Barry Keoghan’s fantastic Ireland-set thriller movie is on TV tonight

Holding an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, the Irish film was released in 2025 to rave reviews.

The feature debut of writer-director Christopher Andrews, the film is set in rural Ireland. The story follows two farming families as they become engulfed in an escalating, dangerous feud.

On one side of the ongoing rivalry is Michael (Christopher Abbott, The Testament of Ann Lee), a quiet and intense Irish-speaking man with a dark history. On the other side is the younger, reckless Jack (Keoghan).

The cast of Bring Them Down also includes Irish acting legend Colm Meaney (The Snapper) as Michael's father, as well as Nora-Jane Noone (Brooklyn), Paul Ready (The Terror) and Susan Lynch (Bad Day for the Cut).

We here at JOE were big fans of the Irish thriller, thanks to its intense performances, its terrific sense of mood, and its twisty screenplay, which only grows in emotional profundity as it plays out.

"Anchored by a revelatory Christopher Abbott and a typically great Barry Keoghan, Bring Them Down is a hard-hitting Irish thriller boasting brains and brawn," we said at the time of its release.

Others seem to agree, with the movie racking up several awards and an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Before the film landed in cinemas, JOE interviewed its American star, Christopher Abbott, about the thriller and how he ended up playing an Irish-speaking country farmer.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too," he joked to us, before adding: "Christopher Andrews, he came to me with the project... One of the first things I said, I was like: 'Are you sure you don't want to just get someone Irish to do it?'

"Aside from the challenge of doing the language and the accent, which I would call a fun challenge to do, being able to then just step into that world, it's very unique and specific.

"I grabbed onto it just because it's not something you would get asked often to do, [to] get into this sheep farming family, small-town world. It's one of the joys of doing this job. You can kind of just experience or get at least a little taste or glimpse of what that's like."

Abbott also noted that before cameras rolled, he was very concerned about making sure both his Irish accent and the many scenes in which he converses in Irish felt authentic, something which he accomplished with aplomb.

Laughing, the actor told JOE: "Of course, it's a concern because I don't want to sound bad. The point is to try to do a good job... I would have had a hard time watching it if I sounded terrible."

Christopher Abbott in Bring Them Down

As for learning lines as Gaeilge, Abbott confirmed it was incredibly difficult, stating: "The way the Irish language is written is hard to follow. The roots of it are obviously not Latin, not Germanic or whatever. So, it's hard to just read the words.

"I had to learn everything sort of phonetically. I couldn't have a conversation in it now, this time past, but I remember some of my lines, and I remember what they mean.

"But that's all that's important really, to at least just know what I'm talking about and know what I'm saying in the context of this movie."

Bring Them Down is airing on TV tonight on RTÉ One at 9.30pm.

Here are the other movies on TV this evening:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul - TG4 - 4.15pm

Greg Heffley sets off on a disastrous family road trip, but his plans to attend a gaming convention are thrown into chaos when his parents decide to take a detour.

Mr & Mrs Smith - Sky One - 9.30pm

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as a seemingly ordinary married couple who discover that they're both highly skilled assassins working for rival organisations — and have been assigned to kill each other.

Legally Blonde - RTÉ2 - 10.05pm

Reese Witherspoon stars as Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority girl who follows her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School and discovers she's more than capable of becoming a successful lawyer.

Man on a Ledge - Legend - 9pm

Sam Worthington stars as a former police officer who threatens to jump from a New York hotel roof, while a dangerous heist is secretly taking place nearby.

Curse of the Crimson Altar - Legend Xtra - 1.25am

Christopher Lee and Boris Karloff star in this classic British horror film, in which a man investigating his brother's disappearance discovers a sinister connection to witchcraft and a mysterious old house.