Siobhán Cullen to Lead New Screen Ireland supported Dark Crime Comedy Drama Obituary
Posted: 8th November 2022
7 November 2022. Irish independent production company Magamedia and APC Studios UK are co-producing a brand-new Irish dark comedy crime drama Obituary exclusively in the US for streaming service Hulu, with RTÉ pre-buying the series.
Renowned TV and theatre actress Siobhán Cullen (The Dry, Origin, The Long Call, Paula) takes the lead role of Elvira Clancy, an underpaid obituarist working at a small town newspaper in the 6 x one-hour episode series, which is written by award-winning Irish scriptwriter Ray Lawlor (Le Ceangal) and directed by John Hayes (Dublin Murders, Bancroft) and produced by Nell Green (The Outfit, The Undeclared War).
APC Studios’ Laurent Boissel and Magamedia’s Paddy Hayes are executive producers of the series which is being made in association with Fís Éireann/ Screen Ireland, BAI and The Wrap Fund. Obituary goes into production in Ireland in 2023 and will exclusively premiere on Hulu in the US later that year.
In Obituary, 24-year-old Elvira Clancy is feeling unfulfilled, although she adores her job writing obituaries. When her newspaper falls on hard times, her boss tells her he is unable to keep her on the payroll and she finds herself being paid per obituary overnight… When she “accidentally” kills a nasty piece of work in the town, she discovers she might have an untapped bloodlust! She relishes using ever more crafty methods to kill off the town’s unpleasant residents while making them look like accidents. Unfortunately, a wrench lands in the works - the paper hires a suspicious new crime correspondent with a penchant for conspiracy theories, and she really, really likes him...
Executive Producers Paddy Hayes and Laurent Boissel said:
“It has been a blast pitching this wonderful high concept drama to various funders and broadcast partners over the past few years - an obituarist who resorts to murder to stay in a job! We’re genuinely thrilled that Hulu and RTE are already on board and it’s super exciting to be bringing it into production now in the West of Ireland.”
Siobhán is currently filming the role of Dove Maloney in Bodkin for Netflix following her critically acclaimed run as Finnuala alongside Ralph Fiennes in Straight Line Crazy at The Bridge Theatre. She can also be seen as Caroline in new series The Dry. Her previous television credits include series regular Katie in Origin, The Long Call for ITV and Paula for the BBC.
Her film work includes a leading role in the feature The Bright Side. Siobhán has worked extensively on stage in productions such as Once Upon a Bridge, The Cherry Orchard, Richard III, Crestfall and the one woman play Boland. She is represented by Greg Herst at Conway van Gelder Grant.
About Magamedia
Based in Galway on Ireland’s rugged west coast, Magamedia has over 20 years’ experience in the Irish entertainment industry with clients including TG4, RTE, Virgin Media and Screen Ireland. Our most recent feature film Foscadh was selected as Ireland’s entry to the 2022 Best International Feature Oscars and recent TV dramas include the IFTA-winning Corp + Anam starring Maria Doyle Kennedy and the teen musical comedy drama EIPIC.
About APC Studios
APC Studios is headed by experienced principals Emmanuelle Guilbart and Laurent Boissel and is a leading independent production and distribution company that partners with global content creators to develop and finance projects from inception to international distribution. APC Studios UK recently produced WOLF for the BBC in co-production with Hartswood Films and The Light in the Hall with Duchess Productions and Triongl for S4C, Channel 4 and Sundance Now. APC has also built a curated slate of English-language and local-language fiction from a range of global producers all over the world including hit drama Keeping Faith (BBC/S4C), Man in Room 301, Shadow Lines (Elisa Viihde), Operation Buffalo (ABC Australia), Gigantes, La Linea invisible (Telefonica Studios), The Unusual Suspects, stylish series A Very Secret Service (Arte) and Valkyrien (NRK). APC also has a quality slate of top-tier factual programmes and a children’s division APC Kids, which houses its own production company Zephyr Animation.