Father & Son Starting on RTE Next Monday

Just saw a trailer for this on RTE1 a few minutes back and it's looks pretty good. For a second I was trying to figure out how the hell RTE was financing something which looked so good and attracted such a good cast but upon closer inspection it appears to be a co-production with ITV which explains a lot.

A major new four-part drama co-produced by ITV, staring Dougray Scott, Stephen Rea, Sophie Okonedo, John Kavanagh, Flora Montgomery and written by Emmy Award-winning Irish writer Frank Deasy (Prime Suspect: The Final Act).

Set in Manchester & Dublin, Father & Son, depicts the complexity of modern inner-city life where crime is now a global business, and where gun culture is an ever more entrenched part of everyday life.

Ex-criminal Michael O'Connor (Dougray Scott) returns to Manchester from a quiet life in Ireland with pregnant girlfriend Anna (Flora Montgomery) in order to save his teenage son Sean from prison. He also wishes to redeem his own troubled past.

Michael was once a king-pin in the Manchester crime-world, running one of the biggest and most dangerous gangs in the city. A few years back, on a trip to Ireland to pick up some decommissioned weapons to run into Manchester, Michael is arrested. Three days later his wife Lynne is murdered. Devastated Michael turned his back on his life of crime and when released from jail, remains in Ireland, determined to build a new life. But his decision meant his only son Sean was left behind in Manchester; under the care of Lynne's sister Connie. Their relationship, fractured by Lynne's death, is further complicated by Michael's lack of contact with Sean.

Connie is a serving police officer, living and working in South Manchester, an area riddled by street gangs and underage gun crime. Sean lives with Connie and her 10 year old daughter Imani and has managed to keep out of trouble until now. It's only when his girlfriend Stacey (Wunmi Mosaku) arrives at Connie's house with Maurice a young member of the Motor-Way Crew that that things take a turn for the worse. Maurice has a gun and wants to leave it at Sean's for safekeeping. But Sean is horrified and refuses, despite Maurice and Stacey's entreaties. And then tragedy strikes and Sean ends up in jail, charged with gunning down a member of the Young South gang.

Michael returns to Manchester to help Sean but it quickly becomes clear there is a greater force at work in his son's arrest. Sean is sharing a cell with Barrington Smith (Terence Maynard), Michael's old partner in crime. Barrington's kidneys are failing, he needs to get out of jail so he can get an operation to save his life. Barrington believes Michael is the only person who can rescue him.

Forced to make a deal with Barrington, Michael is reacquainted with the ghosts of his past including Augustine Conlon (Stephen Rea), an IRA gun dealer turned property magnate, and Greater Manchester Police DCI Tony Conroy (Ian Hart). Conroy has been pursuing Michael for years and is determined to put him behind bars for good. And a powerful man like Conlon has his own agenda where Michael's concerned.

Michael is 2nd generation Irish, and his father John (John Kavanagh) is less than pleased to see him back in Manchester. Their relationship destroyed by Michael's criminal past. However his father's ill health puts further pressure on Michael's situation.

Lynne's murderer has never been found and returning to Manchester brings all the painful memories flooding back to Michael. While the police believe that Michael is responsible for the revenge killings on a rival gang, Lynne's killer has never been identified and as events unfold Michael finally has to come to terms, that he had a part to play in Lynne's death.

With so many forces working against him, will Michael be able do right by his son while at same time protect his future wife Anna and their unborn child? Has he the courage to reject his past and instead, choose the future, setting his loved ones and above all, himself, free?

Crotchety

All I can hear in the promo is English Accents.

♫

♫ wrote: »

All I can hear in the promo is English Accents.

It's mainly set in Manchester with most of the actors being English.

JP Liz

Dougray Scott will have me watching He is such an underrated actor

Stephen Rea and Ian Hart also will make it watchable

muddled

I myself am lured to it by Stephen Rea. Story sounds as though it could be good too. Although, summer television can sometimes be fairly mediocre. Looking forward to it anyway

JonathanAnon

Good start so far. But Simon Delaney as a prison guard ... lol... I think he was better suited to eating cake on the Tesco ad. I think he does too many voiceovers/adverts now to be taken seriously as an actor.

humanji

I really liked it. Wasn't sure what direciton it was going to go, and still not sure.

devereaux17

terrible. i honestly don't care for urban english culture, i once did a screenplay for the sake of it and it involved me and my friends getting tangled up in a plot in a parisien banliue, so much better. boring.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

lukin

I don't usually like urban English culture either, because it's usually set in London. That's why I kind of liked this though, as Manchester made a refreshing change.
Couple of questions though;
Why was the kid put in an adult prison?
This is a joint ITV/RTE production so is it being shown on ITV?

humanji

I think the kid was put in an adult prsion because it was it was a gun crime. I think one of the cops was saying that they take a much more severe stance with it and was kind of rubbing it in with the Dad, saying that it's because of him and what he did when he was originally there.

Decided that like the Take I'm going to wait till all 4 episodes have aired before I watch it but sweet Jebus in heaven the inclusion of Delaney is something I'm not looking forward to.

Elmo

Deleted User wrote: »

Decided that like the Take I'm going to wait till all 4 episodes have aired before I watch it but sweet Jebus in heaven the inclusion of Delaney is something I'm not looking forward to.

