One of the biggest Irish shows of the year starts this weekend

From the writer of Love/Hate, JOE spoke to the cast and crew of the hot new show.

When Anonymous awakes, Bridget and Paul learn he is actually the missing gangster Grinner McNair. Grinner claims to have hidden Celtic gold, a treasure that many are desperate to find, sweeping Bridget and Paul into an adventure.

Reviews of Tall & Tales Murder are still embargoed until its premiere. We will say, however, that its ambitious blend of crime drama, quirky comedy, and Irish history/mythology makes it one of the biggest Irish shows of the year.

JOE spoke to the show's creators, Carolan and director Chris Addison (The Thick of It, Veep), and their cast, which also includes Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders) and Philippa Dunne (Motherland). This was at the series' red carpet premiere last week in Dublin's Irish Film Institute.

The difficulties in getting a show made now

In a roundtable with journalists, Addison and Carolan were asked about the difficulty of getting a series greenlit in 2026.

Despite the smash-hit success of Love/Hate, widely considered one of the best Irish shows ever, Carolan admitted that it's still "very challenging" to get a project off the ground.

"There's so many shows out there. It's really intense with the market. You've got so many things. There's so much coming out all the time," he said.

"It's almost a bit like the marketing men have taken over this nonstop product. You've got IP. You've got vehicles for stars. 

"You're just on this kind of hamster wheel... I mean... this might be pilot number 10. There's nine that fall by the wayside. The amount of ones you do... you do all the work, you figure out a whole story for a season, you have so many meetings, you do it all, and then it just falls apart at the last minute.

"That's the regular, that's quite normal... I've lost count actually of the amount of times."

Carolan cited one dream project that failed to materialise: "I had a spy show that I was taken out to the market, and now you're going to laugh and say that's ridiculous, but it was set in 1953 in Tehran, because I thought it was interesting. 

"But if I'm there and you're the TV execs, I can already see you switching off and going like: 'F*cking 1953 Tehran. Who wants that?'

"I was obsessed with it. [I] really wanted to get it made. Those types of things that are challenging, different, they're really, really difficult [to get it made]… You're looking for money, you're looking for somebody to put in money. They want to get ratings; they want to connect."

With Tall Tales & Murder, Carolan believes the combination of him and Addison helped to get the project off the ground.

On this, Addison explained: "I've definitely done that before where you, where you figure out: 'Actually, if two or three of us walk in here, this really helps.'

"We didn't do it with this project, but it's why a lot of people now attach somebody who wants to be in it before walking into the office, so they can go look at my shiny, shiny actor. It's just, you have to build a case."

On why making TV is harder in 2026, Addison explained: "There's less being made now than there was. 2019 was the peak of streaming years when everyone's buying everything and making everything in an attempt to become the streamer. 

"They basically spent money to win the race. When the race was sort of done, people retrenched a bit. And it all happened at a strange time. 

"So 2019, everything was boom time. And then COVID, writers' and actors' strikes, the credit crunch, all of those things happened all at once, and... production stopped, things got bottlenecked, and it's never quite got back to that real 10 years of gold rush that it was. 

"And everybody knew at the time that this was an unusual boom time. 

"That race is done. So, there's there's less being made now, but there's always a lot of competition because a lot of people want to make stuff.

"So now it's harder... When Stuart and I were saying we'd like to make a show, people were more likely to listen to us than if it were just one of us?"

An unexpected collaboration

A couple of years ago, it wouldn't have been on anyone's bingo card to see Addison, the British comic actor best known for playing the naive adviser Ollie Reeder in The Thick of It, team up with Carolan, the writer behind the gritty Irish crime dramas Love/Hate and Taken Down.

As such, JOE asked the pair how this unexpected collaboration came about. "RTÉ set us up on a blind date, really," Addison recalled.

"The show's very, very, very loosely based on books by Caimh McDonnell. A mate of mine, who's nothing to do with our world at all, he's a music teacher in the UK, he said: 'I'm reading the books; I think you'd really like them'. So, I went and read the first one, A Man with One of Those Faces, and I went: 'This would make a good TV show.'

"So along with the production company, Avalon, I bought the rights. We went to RTÉ and said: 'I can't adapt this because it needs to have an authentic Irish voice on it. You can't have an English person try and make this Dublin-set show in terms of the writing. Who should we talk to?' They said: 'Talk to Stuart.'

"So we met and had lunch. There's another guy called Toby Welch, who these days is on Ludwig over in the UK... The three of us, every couple of months, we'd do two or three days in an unprepossessing boardroom in a hotel and 'what if it?' into existence, really."

When JOE asks what it was about McDonnell's books that made him think they'd make for a great series, Addison states: "Well, they're so much fun, they're great capers, the jokes are fantastic, the characters are wonderful. Caimh's writing is just effortlessly great to read. I love them.

