Category Archives: Irish Television

Balfe set for ASCENSION

Balfe set for ASCENSION

Irish Television

Balfe set for ASCENSION

Caitríona Balfe is set to return to television in ASCENSION, a new psychological horror thriller for Apple TV, reuniting her with the streamer for the first time since OUTLANDER concluded. The one-hour series comes from Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, produced under his overall deal with Apple, and marks a striking tonal departure for Balfe as she steps into darker, more unsettling territory.

Adapted from Adam Nevill’s novel LAST DAYS, ASCENSION follows Rose, a formidable documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother who has built a career exposing other people’s hidden truths while remaining unable to confront her own. Rose’s latest subject is the Church of Ascension, an enigmatic cult from the twentieth century whose teachings initially offer her an unexpected sense of solace and belonging. That comfort proves short-lived, however, as her investigation peels back layers of something far more sinister lurking beneath the group’s surface.

The project reunites Balfe with Apple Studios and brings her into the fold with Anonymous Content, with the actress taking on executive producing duties alongside her starring role. It’s a significant next chapter for Balfe, whose seven-year run as Claire Fraser on OUTLANDER established her as one of television’s most compelling leading women, and ASCENSION positions her to bring that same intensity to a story steeped in psychological dread and unresolved grief.

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Irish Television

Abrahamson’s YOU ARE HERE

Abrahamson's YOU ARE HERE

Irish Television

Abrahamson's YOU ARE HERE

Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, best known for his work on Sally Rooney’s NORMAL PEOPLE and his film ROOM, is set to direct the upcoming television show YOU ARE HERE. The show will be based on David Nicholls’ novel of the same name, with the screenplay written by him too. He has previously had novels such as ONE DAY and STARTER FOR 10 adapted for screens, both of which he also wrote the screenplay for.
YOU ARE HERE follows two middle-aged divorcees, who are unexpectedly brought together on a long distance walking trail across Northern England. Here, the two find a connection where they least expected it.

Nicholls explained that, “the intention with the novel was to write a close-up study of a relationship, but set against this magnificent landscape, and that’s our ambition here too.” Starring as main characters Michael and Marnie will be Matthew Macfayden and Claire Foy. Macfayden is most known for his roles in SUCCESSION and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, while Foy is known most for her roles in THE CROWN and THE MAGIC FAR AWAY TREE.

The show will be filmed in the Lake District and around Manchester, with the story being set along a coastal walk from the Lake District to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire.  Irish production house Element Pictures, a Fremantle owned company, will work alongside the BBC and Starz for this adaptation. Abrahamson described the novel as “such a beautiful love story – funny, profound and ultimately deeply hopeful.”

 

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Irish Television

McGee preps new TV show WILDWOOD

Lisa McGee preps WILDWOOD

Irish Television

Lisa McGee preps WILDWOOD

Derry-born Lisa McGee is stepping onto new turf, developing FX and 20th Television’s comedy series WILDWOOD, set against the backdrop of New Jersey’s Jersey Shore in the summer of 2000. The story follows a group of Irish college students who arrive in Wildwood with absolutely no plan for what comes next, and McGee is taking the reins as both creator and executive producer, marking her first project to step outside of Ireland and the UK entirely. For a writer whose name has become inseparable from Derry’s storytelling voice, this feels like a genuinely exciting expansion.

McGee remains best known for her semi-autobiographical Channel 4 series DERRY GIRLS, which first aired in 2018 and followed a group of teenagers navigating adolescence in Northern Ireland during the 1990s. The show ran for three seasons and picked up Best Comedy honours at the BAFTAs, the International Emmys, and the Irish Film and Television Awards, cementing itself as one of the defining Irish comedies of its era.

Speaking to Hot Press shortly after the DERRY GIRLS finale in 2022, McGee reflected candidly on the barriers she faced coming up as a working-class writer from Derry. She had wanted to be a playwright or screenwriter, she said, though at the time it felt like a naïve ambition given how few working-class girls had been afforded those opportunities before her. The local figures she admired, writers like Brian Friel and Frank McGuinness who captured their home place so vividly, were all men. She noted, with some relief, that things have shifted since then.

