Irish actors Ruth McCabe and Simon Coury have joined the cast of popular ITV detective drama ‘Foyle’s War’, which has entered production in Dublin.
Shooting on the first of three feature-length episodes got underway on Monday (August 28) with locations in Stonybatter, North Dublin, among those so far used.
The shoot for the entire series will last for 16 weeks in total and is due to wrap on December 14. No details have been released as to the characters McCabe and Coury will play. 2011 IFTA-winner McCabe is best known for her roles in ‘My Left Foot’ and ‘The Snapper’, while Coury has appeared in ‘The Tudors’ and ‘Murphy’s Law’.
The first of the three feature-length films currently being shot is entitled ‘The Eternity Ring’ and has been described as “a story of spies, traitors and the atom bomb” by creator and scriptwriter Anthony Horowitz.
The feature is being directed by British filmmaker Stuart Orme (Lewis) who previously directed two episodes during the last season of ‘Foyle’s War’. British cinematographer Gavin Struthers (Downton Abbey) is his director of photography.
Irish crew attached includes line producer Mary Alleguen (13 Steps Down), production designer Anna Rackard (Haywire) and hair stylist Muriel Bell (Sinbad)
Filming on the series had previously been scheduled to get underway in mid-September, according to producer Jeremy Gwilt, but was brought forward. UK-based Eleventh Hour Films are producing the new series for ITV alongside Irish co-production partners Octagon Films.
The eighth series of ‘Foyle’s War’ marks the second major British production to get underway in Ireland this week with filming also underway on three-part series ‘The Ice Cream Girls’. That production has also been commissioned by ITV and also involves Octagon.
‘Foyle’s War’ is being produced by Gwilt with Jill Green, founder of Eleventh Hour Films, executive producing alongside Ronan Flynn of Octagon. The project will receive Irish funding under Section 481.
Michael Kitchen has reprised the role of detective chief superintendent Christopher Foyle with Honeysuckle Weeks returning as Samantha Stewart. Anthony Horowitz will also write the third film with David Kane set to pen the second film.
ITV1 is expected to broadcast the three two-hour films in 2013 with the distribution rights held by Acorn Media.