"The irony is that the process of adapting the show actually has pulled us way, way, way further away from the books than I ever thought that we would go.

"You kind of 'what if' things in the room when you're adapting things. What if we did this, what if we did this? You sort of pick the thing up. Oh yeah, what if, we do that. And then you move on. What if you do that, you move on… Bit by bit by bit by bit, you're filling your arms with these new things. You turn around, and you're miles away from where you first sort of started.

"You've got arms full of stuff, and people are tapping their watches going: 'Hand your homework in'.

"I think of Tall Tales of Murder as being the badly behaved goth cousin of Caimh's original books. I think if you like this show and then you go and read his books, you'll go: 'Oh, that's very different.'

"But I really hope that people who see this show go and read Caimh's books, because the Dublin trilogy, which is nine books long, which is a lot for a trilogy, is just so much fun and thoughtful as well.

"There's a lot of really interesting stuff in there about Ireland as it is now, and what it's like to be not that well off in the country, but also, real stakes, real danger, real jokes. I think that's certainly something that we've preserved all the way through, is real stakes, real danger, real jokes."

Stuart said he wanted to make a show that was fun and different, and would subvert expectations, something that captured the same feeling he had seeing Pulp Fiction for the first time.

The creator said that he expected some resistance from the BBC and RTÉ, as this goes against current TV trends. According to both Addison and Carolan, the broadcasters gave them a lot of freedom.

"I find TV really boring, you know? You just watch the same thing... I can't keep up with the stuff that's out there. You can predict what's going to happen in most shows," Carolan said

"A few years ago, there were those shows you'd watch, and you just couldn't miss them... You're looking at this stuff [now]... everybody's got really safe.

"What was quite fresh or refreshing about this was... at an early point, we were sitting there, and we just said: 'F*ck it, what could we do that would be fun?' So it was about having a laugh. What would be fun for people to watch, what would be different. There's all the different types of genre shows, so how do we subvert that. 

"I don't know if we achieved it. We hope that's what we've achieved. But I remember seeing Pulp Fiction for the first time, and you go like: 'Oh f*ck', like as an entertainment thing.

"So, that was an aspect of it. How can we just make something that's different, fresh, unexpected? There were bits along the way that I kind of half expected RTÉ or BBC to come back and go: 'no'. They didn't, not once."

Addison echoed this: "It's one of the most positive experiences I've had with broadcasters. God bless RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland. They trusted us, and they let us get on with it, and we delivered what we promised we'd deliver them."

Even though Tall Tales & Murder is more comedic than Carolan's previous work, he believes it's still exploring issues in modern Ireland.

"Sometimes you can use a vehicle as a Trojan horse to do things. So, it's not that you're just saying: 'Oh, this is a comedy and you just don't give a f*ck about anything.' 

"With this, it is very representative of modern Ireland. Our two leads are gig-economy workers. They're outsiders. It's a Bonnie and Clyde reason.

"The central character (Bridget) is working as a care assistant in an old folks' home. We've seen all the scandals. Prime Time covered it: old folks' home and low-paid workers."

Paul, another central character, is involved in crime and has to get a job to keep him out of jail. Early on, we see him working as a server at a fast food chain.

"He's getting treated by a sh*tty f*cking manager, who's saying: 'Come on, let's go, let's go, corporate spirit, let's get this'. I've worked at [places like that]. That's the way they operate," Carolan said.

"So, those two, I think, are representative of a lot of the experience Irish people are going through at the moment. So it's not that you can't do those type of issues... I think the best TV shows are always the ones that take risks."

Casting the leads

Tall Tales & Murder marks Casey Walsh's first lead acting role. Though the young man, also known as Casper Walsh, has had small roles in Irish projects, he is better known as a rapper, both as a solo artist and with the group Versatile.

Addison tells journalists it was Carolan's suggestion to cast Walsh, and that there "wasn't any pushback" from producers, even though the young man had less acting experience.

Walsh, himself, told JOE on the red carpet: "Stuart's been so helpful and encouraging and gave me so much confidence for this role.

"I initially got a call. I hadn't done much, but John Connors [one of the stars of Love/Hate] gave me my first feature film role [in The Black Guelph]. He's been so helpful for me in the industry. He's really looked after me.

"Stuart seen me through John. Me and my wife were on our honeymoon. I got a call from John saying: 'Listen, Stuart Carolan wants to talk to you about an audition'. Stuart rings me and he's like: 'I'm doing a new series. I want you to audition for the main role.'

"He said: 'I can't guarantee you the role, because obviously the producers have to give it the OK, but he said: 'I'd love for you to get it.'"