He is an extra.

It looks like the series was filmed in Ireland with the help of the IFB and RTÉ and the main production company which I didn't get the name of.

The ITV logo was missed from the end of the credits.

They used DCU as the entrance to manchester hospital, in one of the scenes.

Elmo

lukin wrote: »

This is a joint ITV/RTE production so is it being shown on ITV?

Yes it will be shown on ITV.

As for the opening episode. It was well paced but fairly sterotypical thriller.

Good boy's mother kill by gang a number of years ago, good boy's aunt is a Police officer. Good boy takes the fall for girlfriend, after she shoots down another boy who is chasing after them. Father is ex-criminal living in Ireland after spending time in prison here, Father brought shame on his Irish family in Manchester, Father now has to help former collegue excape from prison for a kidney transplant.

Carroller16

A lot of the street scenes in this and the boy's house was filmed in Montpelier Park and O'Devaney Gdns in Dublin

apprentice92

well, co-produced by itv, but i think rté actually did most of the work, if you look at the end credits it says filmed at rté studios, or something like that, and the credits dont have the itv logo. Itv only filmed the scenes of manchester, however, not 100% sure, but i've heard that the prison and much of the interiors of houses and other buildings were all filmed in rté.

anyway, very interesting show, well produced.:)

Elmo

apprentice92 wrote: »

well, co-produced by itv, but i think rté actually did most of the work, if you look at the end credits it says filmed at rté studios, or something like that, and the credits dont have the itv logo. Itv only filmed the scenes of manchester, however, not 100% sure, but i've heard that the prison and much of the interiors of houses and other buildings were all filmed in rté.

anyway, very interesting show, well produced.:)

Left bank films, Irish Film Board and RTÉ all get their logos at the end with a caption stating that it was produced by Left Bank Film for ITV in association with RTÉ with funding from the Irish Government incentive schemes etc.

Perhaps RTÉ are just the producers bit strange.

devereaux17

Carroller16 wrote: »

A lot of the street scenes in this and the boy's house was filmed in Montpelier Park and O'Devaney Gdns in Dublin

why not just set it in dublin so

thebman

Was this any good?

Elmo

thebman wrote: »

Was this any good?

Yeah it was a good thriller, nothing special

But sure have a look for yourself

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1051178

thebman

Yeah can't afford the bandwidth unfortunately. Close to cap and it is enforced. Will it be repeated during the week does anyone know?

Elmo

thebman wrote: »

Yeah can't afford the bandwidth unfortunately. Close to cap and it is enforced. Will it be repeated during the week does anyone know?

Who are you with?

I don't think it will be repeated perhaps on Saturday or Sunday if at all.

thebman

Elmo wrote: »

Who are you with?

I don't think it will be repeated perhaps on Saturday or Sunday if at all.

Digiweb fixed wireless. 30 gig cap and house sharing

TheBlock

Co Pro by RTE/ITV. Production Company Left Bank/Ecosse with Majority funding from ITV and a minority stake by RTE less than 20%. Mostly shot in Dublin with Ardmore I believe used for indoor scenes not Montrose.

I would be expecting more Co-Pros in future as it makes sense financially.

muddled

So far the story/acting appear better than how the ads came across (I think). I never copped Delaney as the prison guard. The story line's pretty good, intrigue, twist etc. Can't wait to see more of Stephen Rea, ("Gob****e, Gob****e, mother of all Gob****es".) Gotta love him!!

lukin

Surprised nobody posted on this after last night's second ep. Warming up nicely, the action seems to flag whenever Dougray Scott is not on screen however.
Also the part where his wife came to Manchester from "I-land" seemed a bit unnecessary.

Elmo

lukin wrote: »

Surprised nobody posted on this after last night's second ep. Warming up nicely, the action seems to flag whenever Dougray Scott is not on screen however.
Also the part where his wife came to Manchester from "I-land" seemed a bit unnecessary.

I missed the start of it last night. Really there was no need to base it in Manchester at all. The story is so fictional that it is totally unbeivable in any country. I am enjoying the show.

Was the Girlfriend told to frame the son? Because if so she was very luck to have someone shooting at them.

tvnutz

Was working last night and forgot to Sky+ it. Is it repeated during the week?

Elmo

tvnutz wrote: »

Was working last night and forgot to Sky+ it. Is it repeated during the week?

No RTÉ Player only.

Where did the word record go?

tvnutz

Elmo wrote: »

No RTÉ Player only.

Where did the word record go?

I guess when I stopped using video! :P

CONORM1992

Can anybody telll me the name of the song and singer of FATHER AND SON on rte1

Dr Sinnott

CONORM1992 wrote: »

Can anybody telll me the name of the song and singer of FATHER AND SON on rte1

Johnny Cash, God's gonna cut you down.

I didn't see too much of the series cause I thought it was terrible stuff. Really predictable and the story had very little credibility.

Elmo

Dr Sinnott wrote: »

Johnny Cash, God's gonna cut you down.

I didn't see too much of the series cause I thought it was terrible stuff. Really predictable and the story had very little credibility.

It was alright it but I didn't have you wanting to know what happened to any of the characters, I think I watch the first 2 episodes and forgot about the rest.