The BBC has released the first look artwork and pictures for the dark comedic drama Tall Tales & Murder, which will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One Northern Ireland this Autumn.
Tall Tales & Murder is from Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan and has been co-created with Emmy and Directors Guild of America Award winner Chris Addison. It is a co-commission from BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ in association with Screen Ireland. It is produced by Avalon (Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe) in association with Ireland-based Metropolitan Pictures (KIN).
The six-part series mixes a Bonnie and Clyde style adventure of bent cops, kidnapping, underworld fixers (not to mention libido-enhancing horse medication bootleggers) and the dilemmas of unconventional heroes and villains with an 8th Century tall tale of monks, vikings, buried treasure and a priceless holy book.
Bridget, played by Ella-Lily Hyland (Black Doves, Towards Zero, Silent Roar), is an unconventional nurse who works the night shift at a Dublin nursing home. She reads the old folk bedtime horror stories, arranges clandestine late night dances and euthanises them if they ask nicely.
Into this secret world comes Paul, played by Casey Walsh in his first television acting role, a young man stuck stealing cars to repay a debt to crime boss Ma Baker, played by Philippa Dunne (Amandaland, Derry Girls, The Woman in the Wall). Paul is desperate to stay out of prison and needs a legitimate job to keep him safe, so calls on his guardian-angel-of-sorts, an irascible detective called Bunny Ryan, played by Brian Doherty (Blackshore, Fair City). Bunny uses his personal history with the Matron of Bridget’s nursing home, played by Aisling O’Sullivan (Raw, The Clinic), to pull in a favour – a favour that will cost him dear.
On Bridget and Paul’s first shift together at the nursing home, a mysterious, comatose patient known only as ‘Anonymous’, played by Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones, KIN), wakes up and reveals he’s the long-lost gangster Grinner McNair, with a buried hoard of Celtic gold.
Could this treasure be the answer to all Bridget and Paul’s troubles? Will they risk everything to find it?
But they’re not the only ones after it – things get complicated as vicious gangster Wesley Swanson, played by Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders), and his henchmen close in…
Take a look at a handful of new stills from the series below:
The drama was filmed in the Republic of Ireland and is based on the nine-book Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.
Tall Tales & Murder was commissioned by David Crean, RTÉ Head of Drama, and Dermot Horan, RTÉ Director of Acquisitions & Co-Productions; and Eddie Doyle, Head of Content Commissioning, and Jason Butler, Commissioning Editor, for BBC Northern Ireland. Produced by Avalon in association with Metropolitan Pictures, Tall Tales & Murder is executive produced by Chris Addison, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, Stuart Carolan and Jon Thoday for Avalon, with David McLoughlin and Catherine Tiernan for Metropolitan Pictures. Caroline Norris is Series Producer, Gemma O’Shaughnessy is Producer and the series is directed by Chris Addison and Neasa Hardiman. It will be distributed internationally by Avalon.
