28 March 2024 The Irish Film & Television Network
     
Special Feature: Summer TV Production Hots Up
11 Jun 2010 :
Livin' With Lucy - new series in production
New and returning Irish projects are shooting countrywide this summer and look at Irish chefs learning to fly fish, Children who can ‘Dig It’ and Irish mobs in Canada. The country will also welcome international stars including Sean Bean, Eva Green, Joseph Fiennes and many others.

New Productions Underway

Loosehorse Ltd. are this summer shooting ‘On the Fly’, a 6 x 35 minute series where Irish chefs take to the waters in an effort to learn the fine art of fly-fishing and produce an edible dish from their catch. The series, directed by Peter Murphy and Sarah Barrow is produced by Fintan Walsh and features the culinary skills of Kevin Thornton, Derry Clarke and Anita Tomas. The series will film until September and is funded by the BAI for Setanta Sports Ireland.

Moving onto much dryer land Mind the Gap are testing the archaeological knowledge of Irish children all over the country. ‘Ireland – Dig It!’, a 4 part series for RTÉ Young Peoples that goes into production soon and will film in authority museums around the country. The BAI funded series is directed by David Donaghy (The Frontline) and Simon Hepworth (Dick and Dom in da Bungalow) and produced by Bernadine Carraher (Happy Birthday Oscar WIlde) & Anne Heffernan (Irish Tenors & Friends).

Cameras will start to roll of the set of ‘Camelot’ on Monday, June 28th. The series, from the producers of ‘The Tudors’ will be in production until November and will see many established international actors in the form of Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love), Eva Green (Casino Royale), Jamie Capbell Bower (Sweeney Todd) and Tamsin Egerton (4.3.2.1.) filming in and around Dublin and Wicklow for the Arthurian series.  

Across the border, the Northern Irish epic fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones’ for HBO will see Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), Jennifer Ehle (Possession), Lena Headey (300), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Black Hawk Down) and many others filming in and around Belfast’s Paint Hall between June and December of this year.

Mind the Gap is currently going in pre-production with an unnamed disability comedy series that will look to exploring the relationship between disability and comedy. Directed by Conor O’Mahony (cinematographer, Guy’s Dog) and produced by Anne Heffernan, the series will be directed by comedian Adam Hills (Spicks and Specks) with the first programme expected to film in Belfast next week.

Animation gets Punky

As to animated productions Monster Animation is in pre-production with a new series which is currently going by the working title of ‘Punky’. The 20 x 7 minute series which is due to go into production in late July centres around a girl called Punky and her family. It is written by Andrew Brenner (The Cramp Twins), directed by Ciara McClean and produced by Gerard O’Rourke (Not There Yet) and will be animated by Celine Halpin, Kelly Gunning, Jenny O'Brien and Simon Crane. Brown Bag Films are in production with ‘The Octonauts’ a series which follows a team of heroes - Captain Barnacles Bear; Lieutenant Kwazii Kitten, and Medic Peso Penguin - who dive into action whenever there is trouble under the sea. The 52 x 11 minute series is directed by Darragh O’Connell (Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty) and produced by Gillian Higgins (Wobblyland) with funding from Chorion/BBC.

TV3 will see the production of two new series this summer. ‘The Irish Abroad’ is a reality TV show which will look at the experiences of Irish holiday-makers who like to party and this will film in late July. The series crew is TBC. The broadcaster is currently in production with ‘Style Wars’. The series, directed by Rachel Moriarty and produced by Ruth Roden (The Irish Township) and Eoin Kavanagh (Total Exposure) of Toto productions, will follow several aspiring fashionistas who will be faced with challenges judged by fashion designer Peter O’Brien, fashion expert Angela Wood and model, Caprice.

Finally Abú Media are currently in pre-production with ‘Mobs Canada’, a follow up their ‘Mobs Mhericea’ series, this one focussing on Irish Canadian Mobsters. The 6 x 30 minute historical doc is directed by Dathai Keane (Bothar go dti an Whitehouse) and produced by Eileen Seoighe (Bothar go dti an Whitehouse) and Brid Seoighe (Turas Teanga) for TG4. The director of photography will be Colm Hogan (The Listener) and the series will start its three month’s shoot in August around Galway, Dublin and Canada. It will then be edited in-house in Abú Media and broadcast in January 2011. The cast for the project is TBC. 

Returning TV Series

Adare productions are going into production with the second series of ‘Jig Gig’ and the third series of ‘Livin’ with Lucy’ this summer. The former starts shooting this week in the RTÉ studios for a month and is directed by Brian Graham and produced by Tom Evans. It will be broadcast mid September. ‘Livin’ with Lucy’ sees presenter Lucy Kennedy (The Podge and Rodge Show) moves in temporarily with various Irish celebrities. Directed and produced by Ciaran Kelleher, it will go into production in early August and broadcast on RTÉ later this year.  

