Top Irish cast to join Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan for darkly-comic crime drama, Tall Tales & Murder

Irish Post

08-06-2025

A CAST of top Irish talent has been lined up for a new darkly-comic crime drama, which is being adapted for the small screen by Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan.
Tall Tales & Murder is based on Irish writer Caimh McDonnell's Dublin Trilogy, whch, despite its name, is a series of eight books that follows the exploits of former garda Bunny McGarry.
British comedian Chris Addison has co-created the show with Carolan, while the series will star Love/Hate alumnus Aidan Gillen.
Also among the cast are Irish stars Ella Lily Hyland (Towards Zero), Philippa Dunne (Derry Girls) and Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders).
Two six-part series have been commissioned by RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland, in association with Screen Ireland, while the show is produced by Avalon. 'Dark and delicious'
Carolan expressed his delight at working with Addison on the series, which began filming in Ireland this week and is set to premiere in 2026.
"I've been a fan of the brilliant Chris Addison since The Thick of It — it's been incredible fun working with him to bring this insane story to life," he said.
Addison will serve as director and producer on the series.
As well as starring in The Thick of It, the comedian and writer will also be familiar to fans of TV panel show, Mock the Week, where he was a regular guest.
The Tall Tales & Murder team (clockwise from top left) includes Ella Lily Hyland, Aidan Gillen, Philippa Dunne, Chris Addison, Stuart Carolan and Packy Lee (Image: BBC Media)
Addison co-created the comedy series Breeders, directing several episodes, and received an Emmy nomination for his directorial work on the US sitcom, Veep.
"I'm frankly giddy with delight to get to team up with the twisted and highly-original mind of Stuart Carolan to create this show," he said.
"We've taken Caimh's wonderful novel as a jumping off point and ended up with what I like to think of as a dark and delicious screwball drama." Shining a light on modern Ireland
Eddie Doyle, Head of Content Commissioning at BBC Northern Ireland, described Carolan and Addison as 'masters of their craft'.
"Tall Tales & Murder is storytelling at its darkest, funniest and most surreal," he said.
"We're looking forward to bringing audiences with us on this wild and thrilling ride from Stuart Carolan and Chris Addison, masters of their craft.
"There's a fantastic cast already on board and we can't wait to work with Avalon, in association with Metropolitan Pictures, and RTÉ to take it from script to screen."
Meanwhile, Rob Aslett, Executive Producer for Avalon, added: "Stuart's brilliant scripts have created a wildly-original crime drama that shines a light on a modern Ireland and we can't wait to bring this show to life with a fantastic cast led by Ella, Aidan, Philippa and Packy."