RTÉ Drama
THE CLINIC 10 X 52’
Following from the outstanding success of last year’s series, THE CLINIC returns by popular demand for an extended run of 10 episodes exploring life in and out of the consulting rooms of Dublin’s Clarence Street Clinic.
Bereft by the sudden departure of husband and partner Ed, owner GP Cathy Costello (Aisling O’ Sullivan) faces personal and professional upheaval. Dan (Dominic Maffam), ever the Machiavellian plastic surgeon – leaps at the opportunity to become a business partner, and more, to a rebounding Cathy.
Richard McKenna (Stuart Graham), joins the team. An enigmatic, somewhat aloof doctor escaping from the demands of hospital A&E, Richard is hoping for a quieter life in general practice. He likes to keep his traumatic home life separate from his work, but it’s not long before one crashes into the other with unpredictable results.
Elsewhere physiotherapist Keelin (Rachel Pikington) finds love in a uniform and a renewed feeling of belonging in the Clinic, while Clodagh’s (Leigh Arnold) personal life implodes as her boyfriend departs and her own sense of who she is surfaces. Patrick’s (Gary Lydon) love life takes an upbeat turn in an unlikely form, while Daisy’s (Amy Huberman) takes a turn for the worse.
Parallel Fim Productions
FAIR CITY
Ireland’s favourite home-produced drama continues its four-times-a-week run throughout Autumn with more dramatic and realistic plots effecting the daily lives of the inhabitants of Dublin’s Carrigstown.
In-house
PURE MULE 6 X 52’ RTÉ Two
Shot on location in Banagher, Co.Offaly, written by award-winning playwright, Eugene O’Brien produced by the makers of Bachelors Walk, the series is made up of six one-hour episodes. Each one is given the name of the character that it centres on. They weave in and out of each other’s stories – Shamie; Kevin; Scobie; Therese; Deirdre; Jennifer – but the focus moves from one to the other as the series evolves. Each episode takes place over a different weekend. They all begin on Fridays and end in the cold light of Monday mornings.
Pure Mule is set in a midlands market town, unnamed, but utterly familiar. It’s of its place, but could be anywhere in the country. This is an Ireland that scarcely remembers hard times. No one goes to mass. Young people leave to travel, and come home again to settle down. They’re not rich, but they have the money to spend their weekends drinking and doing e. They sleep around. A 25 year-old virgin is a figure of fun; even his mother is embarrassed.
In Pure Mule, nothing is simple. The joker is hurting inside, the town’s desperado wants to settle down. It’s as double-sided as the meaning of the title. Pure Mule can be positive or negative – ‘went out, long queue, shite beer, no craic, walked home in the rain on me own, it was pure mule’ or ‘went out, straight in, no kissin’, loadsa drink and I got me hole, it was pure mule’. It all depends on the intonation.
Accomplice Television
THE LAST FURLONG 6 X 35’
From writer/director Kieran Carney and co-director Tom Hall (Bachelor’s Walk) comes THE LAST FURLONG, a character driven comedy drama series in which Diogo Furlong (played by Simon Delaney), a Portuguese singer/songwriter comes to Ireland to learn the truth about his dead father.
After the unexpected death of his beloved mother, Diogo Furlong leaves his fiancée to do a tour of Ireland to learn about his roots and sprinkle his mother’s ashes on the grave of the Irish father he never met. Back home Diogo is a big fish in a small pond. Here, he’s an optimistic romantic searching for his roots. His choice of songs may be bizarre, and he may indulge in the occasional starry hissy fit, but at heart he’s a wide-eyed idealist who won’t be put down, no matter what life throws at him. Mags Daly is assigned to be his tour manager, but she and her boyfriend, John, decide to exploit the situation by making a documentary about him, in order to fulfil their film-making ambitions. When they discover that the supposed grave of Diogo’s father does not actually exist both Mag’s film and Hidalgo’s quest take on a new urgency. As they hurtle towards the final, shocking revelation the intensity of the situation creates fertile ground for sexual tension.
Great Western Films
FOR 2006… A number of drama series are planned and in development, one of which will be Showbands. The drama broadcast early in 2005 was hugely popular and this one will follow the story of songstress Denise (Kerry McFadden) as she embarks on the next stage of her career.