The six-part TV series The South Westerlies entered production in mid-September. The project, created by screenwriter Catherine Maher, will be directed by Simon Gibney and Declan Recks. Gibney is an experienced TV director, whose latest works are Moon and Me, Doctors and Nowhere Fast; meanwhile, Recks is best known for his recent Australian-Irish TV series Drop Dead Weird as well as his features The Flag, The Truth Commissioner and Eden [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Declan Recks
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The script, penned by Maher in conjunction with Hugh Travers, Hilary Reynolds and Michelle Duffy, tells the story of an environmental compliance consultant called Kate, who works for Norwegian energy giant Noreg Oil. Kate is on the verge of a lucrative promotion and a transfer to the company’s headquarters in Oslo. However, there is a caveat – namely, a final assignment for NorskVentus, Noreg Oil’s new wind-power subsidiary. Despite them getting planning permission for their wind farm off the shore of the West Cork town of Carrigeen, ongoing local protests are creating a PR nightmare. Kate must go undercover to Carrigeen, quash objections before the six-week appeals deadline and smooth the path for imminent turbine installation, or else her promotion is off the table. She is furious, and her teenage son Conor is not best pleased either, as a six-week stay with his mother was not on his summer agenda. But uppermost in Kate’s mind is keeping old secrets firmly under wraps.

The international cast includes American Horror Story star Orla Brady (Rose Plays Julie [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], A Girl from Mogadishu [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Peter Mackie Burns
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scheda film], My Foolish Heart [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) as Conor and Lily Nichol as Poppy. The ten-week shoot will end in mid-November. The production locations are Wicklow, Cork and Oslo.

Speaking about the project, producer Ailish McElmeel said: “The South Westerlies is very much a series for our climate-changing times, an ensemble comedy-drama set in a picturesque seaside town divided. It’s warm and funny, while also shot through with darker shenanigans. Alongside our brilliant cast and crew, it’s great to be partnering again with Acorn, RTÉ, ZDF Enterprises and Screen Ireland to bring The South Westerlies to both Irish and international audiences alike.”

The series is being produced by Ailish McElmeel and Paul Donovan for Irish firm Deadpan Pictures in association with Shane Murphy and Justin Healy for national public broadcaster RTÉ, Catherine Mackin and Bea Tammer for Acorn TV’s UK-based development division Acorn Media Enterprises, Germany’s ZDF Enterprises, Ann Kolbjørnsen and Ole Marius Araldsen for Norway’s Anagram, and film agency Screen Ireland.

Acorn Media Enterprises, through its distributor Acorn Media International, has secured all rights in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK as well as secondary rights in Ireland. ZDF Enterprises will distribute the series in the rest of the world. The South Westerlies will be aired in 2020 on RTÉ in Ireland and, shortly thereafter, on AMC Networks’ streaming service Acorn TV in the United States, as an original.