Single-Handed 4

JP Liz V1

Garda Sergeant Jack Driscoll is back on Sunday night on RTE 1 with Simone Lahbib, Matthew McNulty, Stephen Rea, Ruth McCabe and Sean McGinley join the cast for this series.

livinginkorea

Just saw the other three series last month, great stuff.

They have six episodes this time rather than the usual one-long episode per series. Can't wait!

Namabillion

Rte are co-producing it with ITV.

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/rte-cuts-crime-drama-costs-in-itv-deal-2095644.html

By Lorna Nolan
Thursday March 11 2010
CASH-strapped RTE has enlisted financial help from ITV in order to recommission its home-produced series Single Handed for another run.

The Herald has learned the Irish crime drama will return to the small screen next year for a longer stint, after RTE sold a 50pc share of the Touchpaper Television production to the British channel.

Single Handed first aired as a two-part special on RTE in 2007 and was an immediate ratings winner, prompting a second two-part series, Single Handed: The Stolen Child -- which aired in 2008 -- to be commissioned.

A third instalment, called Single Handed: The Drowning Man was later given the go-ahead by RTE chiefs and aired last April, again recording impressive rating figures.

Written by Barry Simner, who previously worked on hit ITV series The Vice, the programme was originally inspired by investigations of garda corruption in Donegal by the Morris tribunal.

ITV bought all three two-part episodes last summer and showed it as one stand-alone series, marking the first time that a UK broadcaster had bought an Irish drama for broadcast during a prime time slot.

But instead of cashing in on the success of the rural drama, which stars Owen McDonnell as officer Jack Driscoll, by retaining complete ownership of the series, RTE bosses have instead signed up to co-produce all future episodes of the hit drama with ITV.

The programme was deemed a huge success with UK viewers, with over four million viewers tuning in for its premiere last year.

The cast are expected to return to the west of Ireland to begin filming on the future episodes of the show in the coming weeks, with the second series expected to air in 2011.

Laura Mackie, director of drama commissioning at ITV, explained: "It means viewers still get quality shows that don't look threadbare."

The 50/50 collaboration marks one of RTE'S first with ITV, after they began selling their productions to the station last year.

Two other RTE dramas were also bought by STV, ITV's Scottish franchise, last year -- Proof, a thriller about a corrupt Taoiseach, and Damage, which deals with the aftermath of a violent rape in Dublin.

denishurley

Connemara's still beautiful anyway!

Mr.Crinklewood

Oh..its about the Gardai...thought RTE had made a documentary about my sex life.

JonathanAnon

On a positive note.. the credibility of the cast has been boosted by the appearance of three (so far) ex-Fair City actors.. fuk sake, it's like a drama society, always the same faces..

ArtSmart

grand so far, but wish they'd tone down the eerie music thing

i mean it's good music an all, but, a bit loud / in yer face

ArtSmart

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

Oh..its about the Gardai...thought RTE had made a documentary about my sex life.

hence your handle i guess, mr, crinkle wood.

JonathanAnon wrote: »

On a positive note.. the credibility of the cast has been boosted by the appearance of three (so far) ex-Fair City actors.. fuk sake, it's like a drama society, always the same faces..

well they're not the worse of that crowd. 6 eps i believe, grand.

JonathanAnon

I thought the chase scene was poor.. cant believe they didnt reshoot that bit where yer man dropped the bag... aside from that it's been good..

delta_bravo

denishurley wrote: »

Connemara's still beautiful anyway!

I dont think thats Conn. Theres an adventure centre in it which I would say is Delphi so its probably filmed in Mayo. Lovely scenery though.

ArtSmart

denishurley wrote: »

Connemara's still beautiful anyway!

well scary beautiful. or maybe just scary.

JonathanAnon

I suppose he'll be putting in for overtime for this will he?

ArtSmart

hmmm, little bit wobbly that last scene.

JonathanAnon

ArtSmart wrote: »

hmmm, little bit wobbly that last scene.

That lad, the youth offender, was in Pure Mule... Didnt think he was great in that either..

lot of cliché / stereotype as well:
- Guard going for coffee when he should be on duty..
- Young lad knowing his rights better than the guard..
- Youth place guy saying "if you arrest him he'll be out in the morning"..
- Garda to Garda: "You'll get nowhere in this business without a friend"

baalthor

Can't really take the policing in this seriously ...