Casey Walsh as Paul

On working with Walsh, Addison tells JOE: "Casey wanted to act before he wanted to do music. He would say to you that Casper is a character, and that Versatile and what he does now are kind of a version of performing and acting in that way.

"It was really interesting because, because Casey, he'd done a couple of little things here and there, but certainly nothing even approaching a full supporting role, let alone a lead in a show like this.

"I know that it's possible to act without training because that's what I do. I've never been trained as an actor, which I'm sure shows from time to time, but there was something about him that felt exactly right.

"Stuart's very big on authenticity, and we found it quite hard to find Paul, and we auditioned lots of brilliant actors, really, really good Dublin actors who just weren't quite there. Stuart can really hear that stuff. He said: 'What about Casey Walsh?'

"We were doing some chemistry castings with various potential Pauls. Ella Lily Hyland and I flew over from London. [We] put Casey in the room as well, and as soon as you see him and Ella together, you go: 'That's it, that's the one.'

"I thought: 'Well, OK, like, some of the stuff is going to be relatively straightforward, but there are a few things in episodes three and four in the middle of the series where Paul, Casey's character, is unburdening himself and confessing his darkest past'. I was thinking that's gonna be the tricky stuff for him to do, and honest to God, it's extraordinary; he's just so natural, he just kind of knocked it out of the park.

"So I started it by thinking: "OK, I'm budgeting a bit more time and support for him. Never had to do that. It was just the same as directing everybody else in the cast."

Carolan also said of Walsh: "With Casey it's a raw thing. I remember talking to him early and he was nervous. Who wouldn't be?

"I said: 'What do you feel when you go on stage in the 3Arena? Are you scared?' He said no. 

"I said: 'It's the same thing in a way.' If you have the charisma to be able to go on stage and have a whole audience eating out of your hands, it's the same thing. It's just finding that courage or that confidence."

Walsh's co-stars Aisling O'Sullivan and Brian Doherty are also full of praise for Walsh. O'Sullivan plays Bridget and Paul's "messed-up" and "wild" boss at the nursing home, while Doherty plays Detective Bunny Ryan, a mentor to Paul, who always tries to keep him out of trouble.

Brian Doherty as Bunny Ryan

"He was great. He is that character. He was very natural. It was just a joy to work with him," Doherty told JOE.

O'Sullivan also confessed: "I actually didn't know about his music when we started working with each other. So, he was the gorgeous guy I was working with until I realised he's actually a phenomenal musician as well.

"He's a real kind, genuine, supportive, like really lovely guy... He's a cool dude," with Doherty adding: "Much cooler than us."

That said, Addison and Carolan also highlight that the whole series is built around rising Irish star Ella Lily Hyland. She's best known to date for her roles in Black Doves and Towards Zero.

Carolan said he was at the Subtitle Film Festival with casting director Maureen Hughes when he first saw Hyland on screen.

"Ella had written and starred in this short she'd done for Kilkenny Arts Festival," the writer recalled.

"She's just like phenomenal. She's like a powerhouse... You see a tiny bit of that... video and it's not hard to make a call on it. It just blows your mind... You go: 'Oh my God, can we get her?' And so we started the conversation."

Addison added: "She did this self-tape for us. And it's the best audition I've ever seen. I mean, she's the most naturally talented actor I've ever worked with.

"So we never saw anyone else for Bridget. We just went: 'That's it'. We want to build it around her. So, it was really a question, with finding Paul, that it was the Paul that matches Ella."

The supporting cast

Carolan said it was "a laugh" to reconnect with Gillen after casting him and then killing him off in Love/Hate. He also praises the Irish actor for making a conscious effort to appear in homegrown projects as well as big Hollywood productions.

On the death of John Boy, Gillen's character in Love/Hate, Carolan told JOE: "With Love/Hate, it wasn't like an American show or even a British show where you've actors locked into deals for five, six years.

"Every year it would depend on the ratings. You don't know if you're greenlit or not... So with that you're trying to make calculations. 

"Aidan was hugely supportive at the time. So I remember, he wanted to do it. Then I think for season two, we didn't know if we were going to go ahead, and I was chatting to him, and I told him the story. He said: 'Look, just tell me my dates.' Because he said: 'If we do the normal process with the agent, the agent won't put the dates in the book, and I'll get booked because they won't want me to do it.' So he's phenomenal like that. 

"Sometimes it's really banal reasons why you have to kill somebody off, believe it or not. I didn't think we would be able to hold on to him for x amount of time, like three or four years. He was coming off... The Wire. What he did afterwards was Game of Thrones.

"At a certain point you're going to be pissing off his agent, who's going to say: 'What the fuck are you doing?'"

Giving his perspective on John Boy's death, Gillen told JOE: "I don't know what the mechanics of it were at the time. I think I had to be somewhere else, you know? [he says, smirking] And that was the way it worked."

