FILMING has begun on a new RTÉ crime series starring Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney.
The Yank is the first television drama from writer Eithne Verling, who wrote the series specifically for Mulgrew following a chance meeting with the actor while she was on holiday in Galway.
“I wrote The Yank for Kate, who I met a number of years ago,” Verling admits.
“Our meeting felt like it had been pre-ordained, a friendship both instant and familiar.”
Filming for the series has begun in Conamara on the west coast of Ireland, where the drama is set.
The story follows seasoned NYPD detective Nora Savage as she takes a career break from the police force following a traumatic event and moving to her family home in Ireland.
But rather than finding respite and a change of pace, Lieutenant Savage is pulled into a murder investigation involving a female climate activist.
“Writing, for me, is the easiest way I can think of to manage the parade of thoughts that pass through my head,” Verling explained as RTÉ announced the new show.
“The Yank deals with some of the bigger thoughts, which I have set in a story about a woman’s attempt to find meaning in the world following a deep personal trauma,” she added.
Mulgrew said her love for Ireland was one of the reasons she wanted to make the series.
“The Yank was borne out of my love for Ireland, and the luck and perspicacity I have enjoyed when it came to knowing who will matter to me both emotionally and creatively,” she said.
“That person is Eithne Verling, and the character we contrived is Nora Savage – a woman very like myself, had I been slashed with grief, blessed with raw courage and born a natural hunter of that which destroys.”
She added: “The Yank is the intriguing and unexpected story of a woman who has nothing to lose, and her obsessive attraction to what lies beneath.”
The six-part series, which is being produced by Two Cities Television and Keeper Pictures, also features Colm Meaney, John Connors, India Mullen, Cillian O’Sullivan and Jack Rowan.
“We are so excited to be in production with The Yank and to add another new title to what has been RTÉ’s biggest year for original Irish drama,” RTÉ’s head of drama David Crean said.
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See More: Colm Meaney, Conamara, Galway, Kate Mulgrew, RTE, The Yank
