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HIDE AND SEEK. ***Brand new four part drama****

Paul, Emma and Auntie Kathleen Image Name: Paul, Emma and Auntie Kathleen Description: Hide and Seek Copyright: © RTÉ Stills Library RTÉ. This image may be reproduced in print or electronic format for promotional purposes only. Any further use of this image must be re-negotiated separately with RTÉ. Use is subject to a fee to be agreed according to the current RTÉ Stills Library rate card.

SERIES SUMMARY


 Taking place over four consecutive days, this contemporary series follows events in the life of the Holden family.


The main focus is on PAUL HOLDEN (Michael McElhatton) a man suffering from increasingly traumatic nightmares about a terrible childhood tragedy he witnessed.


When the series opens, Paul and EMMA (Maria Doyle Kennedy) are living in suburban Dublin with their ten year-old son, MATTHEW (Tito Long), suffering the usual pressures of working parents… but its clear there is additional strain.


Paul is unbearably tense and uncommunicative. His mood reeks of suppressed violence. Emma is so worried, she contacts Paul’s younger brother, GREG (Karl Geary), a policeman in Britain, to discuss. Greg offers to pay a weekend visit to check out Emma’s concerns and also to attend Matthew’s birthday party.


HIDE AND SEEK examines the effects of traumas, both past and present, on the various relationships in the Holden family; between Paul and Emma – can the wife ever trust her husband again? Between Paul and Matthew – will the son ever fully understand the father’s actions and mental state? And as for Paul and Greg… does the latter know more about their brother Mattie’s death than he has always let on? Does he have the key to Paul’s disturbance?


Episode One (Day One)


To all appearances, PAUL HOLDEN has a perfectly ordinary life with a good job, a loving wife, EMMA and a ten-year old son, MATTHEW. However, Paul has been suffering lately from increasingly traumatic nightmares, relating to a terrible childhood tragedy.


Soon, the disturbing images begin to invade his waking life, causing Paul slowly to lose his grip on reality. On a job, (as a refrigeration engineer), Paul cuts the palm of his hand, badly. He then assaults his boss, and is fired immediately. But he doesn’t tell Emma. As with his nightmares, he keeps this all to himself, putting on a brave face at his son’s birthday party, for which Paul’s younger brother, GREG, travels from Manchester – where he works as a police officer.


Emma has informed Greg of Paul’s odd behaviour lately, and Greg resolves to question his brother, over a pint, about what’s got him so agitated. However, Greg’s questions immediately alert Paul – and not without cause –  to the notion that his family (including AUNTIE KATHLEEN and UNCLE CLEM, also attending the birthday party), have all been talking about him behind his back.


Soon, the stress (from the broken sleep and nightmares, but also from the constant whispering he perceives behind him) proves too much for Paul and, after a particularly distressing nightmare, he rises, takes his son from his bed and drives off into the night.


Paul Holden – Michael McElhatton
Emma Holden – Maria Doyle Kennedy
Matthew Holden – Tito Long
Greg Holden – Karl Geary


Siobhan Teeling – Tara Flynn
Aunty Kathleen – Marie Mullen


 


HIDE AND SEEK IS AN ACCOMPLICE TELEVISION PRODUCTION, PRODUCED BY DAVID COLLINS, FOR RTÉ TELEVISION.