McGee’s body of work extends well beyond DERRY GIRLS. She wrote an episode of the 2022 BBC series SKINT and co-created THE DECEIVED for Channel 5, LONDON RUSH for Channel 4, and RAW for RTÉ. Her most recent series, HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN FROM BELFAST, landed on Netflix this past February. Her writing credits also include episodes of Channel 4’s INDIAN SUMMERS, BBC1 and Starz’s THE WHITE QUEEN, and the BAFTA-winning BBC3 series BEING HUMAN. On the stage side, her play JUMP! was adapted into a film in 2012, and she won a Stewart Parker Award for her 2006 play GIRLS AND DOLLS.

No release date has been announced yet for WILDWOOD, but with McGee’s track record of turning specific, lived-in worlds into universally beloved television, this is one to watch closely.

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Irish Television

Negga in TRINITY’S TREASURES

Ruth Negga TRINITY TREASURES

Irish Television

Ruth Negga TRINITY TREASURES

Trinity College Dublin’s Old Library is stepping into the spotlight, and this time it’s not just for its centuries of literary treasures. As the historic building undergoes its first major renovation in over three hundred years, it takes centre stage alongside three celebrated alumni in a brand new RTÉ documentary, TRINITY’S TREASURES.

Oscar-nominated actor and producer Ruth Negga joins acclaimed singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy and retired senator and civil rights activist David Norris as they reconnect with the university that shaped them, sitting down with the librarians, archivists, curators and conservators who safeguard some of the most extraordinary manuscript, printed book and artefact collections in the world. Framed against the backdrop of the Old Library Redevelopment Project, the series offers a rare, intimate look at both the building’s storied past and its next chapter.

The opening episode follows Ruth Negga as she returns to campus for a conversation with Trinity’s Librarian and College Archivist, Helen Shenton, digging into the university’s remarkable literature, poetry and theatre holdings and uncovering the hidden gems tucked away within them. It’s a fitting tribute to a space that has quietly shaped Irish literary life for centuries, now getting the star treatment it deserves.

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Irish Television

MOBLAND S2 trailer released

MOBLAND S2 trailer released

Irish Television

MOBLAND S2 trailer released

Paramount+ has finally put an end to weeks of speculation by confirming the return date for MOBLAND Season 2, and while Tom Hardy’s on-again, off-again status with the show has dominated headlines, it’s Pierce Brosnan’s continued presence alongside Hardy and Helen Mirren that gives the series its real weight heading into the new run. MOBLAND Season 2 arrives on the streamer on Friday, September 18, bringing Brosnan back into the fold of a crime drama that has increasingly leaned on his gravitas to anchor its ensemble. Paramount+ also dropped a teaser for the new season, offering a glimpse of Hardy’s crime family fixer Harry Da Souza thrown straight back into the chaos, with Brosnan’s presence looming large over the fractured family dynamics that make the show tick.

The trailer opens with Da Souza admitting, “This hasn’t exactly been a wonderful 24 hours for me, yeah?” before noting he’s under considerable strain, a line that echoes the very real turbulence that surrounded the production behind the scenes. That turbulence began in late May, when reports surfaced that Hardy would not be returning for a MOBLAND third season, following on-set friction with executive producer Jez Butterworth, 101 Studios, and others involved in the production. Throughout that uncertainty, Brosnan’s involvement in the world of MOBLAND remained one of the steadying elements of the show’s future, a reminder of why his casting was considered such a coup in the first place.

By late June, the storm had passed. Hardy was confirmed to be returning for MOBLAND Season 3 after meeting with Butterworth and executive producer David Glasser in London, a sit-down that reportedly resolved the underlying issues and cleared the path for his comeback. With that resolved, all eyes now turn to September, when Brosnan, Hardy, and Mirren reunite on screen for what promises to be one of the streamer’s biggest returns of the fall. For a show built on family loyalty and betrayal, there’s something fitting about Brosnan holding steady at its center while the drama around him plays out both on screen and off

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Irish Television

Louis McCartney in HAMBURG DAYS

Louis McCartney in HAMBURG DAYS

Irish Television

Louis McCartney in HAMBURG DAYS

Northern Irish actor Louis McCartney has been cast as Ringo Starr in HAMBURG DAYS, the upcoming BBC drama that will chronicle The Beatles’ formative years in Germany. McCartney, who hails from Helen’s Bay in County Down, is best known to theatre audiences for his acclaimed portrayal of Henry Creel in the West End and Broadway productions of STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW, and his casting marks another significant milestone for Irish talent on the international stage.