Carolan also told JOE: "Aidan's great... Aidan, every year he does the big stuff, and then he'll always do one or two short films for no money. He's only interested in doing good work.

"Reconnecting with him was a laugh. His character's pretty outrageous and does some horrendous stuff. He was like: 'Yeah, no problem, I'll do whatever.'"

Gillen said when Carolan approached him with a new idea, it was a "no-brainer" to join the project.

After we noted that Grinner McNair is a great name and that Carolan described the character as a "kind psychopath", Gillen told JOE: "He's warm. I've been describing him as a guy who shows up. I'm kind of in the habit of playing guys who show up.

"He was originally called Anonymous, I think. Even in the script, it starts, and he's known as Anonymous, which I thought was quite a good name. I wouldn't have minded playing Anonymous all the way through."

On alternating between big Hollywood productions and interesting Irish projects, Gillen revealed this is intentional, telling JOE: "Yeah, it is important to me, and it is a conscious choice, and I will continue to do that… There are a couple more in the works."

Speaking about the actor's role in Tall Tales & Murder, Addison added: "I've not seen him like this. I've not seen him doing another role like [this]."

Viewers may not realise that Tall Tales & Murder also marks a reunion between Gillen and Walsh.

The rapper told JOE: "The first time I ever met Aidan I was 16, on the set of Sing Street. I was a featured extra in Sing Street.

"I would have looked up to him and his work and Game of Thrones and Love/Hate and everything. I just thought it was surreal when I was acting alongside him then as my co-star. I thought that was a great moment. 

"I wanted to be an actor before I wanted to do music. I just fell into the music by chance. So, yeah, [you'll] hopefully see me in a lot more now."

Aidan Gillen in Tall Tales & Murder

For the rest of the Irish actors in Tall Tales & Murder, getting to work with Carolan was a major draw.

Packy Lee of Peaky Blinders fame tells JOE: "Listen, it's a dream come true when you get that call to say: 'Are you interested in this? First of all, he's doing the project and you're like: 'OK, great, I'd be interested in watching it.'

"Then you're getting the call to say: 'Would you like to be in it?' It was a dream come true to have the opportunity to work in the game with all the guys. Aidan [who was also in Peaky Blinders], again, was great... I'm hoping that everyone enjoys it as much as we enjoyed filming it."

On the rise of homegrown Irish projects, Lee adds: "It's an amazing time to be an Irish actor. It's an amazing time to be Irish in general. 

"I think we have some of the best, if not the best, actors on the planet... I'm absolutely honoured to be in the same industry as these guys at this particular time."

Philippa Dunne, meanwhile, relished the opportunity to play against type in Tall Tales & Murder: "The scripts were brilliant. The character was so different to anything I'd ever played before, so that was an instant draw.

"I could tell from just reading the first script that this was a heightened world of fantasy and reality and mythology and realism and drama and comedy. That was just a bit irresistible."

On her character, Ma Baker, she added: "I hope she comes across as scary and vicious. That was the goal.

"I've always played like very nice mammies, and that's lovely. But this was definitely the chance to do something different, which I embraced with both hands because diversity in roles is a big thing for me.

"I just want to keep showing range if I even have it. So the more different the roles I can do, the better for me."

Phillipa Dunne as Ma Baker

Doherty, talking about his scene-stealing character of Bunny Ryan, stated: "I think he's a non-conformist trying to do the right thing.

"He has a moral centre, but he has no respect for authority or the rules in general. He is trying to do the right thing, and that gets him into a series of situations."

Telling an Irish story

Addison, who directs Tall Tales & Murder alongside Neasa Hardiman (Sea Fever), told JOE his initial belief that an Irish person had to write Tall Tales & Murder proved to be correct.

"When I got the book and... bought the rights for it, I knew that I couldn't write it because the idea of an English person trying to ape an Irish voice would never work properly.

"Actually, once I got to Ireland, I realised I'd misunderstood the depth to which I was right about that.

"I've never come across a place where language is more paid attention to. Like accents, I've never come across a country more obsessed with accents, and where people are from, and the difference between that and that and this and this.

"We would have discussions about, well, 'this character's actually Carlow and this character's Dublin, and this is the difference between these things', stuff that I could never know or hear.

"Irish English is the best form of English, right? There's something about English mapped onto Gaelic that has created this absolutely magical form of the language

"So to be able to operate authentically in that world has been just fantastic. I've loved it.

"Obviously, Stuart, he's one of the greatest writers of his generation, isn't he? What a treat to be able to have those words to play with."

Tall Tales & Murder premieres in Ireland on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Sunday, 27 September at 9.40pm. It will air in the UK on the BBC later this autumn.