ArtSmart

dunno bout this. Is this by the same writer?

JonathanAnon

From a quick Google:

http://www.rte.ie/tv/singlehanded/index.html

Barry Simner (who wrote this), wrote the previous Single Handed (The Drowning Man)... and I think he wrote the previous two as well... so he wrote all of them..

Seems like Brian's missus has a bit of a twinkle in her eye for the Jack fella.. He mightnt be single handed of an evening for long..

FJB

ArtSmart wrote: »

dunno bout this. Is this by the same writer?

Same writer, but a different director. The previous series' were directed by first or second time Irish directors. This is being directed by a much more experienced and renowned director, and so far it's promising to be much worse.

denishurley

Ruth McCabe is surely older than Stephen Rea?

Mr.Crinklewood

Missed a bit there as i was reading the weather thread...

How did he find his uncle?

Keano

delta_bravo wrote: »

I dont think thats Conn. Theres an adventure centre in it which I would say is Delphi so its probably filmed in Mayo. Lovely scenery though.

Ya I think so, I was back that way a few months back and looks very familiar.

ArtSmart

on the phone, presumably from birth / death records or Garda HQ whilst finding out bout the dead guy.

as for the writer - Barry Simner, all articles say he wrote the drowning man / possibly first three, but none say he wrote this new six part series. . I dont think it's a 100% clear.

Edit: still early yet, hopefully Rea will do the biz and I like Ruth McCabe but...

FJB

ArtSmart wrote: »

on the phone, presumably from birth / death records or Garda HQ whilst finding out bout the daed guy.

as for the writer - Barry Simner, all articles say he wrote the drowning man / possibly first three, but none say he wrote this new six part series. . I dont think it's a 100% clear.

The opening credits did.

ArtSmart

FJB wrote: »

The opening credits did.

oh Really? Grand so, didnt see that. should pick up so, but thought everything the young gurrier said was bollox (not credible) so wasnt sure.

AddictedToYou

Keano A Legend wrote: »

Ya I think so, I was back that way a few months back and looks very familiar.

Think it's Killary and not Delphi..

I liked it anyway, glad it's back.

darkdubh

denishurley wrote: »

Ruth McCabe is surely older than Stephen Rea?

Yeah i thought it was a bit odd when he turned out to be the "older" brother.She looks at least 10 years older than him.

Namabillion

I thought it was good. Especially for RTÉ

ArtSmart

yeah, not bad tonight.
that young gurrier cant act though (mind you, his dialogue is not credible)

JonathanAnon

ArtSmart wrote: »

yeah, not bad tonight.
that young gurrier cant act though (mind you, his dialogue is not credible)

Yeah he was in Raw, and Pure Mule... He's got the sort of face you'd love to put a fist into though.. So I spose that is apt for the role.

ArtSmart

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Yeah he was in Raw, and Pure Mule... He's got the sort of face you'd love to put a fist into though.. So I spose that is apt for the role.

yeah he looks the part for sure. lol

ArtSmart

Rea's bit was good.
but there's a sense of painting by numbers with the script
ie, lets chalk down some issues, ok, now, how can be incorporate this into a script? , rather than an organic sense of scriptwriting.

still, the scenery is nice...

JonathanAnon

jaysus he looks good for 64.. He could nearly pass as Ruth McCabe's son, never mind her older brother...

cml387

Good stuff I think.

That Rea guy can certainly act.

ArtSmart

yeah, great scene that

ArtSmart

yup a big improvement on last week.

not convinced this was written by one person though.

thesandeman

Strange that the Connemara Boardsies arent on complaining that a rock is 100yds away from where it is in real life ala the Dublin Gangster thread. Tbh I find this drama very false. Kinda like an Oirish Heartbeat.

Namabillion

By far rte's best drama

HelenAddict

Hello everybody

I'm french and I'm the webmistress of a site devoted to Simone Lahbib. I'm looking for all informations about her work ans that's why I'm posting here after a search about Single Handed 4. I can't watch this serie on RTE 1 because I'm living in France and it will be great if someone could tell me more about the episodes and about her character Gemma.

Thanks for your help
Have a nice day.

Karine.

