Tv3 unveils new soap drama red rock

TV3 has announced the cast of its brand new soap, 'Red Rock' along with the first official images of the families we will get to know and either love or loathe, from January 2015.

Based around a busy Dublin Garda station in a fictional coastal town, Red Rock will chart the life and dramas of a community about to be enveloped by a feud, through the eyes of those who police it. The debut episode of Ireland’s newest continuing drama will introduce us to two main families – The Kielys and The Hennessys.

With no love lost between the two clans, audiences will bear witness as a bitter feud is reignited between the two families, creating serious repercussions for all those living in the in the town. Each episode will be a mix of ‘crime of the week’ stories and on-going serial arcs, following principle characters in both their professional and personal lives.

Red Rock boasts not only a fantastic production team, in Element and Company Pictures, but also a host of well-known actors such as Richard Flood(Crossing Lines, Killing Kennedy) who plays Superintendent of Red Rock Garda station, James McKay, Andrea Irvine (The Boxer, Evelyn, Ella Enchanted), who plays Detective Angela Tyrell, Cathy Belton (Philomena, Roy, The Tiger’s Tail), who plays the ruthless matriarch of the Hennessy family, Patricia Hennessy, and Denise McCormack(Cuckoo, 1000 Times Good Night, Love/Hate), her Kiely clan equivalent. Not to mention, Liam Carney (Gangs Of New York, Braveheart, Crossing Lines and Glenroe) who plays Angela Tyrell’s husband. The Kiely patriarch is played by Paul Roe (Night Train, Veronica Guerin, Adam & Paul) and although Vincent is estranged from wife Bridget, he plays a massive role in the kids’ lives.

Fresh faces being introduced, although no strangers to the industry; include Jane McGrath who plays wholesome but determined Garda Officer Sharon Cleere, India Mullen plays the youngest and brightest of the Kielys, Katie,while Adam Weafer and Jack Nolan play Hennessy twin brothers Michael and David, who are embroiled in Red Rock controversy from the get go, as is Ann Skelly’s character Rachel Reid who is streets ahead of her 15 years.

Production of TV3’s new soap has been underway since the beginning of November. TV3 has commissioned the continuing drama for two years, committing to over 160 episodes and representing an investment of close to €7million per annum. The soap will employ up to 130 people full-time in the audio/visual and acting industry.

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MORE ABOUT THE PRODUCERS & THE WRITERS

John Yorke and Ed Guiney from Company Pictures and Element Pictures are Executive Producers with Company Pictures’ Cahal Bannon acting as Head of Production and Element Pictures’ Andrew Lowe also overseeing production.

Highly experienced drama writer Peter McKenna is the Showrunner on Red Rock. Peter has written extensively for film, television and stage. Most recently he has completed episodes of BBC One Drama Series Frankie and The Musketeers (Series 1 & 2) - and has just been commissioned by BBC to adapt the crime novel, The Lost by Claire McGowan, for television.

In 2010 Peter became the first Irish writer to be selected for the BBC Writers Academy. This led to him writing regularly for Doctors, EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City. His other Irish television credits include On Home Ground, Littlebird, Fair City, Legend and The Clinic, where he was appointed Head Writer and Story Consultant.

His television pilot, In Vitro, is in development with Company Pictures (London). Peter has also co-authored a romantic comedy Love Gods with Irish writer Brian Lynch, which has been optioned by Grand Pictures.

Hugh Farley is Series Producer (Production) of Red Rock. With over 18 years of experience in all aspects of media including journalism, public relations, scriptwriting, and programme making, Hugh has worked for RTÉ, BBC, Channel Four, ITV, NHK (Japan) and SV3 (Sweden), amongst others. Hugh has worked extensively on drama, directing the popular series Fair City, Ros Na Rún and Hollyoaks. His work was nominated for three Irish Film and Television Academy awards in 2006. From 2008 to 2012, Hugh acted as series producer for Ros Na Rún where he successfully produced 72 episodes per season and effectively managed a staff of 120 people. In 2012, Hugh was series producer of TV3’s first commissioned 6 part drama Deception.

Gareth Philips is Series Producer (Editorial) for Red Rock. Between 2000 and 2002, Gareth was a storyline writer for Coronation Street. He went on to work as script editor, and in 2004 was promoted to series editor, overseeing the entire script and story team until the end of 2006. Gareth is regarded as being integral to the success of the show during one of its golden periods, in which it won three successive BAFTA awards for Best Continuing Drama. In 2010 Gareth joined Hollyoaks as series producer where he achieved enormous success with the conclusions of storylines and gained the show its highest ratings in three years. In 2012 Gareth joined Fair City as series consultant.

Lauren MacKenzie is confirmed as Red Rock’s Present Planning Producer. Lauren has worked in both film and television as screenwriter and story/script editor. Her television work, as Development Executive, includes award-winning drama series for RTÉ; Bachelors Walk and Pure Mule, on which she also co-wrote story. Prior to that, she was senior story writer/editor on Fair City. She has written several episodes of RTÉ’s drama series On Home Ground and The Clinic and co-wrote Na Cloigne, a 3 x 1hr supernatural drama for TG4. Na Cloigne won Best Drama series at the Celtic Media Festival 2011. In 2011 Lauren was nominated to the board of the Irish Writer’s Guild. Most recently she wrote the final episode of Deception, a 6 part drama for TV3.

Trevor Colgan is confirmed as Red Rock’s Future Planning Producer. Since 2008, Trevor has written 70 episodes for Fair City. He spent 6 years from 2008 to 2014 as a Story Writer for the show and 3 months as Story Editor. In 2010 Trevor acted as Story Producer, Lead Script Writer and Script Editor for The BTW Diaries, a 35 part drama series for teenagers, broadcast on RTÉ TWO. Recently, Trevor has written for Roy a BAFTA-winning children’s drama series for BBC.

The Red Rock writing pool is made up of an impressive team of established and emerging writers from both Ireland and the UK.

TV veterans from Ireland and the UK are Tim Loane (Teachers, Proof, Minder & Casualty), Kim Revill (EastEnders, Holby, Casualty), Ted Gannon (Hide and Seek, The Clinic, Ballykissangel), Eugene O’Brien (Pure Mule & Eden) and Marcus Fleming (The Running Mate, The Clinic & Jack Doyle).

Others who will be joining the team are award-winning playwrights Amy Conroy (I Heart Alice Heart I & Break) and Ursula Rani Sarma (The Dark Things & Like Sugar On Skin).

Future writers will be a mixture of experienced and new television writers. Executive Producer John Yorke was the man behind the very successful BBC Writers Academy. This was a year-long in-depth training scheme which produced a generation of television writers. Similarly, Red Rock aims to provide training and mentoring for writers to continue to bring new talent onto the show, with the view to launching successful careers.

‘Red Rock’ will air twice weekly on TV3 from January 2015