BBC NI & RTÉ Commission Tall Tales & Murder

BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ have co-commissioned two six-part seasons of Tall Tales & Murder from co-creators Stuart Carolan (Love/Hate) and Chris Addison (Veep, Breeders, The Thick of It).

Based on the eight-book Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell, the series adaptation will star Ella Lily Hyland (Black Doves, Towards Zero, Silent Roar), Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones, KIN), Philippa Dunne (Amandaland, Derry Girls, The Woman in the Wall) and Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders).

The series is produced by Avalon, in association with Metropolitan Pictures, with support from Screen Ireland.

The first season began filming this week and is expected to premiere in 2026. Avalon will be handling international distributor.

“I’ve been a fan of the brilliant Chris Addison since The Thick of It,” Carolan said. “It’s been incredible fun working with him to bring this insane story to life.”

Addison commented, “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. 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.”

“It’s so exciting to be in production with this amazing Irish drama from Stuart Carolan and Chris Addison after a great development process,” added David Crean, head of drama at RTÉ. “The scripts are fantastic, as is the cast. RTÉ is excited to be collaborating with such brilliant broadcast partners to bring this great series to audiences on a national and international stage. Tall Tales & Murder is part of an unprecedented slate of original Irish drama in production from RTÉ, which will deliver over 142 hours of original drama this year.”

Eddie Doyle, head of content commissioning for BBC Northern Ireland, said, “Tall Tales & Murder is storytelling at its darkest, funniest and most surreal. 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.”

“We are delighted to be working with RTÉ, BBC and Screen Ireland and backing the very best contemporary Irish talent,” noted Rob Aslett, executive producer for Avalon. “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 lead by the Ella, Aiden, Philippa and Packy.”

“Screen Ireland is delighted to support the making of Tall Tales & Murder,” added Kate McColgan, head of television for Screen Ireland. “Congratulations to all involved for assembling such a brilliant cast featuring some of our best-known actors alongside some exciting new stars. It is wonderful to partner again with our colleagues in RTÉ and BBC Northern Ireland.”