ArtSmart

thesandeman wrote: »

Strange that the Connemara Boardsies arent on complaining that a rock is 100yds away from where it is in real life ala the Dublin Gangster thread. Tbh I find this drama very false. Kinda like an Oirish Heartbeat.

but there's just soooo many of them (rocks)

cats.life

ive just read all the posts as to where its shot, its mostley shot where i come from in connemara, as in the shop scene is my local shop in lettergesh, i know the road,s of by heart cos i traveled them all my life, as for which adventure centre it is i would say delphi.. god is was so weird seeing the shop on tv, dont know where the old convent/ christian brother school is shot, all of the last single handed was shot near us aswell,.

cats.life

thesandeman wrote: »

Strange that the Connemara Boardsies arent on complaining that a rock is 100yds away from where it is in real life ala the Dublin Gangster thread. Tbh I find this drama very false. Kinda like an Oirish Heartbeat.

what exactly do you mean by this comment ''rock is 100yds away from were it is in real life''

thesandeman

Its a reference to the Dubs reaction to Love/Hate on another thread. They are complaining that because the scenes arent exactly the same as in real life then the show must be crap.

cml387

HelenAddict wrote: »

Hello everybody

I'm french and I'm the webmistress of a site devoted to Simone Lahbib. I'm looking for all informations about her work ans that's why I'm posting here after a search about Single Handed 4. I can't watch this serie on RTE 1 because I'm living in France and it will be great if someone could tell me more about the episodes and about her character Gemma.

Thanks for your help
Have a nice day.

Karine.

Bonjour Karine!

I see the interest you have,Simone has a French Algerian father.
In this series she's playing the girlfriend of a young man coming to Connemara to seek out his roots.

It turns out the young man's father is the uncle of the main character,Garda (police) sergeant Jack Driscoll.The uncle suffered terribly in an industrial school (young boys prison) in the 1950's,sent there ironically by Driscoll's father who was the Garda sergeant back then, that is he sent his own brother to jail.

In fairness she hasn't had much to do really up to this, and you may have gathered the scenery is the main star.

HelenAddict

Thanks cml387 (and thanks Jonathan for the mp). I have managed to watch the first episode thanks to kind irish people who post it on the web. I'm very happy. I have realised that isn't the Simone's greatest role but it doesn't matter...
If you have some informations about her (in Irish newspapers for exemple), it will be great if you could give them to me.

I hope you understand my english language . Bye.

johngalway

cats.life wrote: »

ive just read all the posts as to where its shot, its mostley shot where i come from in connemara, as in the shop scene is my local shop in lettergesh, i know the road,s of by heart cos i traveled them all my life, as for which adventure centre it is i would say delphi.. god is was so weird seeing the shop on tv, dont know where the old convent/ christian brother school is shot, all of the last single handed was shot near us aswell,.

North Connemara-ers... Ye get nothing right :P

It's Killary, not Delphi, 100% certain. I was there this year concluding the Leenane Walking Festival Sunday Mweelrea walk, which finished by speedboat into the centre there at Killary. Walked past that tower and the building opposite.

JonathanAnon

I think the show has gone on WAAAAYYY too long. It was going well up until they introduced the whole prostitution ring storyline into it... I mean a prostitution ring in a village of about 20 people???? And Owen McDonell's impression of Nicholas Cage is wearing really thin at this stage...

johngalway

You've led a sheltered life if you think things like that don't go on outside of the big schmoke

KerranJast

johngalway wrote: »

You've led a sheltered life if you think things like that don't go on outside of the big schmoke

They do just not in a small village where everyone knows what everyone else had for breakfast. Regional towns yes.

JonathanAnon

johngalway wrote: »

You've led a sheltered life if you think things like that don't go on outside of the big schmoke

Ah yeah, but out in the schticks it's more sleeping with your sister and not having to pay for it..

denishurley

cats.life wrote: »

ive just read all the posts as to where its shot, its mostley shot where i come from in connemara, as in the shop scene is my local shop in lettergesh, i know the road,s of by heart cos i traveled them all my life, as for which adventure centre it is i would say delphi.. god is was so weird seeing the shop on tv, dont know where the old convent/ christian brother school is shot, all of the last single handed was shot near us aswell,.

Is the name of the shop backwards on the doors in real life too?

Elmo

Just finished on ITV1, last ep up againist BIG BRO so it had 2.8m, it had a high of 3.79m when it started 4 weeks ago.

RTÉ and ITV still in negotiations for a new series. I think RTÉ should try for a 5th season even if ITV pull out.