BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ announced that they have commissioned two seasons of the new drama series, Tall Tales & Murder, in association with Screen Ireland. The dark comedy crime series is written by Stuart Carolan (Love/Hate, The Gentlemen), and co-created with Chris Addison (Veep, The Thick of It).
Filming began this week in the Republic of Ireland, with season one to premiere in 2026.
The series stars Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones), Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves, Towards Zero), Philippa Dunne (Amandaland, Derry Girls), and Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders). Tall Tales & Murder is based on the popular eight-book Dublin trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.
“I’ve been a fan of the brilliant Chris Addison since The Thick of It – it’s been incredible fun working with him to bring this insane story to life,” says Stuart Carolan.
“I’m frankly giddy with delight to get to team up with the twisted and highly original mind of Stuart Carolan to create this show. We’ve taken Caimh’s wonderful novel as a jumping off point and ended up with what I like to think of as a dark and delicious screwball drama,” Chris Addison added.
David Crean, Head of Drama, RTÉ says, “It’s so exciting to be in production with this amazing Irish drama from Stuart Carolan and Chris Addison after a great development process. The scripts are fantastic, as is the cast. RTÉ is excited to be collaborating with such brilliant broadcast partners to bring this great series to audiences on a national and international stage. Tall Tales & Murder is part of an unprecedented slate of original Irish drama in production from RTÉ, which will deliver over 142 hours of original drama this year.”
Rob Aslett, Executive Producer for Avalon, says, “We are delighted to be working with RTÉ, BBC and Screen Ireland and backing the very best contemporary Irish talent. Stuart’s brilliant scripts have created a wildly original crime drama that shines a light on a modern Ireland and we can’t wait to bring this show to life with a fantastic cast lead by the Ella, Aiden, Philippa and Packy.”
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