IFTN speaks to writer/director Daniel O’Hara about the new Irish comedy drama ‘Paddywhackery’ which debuts on TG4 next week. The series stars stand-up comedian Paddy C.Courtney, Fionnula Flanagan (The Others, Transamerica), Frank Kelly (Father Ted, Cowboys and Angels) and Siobhan Kelly (Fair City, Ros na Rún).
In development for three years, the six part bi-lingual series was written by O’Hara and actor Paddy C. Courtney and shot in March and April 2007 on location in Galway City and at TG4’s Spiddal studios, with exterior shots of Dublin city used to add authenticity to the Dublin-setting.
‘Paddywhackery’ is set entirely in Dublin and follows the exploits of newly unemployed Paddy Woods (Courtney), who discovers there are large grants available to businesses that promote the Irish language. Having only a cúpla focail himself, he ropes in fluent Irish speaker Siobhan (O’Kelly) to help him set up a business through Irish. Meanwhile, the ghost of Peig Sayers (Flanagan) is on a mission to restore faith in the Irish language, and returns from the grave to inflict her wisdom and unwanted advice on Paddy.
Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom |
This is the first time Courtney has co-written with O’Hara, though the comedian has acted in two of O’Hara’s previous shorts, the IFTA winning ‘Yu Ming is Ainm Dom’ and ‘Fluent Dysphasia’.
“I wanted to come up with a way of using Irish in a drama in a realistic way in an urban setting,” O’Hara tells IFTN. “One thing I noticed with the success of my short films is that there is an appetite at the moment for Irish programmes amongst an audience that don’t necessarily have Irish themselves. That was the idea, that basically we wanted to make the language relevant even in an environment where it’s not spoken 100% of the time.
O'Hara at the IFTAs |
Also the fact that you have a language that some people understand and some people don’t- there’s dramatic and comedic potential in that, in communication breakdown and misunderstanding.”
Dialect coaches were used on the set to perfect the native dialects of Irish speaking characters from areas such as Connemara and Kerry. “Some characters in the series that are born and reared in Connemara; there are some that are from Dublin and will not speak a word of Irish; and there are some characters that are learning Irish.”
O’Hara hopes that the comedic nature and contemporary setting of ‘Paddywhackery’ will attract viewers both Irish and non-Irish speakers alike.
“The bottom line is that if it’s entertaining it will appeal to people, that was our idea all along,” he says. “I think honestly audiences don’t care what language something is in, as long as it’s entertaining. If a film or programme is good and it sucks them in, they forget that they’re watching subtitles and I hope ‘Paddywhackery’ will work in the same way.
Courtney, Flanagan and Kelly in Paddywhackery |
The fact that we were able to attract people like Frank Kelly and Fionnula Flanagan to it was amazing. To have Fionnula Flanagan playing the ghost of Peig Sayers, it’s potentially quite an iconic role. So I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes down.”
‘Paddywhackery’ was funded by TG4, the Sound & Vision Scheme of the BCI and Section 481 and produced by Grainne O’Carroll from Dough Productions. The series was shot on Digibeta by DOP Fergal O’Hanlon, with posting and grading by Juniper Calder and Gary Currans in Screen Scene.
The first episode of ‘Paddywhackery’ airs on Wednesday 24th October on TG4 at 9.30pm.