Conor and Jock are back.
With news that Season 2 of The Young Offenders will be shown on RTÉ in the coming months, JOE had the privilege of heading down to Cork to see the beloved comedy being filmed.
Within the space of five minutes, we got to see some shifting, cursing, a heap of shots being thrown back, and some very dodgy haircuts. How we’ve missed the lads in action!
While the Christmas special held us over, it has been 18 months since Conor (Alex Murphy), Jock (Chris Walley), Linda (Demi Isaac Oviawe), and Siobhan (Jennifer Barry) managed to escape the bus that was hijacked by everyone’s favourite bully, Billy Murphy (Shane Casey).
The season finale didn’t disappoint because there was also the revelation that Jock and Siobhan were expecting a baby and the touching moment when Conor and Linda kissed for the very first time. Aww.
On this note, will the new episodes be softening up and taking a more romantic route? Not a f**king chance!
In fact, Hilary Rose who plays Jock’s constantly-cursing, always-angry, and ever-caring mother Mairead said that her character is swearing more than ever.
“I read the scripts for Season 2 and I thought to myself, ‘I think my swear count has doubled!’ It really has. I’m getting all the curses. I mean, f**k sake she’s living now with both Conor and Jock so that’s probably why!,” said Rose.
In terms of capturing the manic and charming energy of the film, the TV adaptation of The Young Offenders gave us some standout set pieces including the lads wrestling with a giant tuna, a granny flashing, and that brilliant singalong to ‘After All’ by The Frank and Walters.
Now that the expectations are even higher for Season 2, what can fans expect?
“We push the boat out a bit more,” says PJ Gallagher who plays the man that’s constantly on the bring of a nervous breakdown, Principal Barry Walsh.
“There are scenes in it that you could never see coming. There are scenes that will just blow your mind. When you read the scripts, you’re thinking, ‘How are they even going to make this?’”.
We all know that Conor and Jock absolutely love tormenting any adults that get in their way with the likes of Billy Murphy, Mairead, Sergeant Healy (Dominic MacHale), and Barry Walsh all suffering from the lads’ antics.
However, it appears that the new episodes will be striking a slightly different tone, especially since we’ve got two couples in Linda and Conor, and Jock and Siobhan in the mix.
Will it all be happy families between the Walshs and the MacSweeneys? Well, ask yourself this, does anything ever got according to plan in The Young Offenders?
“You do see an awful lot more inside the Walsh family household in Season 2. You see an awful lot of what Orla Walsh has to put up with,” said Gallagher.
“You didn’t really see that in the first season because Barry was in the school so much before. It was just a battle with the boys and a large part of Season 2 is him (Barry) just trying to come to terms with being sort of stuck with these lads as his extended family, kind of.
“The new episodes go very much into the family aspect of things as opposed to just the raw conflict of it all.”
After deciding to adopt Jock, you can see why Mairead might be driven up the walls in the new episodes but Hilary Rose is excited about the chance to be a part of Ireland’s most dysfunctional family.
“There’s this sort of melding of the two families, the Walshs and the MacSweeneys, in Season 2,” Rose explained.
“They come together and try to work out the logistics of Jock and Conor dating the two girls. This season is different also in terms of character development. Mairead cuts loose quite a bit and it’s really interesting to see.
“I was kind of going, ‘I’ve never done that before.’ In the earlier episodes 1, you’re trying to cram so much in but in these new episodes, we really cut loose.”
Fans will know that Barry Walsh isn’t the only man that tries to keep the lads out of trouble, there’s also Sergeant Healy.
And what’s going on with the romance between Healy and Mairead?
“In Season 1 we got together and like any relationship there are hurdles to get over. It’s tumultuous, I’ll say that,” said Rose.
After seeing Cork’s biggest blaggards shifting both of his daughter’s, you would be forgiven for thinking that Barry Walsh wants to absolutely kill Conor and Jock. You would be right!
However, just like the first six episodes, Season 2 will also be striking that balance between laugh out loud comedy and heartfelt drama – remember the scene at the grave of Jock’s mother, or when Mairead said she’d adopt Jock?
“Like any real family, it’s hard to live with anyone – even if you love them – without wanting to set them on fire,” joked Gallagher.
“There’s these two completely conflicting families that come together and there’s loads of funny conflict going on. Barry’s so uptight and stiff but he actually learns a lot from the lads (Jock and Conor) and grows up a bit thanks to them.
“The lads really do bring him on in S2. There’s a couple of moments in the new episodes that are genuinely lovely and touching.”
If this all sounds a bit too serious, don’t worry, because Chris Walley has assured us that the new episodes are still going to be just as rude and filthy as before.
“I think there’s strong elements of those touching moments in the new episodes,” he said.
“That’s what it is, it has that heart and has always struck the balance between laughs and meaningful moments. When the lads are doing all their stupid stuff and trying to impress the girls, they don’t think that they’re trying to be funny.
“They’re doing them wholeheartedly but it’s funny to other people. Conor and Jock are always genuine, that’s where the heart comes from because everything means a lot to them. There’s a lot of laughs in Season 2 but a lot of tear-jerking moments, too.”
At present, no premiere date has been set for Season 2 of The Young Offenders but you can expect an announcement very soon.
Keep your eyes on JOE for more in the coming weeks.
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