Directed and produced by Jerry O’Callaghan (Broken Harvest) of Black Rock Pictures, a new 6x30 Irish language Civil War docu-drama series ‘Bású na gCarad’ will begin shooting on locations throughout Dublin and Wicklow. Filming will take place in July and September before transmission on TG4 next Spring.
The historical series will focus on the execution of Irish nationalist Erskine Childers and several other prisoners during the Irish civil war. Dominic Frisby will play Erskine Childers with Jessica Reagan playing the role of Molly Childers. Other Irish political figures to be dramatised include Rory O’Connor (Will O’Connell), Liam Mellows (Killian O’Donnacha), Joe McKelvey (Jason Matthewson), Dick Barrett (Larry McGowan) and Kevin O’Higgins (Ciaran McMahon), all of who were executed between 1922-1923 with the exception of Kevin O’Higgins who was murdered by a republican group in 1927. The script was written by Pat Butler.
Director of photography on the show is Ronan Fox (Croke Park Lives). Editing, finishing and colour grading will be done by Will Harris on the production in November and December ahead of a broadcast on TG4 in 2012. Budget is TBC but the production was awarded €295,000 by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in February 2011 in the tenth round of its Sound and Vision II broadcasting funding scheme.