West Cork features in new RTÉ drama series

BOTH Galley Head and the Old Head of Kinsale feature prominently in a new RTÉ six-part drama series set in a fictional town in West Cork that is due to air on September 6th.

The South Westerlies boasts an impressive Irish cast including  Hollywood actor Patrick Bergin, Orla Brady, Cork actress Eileen Walsh, Sorcha Cusack and Steve Wall (of The Stunning) and is set in ‘Carrigeen’, as a Norwegian firm sets it sights on building an offshore wind farm there.

Orla Brady stars as Kate Ryan, who works as an environmental compliance consultant for Norwegian energy giant, Noreg Oil. Her last big assignment before a lucrative promotion and transfer to Oslo is to ensure that the windfarm project is completed.

However, despite receiving planning permission for their windfarm offshore, ongoing local protests are creating a PR nightmare for Kate.

She must go undercover to Carrigeen, quash objections before the six-week appeals deadline and smooth the path for the imminent turbine installation, or her promotion is off the table.

As the series is set in West Cork, drone footage used throughout was shot over Galley Head and The Old Head of Kinsale, while the rest of the show was filmed in Wicklow town and Oslo.

Filming took place last September and lasted 10 weeks and the series was created by Catherine Maher and written by Catherine, Hugh Travers, Hilary Reynold and Michelle Duffy.

It will premiere on RTÉ followed by screenings on AMC Networks’ streaming service Acorn TV in the US.

According to Ailish McElmeel, co-founder of Deadpan Pictures, which is producing the series, it is ‘very much a series for our climate-changing times, and ensemble comedy-drama set in a picturesque seaside town.’

‘It’s warm and funny, while also shot through with darker shenanigans,’ said Ms McElmeel.

The South Westerlies airs on RTÉ 1 on September 6th at 9.30pm.