The six-part series takes audiences back to the early 1960s, when four young musicians from Liverpool were honing their craft in the clubs and bars of Hamburg — years before they would become the most iconic band in music history. It is a story of ambition, raw energy, and the making of a legend, and the BBC is assembling a cast worthy of the material.

Joining McCartney is Asa Butterfield, best known for SEX EDUCATION, who will take on the pivotal role of Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who discovered The Beatles in 1961 and guided their rise until his untimely death in 1967. Jonny Lee Miller, whose career-defining turn in TRAINSPOTTING remains one of British cinema’s most enduring performances, will play Jim McCartney, Paul’s father, while Christine Tremarco, who recently drew widespread praise for her work in ADOLESCENCE, will portray Mimi Smith, the aunt and guardian who raised John Lennon.

With a compelling ensemble and a story at the very heart of modern music history, HAMBURG DAYS is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated BBC dramas in recent memory.

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Irish Television

I AM HELEN preview

I AM HELEN returns

Irish Television

I AM HELEN returns

Nicola Coughlan and Joe Cole have been photographed together for the first time on set in I AM HELEN, the latest instalment in Dominic Savage’s acclaimed I AM series for Channel 4. The images give us an early glimpse of the two actors in character, seated on a bed in what appears to be a tense, heated exchange between a couple — though Cole’s role officially remains under wraps for now.

Coughlan, best known internationally for BRIDGERTON, developed the story alongside Savage, who once again serves as writer and director on the project. Award-winning Me+You Productions returns as producer. The synopsis describes a drama told through a female lens, one that examines the pressures and expectations placed on women while confronting the realities of toxic masculinity and the damage it can cause in modern relationships — territory that feels both timely and personal to the series’ broader ambitions.

I AM HELEN marks a first in the show’s history, stretching its story across two episodes rather than the single-episode format that has defined previous instalments. The series has built a remarkable track record since its debut, with Vicky McClure, Samantha Morton, Gemma Chan, Suranne Jones, Letitia Wright and Lesley Manville each having taken the lead in earlier episodes. The most recent entry, I AM RUTH, starred Kate Winslet and aired in 2022 to widespread acclaim.

Both episodes of I AM HELEN are set to air on Channel 4 later this year.

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Irish Television

RIVALS renewed for Season 3

RIVALS renewed for Season 3

Irish Television

RIVALS renewed for Season 3

Great news for fans of the show that has become one of Disney+’s most talked-about period comedies — RIVALS is officially coming back for a third season.

Disney+ has confirmed the renewal ahead of the second volume of RIVALS‘ sophomore season, which doesn’t arrive until November. It’s a vote of confidence that speaks volumes, and given the jaw-dropping twists already delivered in the first volume of season two, the excitement building around this show is entirely justified.

For the uninitiated, RIVALS is based on Jilly Cooper’s beloved Rutshire Chronicles, brought to life by a stellar ensemble that includes David Tennant, Aidan Turner and Danny Dyer in a world of scandal, seduction and spectacular bad behaviour. If season two has already raised the temperature considerably, the official logline for season three promises things are about to get even more combustible. As the dust settles on the shocking revelations of the current run, stakes will be higher, alliances more fragile, and nothing — absolutely nothing — will stay buried for long. New romances, rekindled old flames and secrets that demand to be spilled are all on the way, pushing everyone’s favourite rivalries to an entirely new level.

Production company Happy Prince welcomed the news warmly, expressing both delight and some tenderness in the same breath. The renewal comes with a bittersweet note — Jilly Cooper passed away before she could witness the extraordinary audience response to season two. Her collaborators were quick to honour her memory, noting that she remains very much present in spirit, and that she would have been thrilled to see her world carry on. They also promised to dive deeper into her work as the series continues.

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Irish Television