Discover new original Irish TV drama this Autumn
Posted: 18th September 2023
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to support a wide range of brand new and returning TV drama series across all Irish broadcasters which will start airing this Autumn. RTÉ, Virgin Media and TG4 recently announced their upcoming programme for the next few months, continuing investment in established and emerging Irish creative talent through national and international production.
Andrew Byrne, Head of Television at Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, said:
Screen Ireland is delighted to welcome the new season launches across Irish broadcasters RTÉ, Virgin Media and TG4 – with an exciting array of Irish TV drama coming to audiences in the coming months. From new crime thrillers to dark comedies, along with the return of highly popular series, we’re deeply proud to have supported these projects and the story makers behind them, through TV drama production and development funding. We’re looking forward to them making a splash with audiences at home and abroad very soon.”
RTÉ's new season kicked off with the return of Hidden Assets, which started Sunday, 3rd September on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. The six-part series, set between Limerick and Antwerp, Belgium, is set a year after the events in season one, with the stage set for an exciting season full of twists and turns. Claire (Nora-Jane Noone) is new to the fold as the lead Detective Sergeant in charge at the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and faces a sudden challenge – a coordinated cyber-attack targeting CAB and the Belgian Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU), with a connection to the Brannigan case. Bibi (Simone Kirby), under threat from Richard Melnick’s business partner Swann, resurfaces with some new and crucial information unveiling dark details on how Richard ran his company Trestford and reveals there’s a mole in CTU.
Cast includes the return of Simone Kirby (His Dark Materials, Jimmy’s Hall), Wouter Hendrickx, Cathy Belton (Red Rock, Philomena) and Aaron Monaghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, Redemption of a Rogue). Nora-Jane Noone joins the cast (Wildfire, Magdalene Sisters). Hidden Assets airs on Sundays at 9.30pm.
Also coming to the screen this September is Obituary, a dark comedy crime drama in which the newspaper that 24-year-old Elvira Clancy works for falls into hard times, causing her to now being paid per obituary. When deaths trickle to a halt and work dries up, Elvira soon discovers that by murdering the unpleasant residents in her small town, she will not only earn more money but discovers she has an untapped bloodlust. The only problem for her lies with the paper’s new hire, Emerson Stafford, a suspicious crime correspondent who she begins to develop feelings for.
The series stars a line-up of renowned Irish actors: Siobhan Cullen (The Dry) takes the lead as Elvira Clancy, Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters, Bloodlands) as Elvira’s protective and troubled father Ward Clancy; Ronan Raftery (The Rook, Mortal Engines, The Terror) as ambitious new crime correspondent Emerson Stafford. Directed by John Hayes (Dublin Murders, Bancroft) and Oonagh Kearney (Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, Womens’ Christmas Night), Obituary begins airing on Tuesday, 26th September on RTÉ.
Beginning in October, The Gone is a new six-part thriller set in New Zealand, written by Anna McPartlin and Michael Bennett. The Gone sees a young Irish couple go missing, with a potential Irish crime family involved in their disappearance, leading to a joint New Zealand and Irish crime investigation. The lead Irish detective is played by Richard Flood, most recently starring in Grey’s Anatomy. The Gone is co-produced by Keeper Pictures and Kingfisher Films, in association with Southern Light Films (New Zealand) for RTÉ and TV New Zealand, with international distribution handled by Red Arrow Studios.
Other series to watch out for this year include the second series of The Dry, written by BAFTA-nominated screenwriter Nancy Harris and directed by Paddy Breathnach, which will see the return of Roisin Gallagher as recovering alcoholic Shiv Sheridan, accompanied by an exciting array of new cast arrivals, including Michael McElhatton and Thommas Kane Byrne, as well as Blackshore, a new mystery thriller from the creators of Smother which explores the DNA of one town’s relationship with shame, guilt and the price of success, Saor Sin Ó Olc, an Irish language crime series written by Doireann Ni Chorragain & Richie Conroy set in the Donegal Gaeltacht exploring traumas, twists and truths, and Northern Lights, an Irish-Belgian co-production tells the story of two grieving strangers whose worlds collide on a rainy night in Dublin which will air on TG4 this season.
RTÉ also continues this season its Storyland initiative focused on nurturing creative acting, writing and directing talent to cultivate new voices and perspectives in Irish drama, with three new dramas airing before the end of the year:
Wrapped (written by Tracy Martin, produced by Claire McCabe and directed by Mia Mullarkey) follows two Irish women travel through airport security with thousands of euro worth of cocaine strapped to their bodies, hoping to leave their past behind.
Falling for the Life of Alex Whelan (written by Nell Hensey and produced by Claire Mooney) is about a young Chinese Irish woman who meets the man of her dreams at a foreign language film club. She discovers the next day through social media that he has died. Piecing together who he was through his online life, she begins to wonder what could have been.
The Cousin (written and directed by Stevie Russell and produced by Michael Donnelly) stars Adam Lennon-Collery as Dan, a young artist, submits to a prestigious art college with his project The Saints of Fairfield, an installation using projection mapping and archival photography. In the park close by where he lives, Dan projects portraits of people who lived in his neighbourhood over the years but have passed on due to old age, crime, overdose, suicide or emigration. When his application is successful an opportunity arises for him to escape a predetermined life path. But first he needs to sit down and get his cousin’s blessing, which might be easier said than done.
National broadcasters will continue to invest in emerging talent this season, with the upcoming announcement of the Virgin Media Discovers competition winner. You can discover the finalists here.