark Inn on Meath Street.
The series stars an ensemble cast including Tom Hardy (Bronson, Stuart: A Life Backwards), Emmy award winner Brian Cox (Braveheart, The Bourne Supremacy, Deadwood), Kierston Wareing (It's a Free World, Fish Tank), Charlotte Riley (Easy Virtue) and Shaun Evans (Teachers).
Element Pictures also co-produced the third series of the Inspector George Gently TV drama with Company Pictures for the BBC earlier this year, which was directed by Irish directors Daniel O'Hara and Ciaran Donnelly. The series was entirely filmed in Ireland and attracted over 5 million viewers per episode in the UK when it was broadcast in March this year.
"In recent months the Irish Film Board had attracted UK TV production worth €16 million in direct foreign investment, creating 500 jobs for Irish cast and crew. UK TV drama produced here is an important component of Ireland's film and TV sector. We are very grateful to the UK broadcasters and producers for placing their trust in Ireland's production community, and look forward to further drama for BBC, Sky and ITV being made in Ireland in 2009" said Naoise Barry, Film Commissioner, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
THE TAKE will broadcast on SKY ever Wednesday at 9pm for the next four weeks.
Both THE TAKE and the INSPECTOR GEORGE GENTLY series benefited from the Irish tax incentive for film production Section 481 and the Irish Film Board's International Production Fund.