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Beara's own soap opera on YouTube

April 3rd, 2016 7:25 AM

By Kieran O'Mahony

A watercooler moment in ‘The North Roaders.'

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Never mind Coronation Street or Fair City, West Cork has its very own soap opera online complete with its own soap villain character in a cast made up of adults with intellectual disabilities.

NEVER mind Coronation Street or Fair City, West Cork has its very own soap opera online complete with its own soap villain character in a cast made up of adults with intellectual disabilities.

CoAction Beara’s Drama group are behind The North Roaders, which is shown on YouTube and explores the lives of fictitious everyday people who live and work in the North Road area in Castletownbere. They began back in November 2014 and they have now reached their tenth episode.

‘You will find all the usual characters in The North Roaders, like any other popular soap, including bad boy John Bower, who amongst other things deals drugs, steals from his sister’s factory and makes up fake competitions to scam the entry fee,’ said Amy O’Sullivan, a drama specialist who helps with the soap opera.

‘There’s also teenage angst, peer pressure and car crashes just to name a few of the exciting story lines happening on the North Road. There’s also a local jam factory where a lot of the characters works, Mary’s Tea Rooms where everyone likes to hang out and catch up and the local North Road Community College where all the youngsters go to school.’

The North Roaders even has its very own original theme tune, which audiences can sing along to, at the start of every episode. The drama group at CoAction Beara have great fun while filming their episodes, as well as learning valuable skills in acting, producing, script writing and filming.

‘Thanks to a new grant from Cork County Council, we have a nifty new camera and filming equipment to continue on continue with our drama activities. New episodes are aired about once a month and are short and sweet and last about 10 minutes.’

The cast and crew are hoping that more people can tune into their YouTube channel, The North Roaders and support their project by watching, liking and sharing their episodes.

‘They hope one day in the not too far future to air an episode on real television,’ added Amy.

See The North Roaders on YouTube to watch all 10 episodes of the soap opera.

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