Ireland has always been known for its larger-than-life characters and wicked sense of humour. But there’s also a deeper, darker quality that’s slowly wound its way into their big and small-screen stories, a quality that’s now manifested into a full-blown genre known as Celtic Noir.
Whether dealing with themes of race, class or fractured families, this compelling brand of storytelling has succeeded by resisting the urge to sugar-coat its themes and always staying true to what sets these films and shows apart from their counterparts.
Perhaps it’s the geographical isolation, or the lingering trauma from the country’s troubled past, but whatever secret ingredient makes these programs so engrossing, it’s clear that this genre’s continued success is more than just the luck of the Irish.
Love/Hate
Sometimes referred to as Ireland’s answer to The Wire, this hugely popular series ran for five seasons and takes place within the seedy underworld of Dublin. The drama centres around Darren (Robert Sheehan), who is reluctantly pulled back onto the wrong side of the law along with his partners in crime Tommie (Killian Scott, The Fall) and Nidge (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor). Darren must quickly learn to carve out an increasingly volatile existence where friendship is forged in blood and violence is around every corner.
Love/Hate makes for addictive viewing, as we can’t help but cheer for these characters despite the questionable company they keep – chief of whom is the deliciously evil John Boy, played by Game of Thrones’ Aiden Gillen, who coincidentally once featured in The Wire.
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Love/Hate - season 1 episode 1
Blue Lights
A good crime drama is nothing without the occasional rookie cop story, and Blue Lights features no less than three probationary constables who are thrust headfirst into a murky world of drug wars and undercover operatives. As they battle red tape and a mounting workload, the challenges of tackling corruption and making a difference on the streets reveal themselves in often painfully stark detail. The series is effective because it doesn’t shy away from the often soul-destroying nature of true police work. Its warts-and-all approach and three-dimensional characters (including another Game of Thrones alum, Richard Dormer) make for compelling viewing.
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Blue Lights - season 1 episode 1
The Fall
Gillian Anderson headlines this award-winning series which made waves back in 2013 as one of the first modern Irish Noirs to attract a global audience. Also featuring a pre-Fifty Shades of Grey Jamie Dornan as a chilling serial killer on the run, this had many claiming it to be Northern Ireland’s answer to David Fincher’s Se7en due to its grizzly killings and unsettling tone. The success of the show also led to French remake Insoupçonnable, which moved the setting from Belfast to Lyon.
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The Fall - season 1 episode 1
Dublin Murders
Based on a series of books by Tana French and starring Sarah Greene and Killian Scott (Love/Hate), this is a grim but powerful watch even by Ireland’s standards. It’s beautifully shot with a masterful ability to place us in the shoes of its deeply sympathetic detectives, as they are forced to put aside their own personal trauma to solve the murder of a young girl.
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Dublin Murders - season 1 episode 1
Bloodlands
This stylish series from the executive producer of Bodyguard and Line of Duty stars the ever-reliable James Nesbitt, who is basically Irish royalty at this point. Nesbitt plays DCI Tom Brannick, who is haunted by a chequered past and harbouring more than a few secrets that may struggle to stay hidden.
This is the kind of series that’ll keep you guessing its twists and turns right up until the final reveal. If morally grey characters and tense plotting are the reason you come to Irish Noir in the first place, then look no further than two seasons of Bloodlands.
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Bloodlands - season 1 episode 1
North Sea Connection
Showcasing Ireland’s stunning west coast, this six-part series is spectacularly shot and features a deep bench of acting talent including Lydia McGuinness (Wild Mountain Thyme), Kerr Logan (Game of Thrones) and Kieran O’Reilly (Vikings). Named for the dramatic role its rugged coastlines play in the unfolding narrative, North Sea Connection tells the story of a desperate woman stuck between a Nordic drug cartel and her family, when a job of her brothers goes south and threatens her family-run fishing business and their entire livelihoods. In English and Swedish languages.
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North Sea Connection - episode 1
Clean Sweep
Starring Charlene McKenna (Bloodlands, Peaky Blinders) and Barry Ward (The Fall), what makes this series unique is that it’s told from the point of view of the killer, who just happens to be the wife of a local detective. Life as a stay-at-home mother is thrown into turmoil when a fresh case threatens to uncover Shelly’s murky past and the detective begins to close in on a suspect much closer to home than he suspects. The series is made even more intriguing for the fact it’s loosely inspired by a true story, proving that in Ireland even the tallest tales have some semblance of truth.
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Clean Sweep - season 1 episode 1
Kin
Frank Kinsella (Aiden Gillen, Project Blue Book, Game of Thrones) and Eamon Cunningham (Ciarán Hinds, The Dry, now streaming at SBS On Demand) are the patriarchs of two gangland families at war. When Frank’s son is released from prison and resumes “work”, there is a massive fallout that will spill plenty of blood. This Irish crime drama set in Dublin’s underworld asks just how unbreakable are the bonds of blood and family?
Kin is streaming now at SBS On Demand
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Kin - season 1 episode 1
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