Blinder Films will return with their RTÉ series ‘The Savage Eye’ later this year also. The series which see comedian Dave McSavage impersonate prolific Irish personalities is currently in pre-production and is expected to shoot later on in the summer to be broadcast towards the end of the year. The 6 x 30 minute series will be directed by Kieron J Walsh (Sensation) and Damien O’Donnell (East is East) and produced by Katie Holly (Shrooms) and Kieron.

Caboom’s alternative puppet panel show, ‘Special 1 TV’ for Setanta Sports also returns and sees the cloth alter-egos of Wayne Rooney, Jose Mourinho and Fabio Capello once again meeting to discuss the trials and errors of the beautiful game, with special emphasis this year on the World Cup. The show is directed by Damian Farrell (I Dare Ya) who produces it alongside comedian Mario Rosenstock (Apres Match) who lends his acting talents to the football panel. The series’ director of photography is Joe Edwards (Luke Kelly: The Performer). The BBC - funded series will shoot until July 4th and the editing will be carried out in Caboom by Dan Gannon. Brown Bag Films are working again with ‘Olivia’, a series that centres around a fun-loving pig. The second instalment of the 26 x 11 minute ‘Olivia’ series is directed by Tim Bjorklund (Teacher’s Pet) and produced by Gillian Higgins with funding from Chorion/Nick US.

Loopline Film’s ‘Muintir na Mara’ for TG4 will see Pádraig Ó Duinnín continue his personal and spiritual voyage along the coast of Ireland. The fifth instalment of the six part series is directed by Martina Durac (Bodyblow) and will finish shooting at the end of June. Screentime Shinawil’s ‘The Apprentice’ will also make a revisit to our screens this year. The series is directed and produced by Linda McQuaid (You’re a Star) with Larry Bass (Fame: The Musical) as the executive producer. Finally Sideline’s Model-scouting TV series returns under the new title of ‘The Model Scouts’ this year. The second series fro RTÉ will continue to shoot this summer and is directed by Sarah Share (If I Should Fall From Grace: The Shane McGowan Story), produced by Una Shinners (Heavy Metal) and executively produced by Regina Looby. The 8 x 1 hour series started filming in March and will continue to shoot in blocks throughout the summer with the wannabe models this year trying to impress IMG’s Jenny Rose and David Cunningham.

Documentary Production

Where documentaries are concerned Léirithe Sónta have just finished the first stage of shooting of their 52 minute docu-drama ‘Mise Raiftearaí an Fíodóir Focal’ in Oswego, Upstate New York, Brooklyn and in Cross Co. Mayo. The project, a comprehensive account of the life and times of legendary 19th century Gaelic poet, Antoine Ó Reachtabhra is written by Tadhg MacDhonnagáin (Aifric) and directed by Seán Ó Cualáin (Mairtin O’Cadhain: King of Words). The doc features Andrias de Staic in the role of Raiftearaí and PJ Dillon (Kings) as the director of photography. Produced by Eamonn Ó Cualáin (Mairtin O’Cadhain: King of Words) the final stage of shooting will take place in Mid August and will shoot in Lough Corrib and the Headford Road. Funding in the project came from TG4/BAI/Foras na Gaeilge which will broadcast on TG4 this Christmas.

Ongoing documentaries include Park Films’ ‘Lola Ya Bonobo’ which is exploring the work of Claudine Andre and her NGO sanctuary for Bonobo chimpanzees in the Congo. ‘Lola Ya Bonobo’ is directed by Rory Bresnihan (The Man Inside) and produced by Anne Marie Naughton (Tara Road). Also, Athena Media are continuing to shoot their documentary, ‘Pat Falvey: My Private Everest’ which centres around the life of Pat Falvey, an Irish man who against the odds has climbed Mount Everest four times. The project is directed and produced by Helen Shaw (Is It Just Me?) and the project’s cinematographers are Barry MacNeill (Xposé) and Niall Foley (Greenfingers). It is expected that the project will be completed in December of this year following its post production which will be carried out in Dublin’s Lotus Media.

Finally, production is ongoing also on the set of Akajava Film’s ‘Wonderland’ about ‘Shamrock and Swastika’ director Irina Maldea’s experiences of growing up in the communist film industry of Romania. The project was granted funding by the most recent Eurimages grant round. ‘Wonderland’ started shooting in April of this year. The cameras will roll for six months in locations such as Romania, Korea, Austria and Ireland and it is expected that the film will receive a theatrical release here in spring 2011. The documentary is funded by IFB, BAI, Arts Council of Ireland, TG4, Media, Eurimages, Finland’s YLE and Austria’s Cine Styria. It is produced by Brendan Culleton (Diarmuid and Strongbow) for Akajava Films and Barabara Caspar (Who’s Afraid of Kathy Acker?) for Austria’s Fragile Films. The director of photography is Dan Curean and the documentary will feature dramatic reconstructions, interviews and archive footage.





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