Production company Avalon (Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe) is set to adapt Caimh McDonnell’s beloved comedic Dublin crime series for television, as reported by The Bookseller. Titled Tall Tales & Murder for the screen, the show has been commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ as two six-part series, in association with Screen Ireland.
Credit: Carla Speight
The darkly comedic crime drama has been written by Stuart Carolan, the writer and creator of RTÉ’s smash-hit crime drama Love/Hate, one of the most critically acclaimed and successful Irish dramas ever produced. The show is co-created with double Emmy and Directors Guild of America Award winner Chris Addison (Veep, Breeders, The Thick of It). Tall Tales & Murder is produced by Avalon, in association with Ireland-based Metropolitan Pictures (Kin).
Filming began in Ireland this week with stars 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).
Inspired by McDonnell’s eight-book Dublin Series, including A Man With One of Those Faces, The Day That Never Comes and Angels in the Moonlight, the first series is set to premiere in 2026 and will be distributed internationally by Avalon.
Stuart Carolan, Writer and Executive Producer, said, ‘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.’
‘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,’ added Director and Executive Producer Chris Addison. ‘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.’
The Dublin Series books were Amazon bestsellers, with almost 300,000 copies sold to date. The first novel, A Man With One of Those Faces, was shortlisted for the CAP Awards ‘Best Novel’ and was named one of The Spectator’s ‘Books of the Year’ on its release. The series has been translated into eight languages internationally.