Irish Shows and Movies

Irish Movies and Shows

by Christy Nicholas

Want to feel closer to the Emerald Isle? This might help!

Comedy/fun/light:
Ballykissangel (TV Series) – not really historical, but set in a small town in Ireland, great funny series.
Father Ted (TV Series) – again, not historical. Three priests (a young one in training, a mature one, and an old one in retirement) live on a remote island in the west of Ireland. Silly comedy. Some strong language.
Waking Ned Devine – an old man wins the lottery – and promptly dies. His friends try to collect his winnings. Hilarious.
The Secret of Kells – a delightful animated movie about the Book of Kells, an exquisite illuminated gospel from the 8^th century – the kids would probably love this, too. Some scary bits (mean Vikings).
Leap Year – an American is stuck in the boondocks of Ireland, and tries to make her way to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on Feb 29^th.
P.S., I Love You – A true tearjerker. A man dies in New York, and his wife is sent on a series of quests by him, via notes written before he died, ending up in Ireland where they met.
Darby O’Gill and the Little People – Sean Connery sings! Darby O’Gill tries to get the better of the Fairy Folk to save his daughter from dying.
The Matchmaker – Based on the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, a funny tale with Janeane Garofalo.

Drama:
The Commitments – A Soul Music group gets together in Dublin
Into the West – a couple young tinker (gypsy) boys find a mystical white horse
The Secret of Roan Inish – a movie about Selkies, mystical creatures that are seals in the water, but humans on land.
The Quiet Man – A classic with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara; a man moves from America to the small town he was born in to reclaim his heritage.
Circle of Friends – Minnie Driver stars in this tale of young men and women in 1950 Ireland.
Once – Set in Dublin, story of a pair of musicians learning the ways of the street.
The Guard – A misfit policeman gets partnered with an uptight FBI agent to investigate drug smugglers
Philomena – A woman searches for word of her child, taken from her in the Magdalene Laundries.
Angela’s Ashes – True story of a child growing up in Limerick.
Ondine – Tale of a water spirit.
Dancing at Lughnasa – Five sisters in rural Ireland in the 1930s.

Gritty/heavy/serious/not for kids:
My Left Foot (Daniel Day-Lewis plays a Irish painter quadriplegic, 1960s)
In the Name of the Father (Daniel Day-Lewis, accused of bombing in Northern Ireland, 1970s)
Michael Collins (Liam Neeson/Alan Rickman) About Ireland’s revolution (1916)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley – Also Ireland’s revolution (1916)
Bloody Sunday – historical drama about the true events that occurred in the beginning of the Troubles in Derry, Northern Ireland (set in 1972).
Ryan’s Daughter – Story of a woman who has an affair with a WWI British officer. (1916)
Excalibur – Classic King Arthur tale filmed in Ireland
Da – Story of a man dealing with his father’s death, with Martin Sheen.
The Field – A feud about who gets to farm a field results in death and pain. (Spoiler! Sean Bean dies)
Omagh – Dramatization of the bombing in Omagh in 1998.
The Crying Game – A British soldier captured by IRA terrorists

Filming locations in Ireland:

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