Episode 4 – Camera Obscura
Blennerhasset, Molloy and Nancy take on a most unconventional job: undertaking a shoot during a spiritual séance to prove, or disprove, the existence of ghosts.
Guest starring: Martin Donovan
Synopsis: Happy with his new assistant’s progress, Blennerhasset hires Molloy to take a memorial photograph of his recently deceased mother. Despite the caustic insults flung out by Blennerhasset’s obnoxious siblings Abigail and Maurice, Molloy manages to do a commendable job. This impresses Blennerhasset’s nephew Henry who is looking for a photographer for a very specific job. Henry wants to get involved in the potentially lucrative area of spiritual photography. His plan is to use renowned medium Eva Lambert aka The Ghost Queen to host one of her famed seances. But can they capture a real spirit on camera? Blennerhasset and Nancy decide to assist Molloy in his first solo commission but all three are unaware of what terrors await them.
SERIES SYNOPSIS
Dublin, 1880. Cameras are becoming cheaper and the country is flourishing with photographic studios. However, the practice of memorial portraiture, the portrait photography of the recently deceased, is on the wane.
Renowned memorial photographer Brock Blennerhasset tries to revive his business after an accident, requiring the assistance of his estranged niece Nancy Vickers and his over enthusiastic new assistant Conall Molloy. After a rocky start, their working relationship begins to develop but it appears someone more sinister is getting in on the death photography game.
The investigations of Detective Frederick Regan of Dublin Castle suggest a killer may be cashing in on a taste for a different type of memorial imagery, in this case, pictures of people in their death throes. As the body count begins to escalate, Blennerhasset, Molloy and Nancy have to stop a murderer intent on ruining not just their business, but their lives.
Created by John Morton and Imogen Murphy, DEAD STILL is written by John Morton.
DEAD STILL blends mystery and drama with gallows humour, and features an incredible ensemble of acclaimed international actors including Michael Smiley (Luther, Wire in the Blood) as Brock Blennerhasset, Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones, Victoria) as Conall Molloy, Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn, Mary Queen of Scots) as Nancy Vickers, and Aidan O’Hare (The Dublin Murders, Jackie) as Detective Frederick Regan.
DEAD STILL also stars Jimmy Smallhorne (Taken Down, Clean Break) as Cecil Carruthers, Mark Rendall (Departure, Versailles) as Percy Cummins, Peter Campion (Derry Girls, Kat and Alfie: Redwater) as Henry Vickers, and features Martin Donovan (Big Little Lies, Fahrenheit 451) as Bushrod Whacker.
DEAD STILL is an Ireland/Canada treaty co-production produced by Deadpan Pictures (Ireland) and Shaftesbury (Canada) in association with RTÉ, Acorn TV with Acorn Media Enterprises, ZDF Enterprises, and the BAI, and with the participation of the Irish Tax Credit, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit.
DEAD STILL was developed with the support of Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.