Ella-Lily Hyland tells Tall Tales & Murder for RTÉ and BBC
FIRST LOOK: Ella-Lily Hyland stars in dark comedic drama Tall Tales & Murder, a “Bonnie and Clyde style adventure of bent cops, kidnapping and underworld fixers” debuting on RTÉ in Ireland in September and coming soon to BBC One and BBC Northern Ireland.
From Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan and co-created with Chris Addison, the series also explores the dilemmas of unconventional heroes and villains with an 8th Century tall tale of monks, Vikings, buried treasure and a priceless holy book.
Bridget (Hyland) is an unconventional nurse who works the night shift at a Dublin nursing home. She reads the old folk bedtime horror stories, arranges clandestine late-night dances and euthanises them if they ask nicely.
Into this secret world comes Paul (Casey Walsh), a young man stuck stealing cars to repay a debt to crime boss Ma Baker (Philippa Dunne). Paul is desperate to stay out of prison and needs a legitimate job to keep him safe, so calls on his guardian-angel-of-sorts, an irascible detective called Bunny Ryan (Brian Doherty). Bunny uses his personal history with the Matron of Bridget’s nursing home (Aisling O’Sullivan) to pull in a favour – a favour that will cost him dear.
On Bridget and Paul’s first shift together at the nursing home, a mysterious, comatose patient known only as ‘Anonymous’ (Aidan Gillen), wakes up and reveals he’s the long-lost gangster Grinner McNair, with a buried hoard of Celtic gold.
Could this treasure be the answer to all Bridget and Paul’s troubles? Will they risk everything to find it? But they’re not the only ones after it, and things get complicated as vicious gangster Wesley Swanson (Packy Lee) and his henchmen close in…
A co-commission from BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ, it is produced by Avalon (Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe) in association with Ireland-based Metropolitan Pictures (KIN).
The drama was filmed in the Republic of Ireland and is based on the nine-book Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.
Tall Tales & Murder is executive produced by Chris Addison, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, Stuart Carolan and Jon Thoday for Avalon, with David McLoughlin and Catherine Tiernan for Metropolitan Pictures. Caroline Norris is series producer, Gemma O’Shaughnessy is producer and the series is directed by Chris Addison and Neasa Hardiman.
It will be distributed internationally by Avalon.
Tall Tales & Murder debuts on RTÉ on September 27.
tagged in: Avalon, BBC Northern Ireland, BBC One, Chris Addison, Ella Lily Hyland, Metropolitan Pictures, RTÉ, Stuart Carolan