The Dry returns to RTÉ One on Wednesday for a second run. RTÉ Entertainment's John Byrne went on location during filming and spoke to Ciarán Hinds, who plays Tom in the hit show
Sometimes these 'behind the scenes' type trips feel like a journey into the world of a spy thriller.
But only at the start. Visions of Le Carré can only carry you so far, and showbiz is much more mundane when you get behind the curtain and see how it works.
But that in itself is fascinating.
And I can’t think of a better job than getting paid to watch other people work.
Take this, for example. I'm off to see how things are getting on at The Dry during the filming of the show's second season. After assembling at RTÉ HQ, we take a taxi to south county Dublin, where we get dropped off in what’s basically the edge of a field.
From there, we travel the rest of the way to our destination in one of those minibus/multi-seated cars, and end up in a leafy suburb somewhere west of the N11 and east of the M50. I genuinely have no idea where we are, other than somewhere posh and beyond my pay scale.
After introductions with the various film crew heads, we relocate to a garage attached to a roomy bungalow that’s also doubling as a viewing area as the assembled cast rehearse and then stand by for action.
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When filming starts, you could hear a proverbial pin drop. The mood is pleasantly professional, as in everyone wants to get stuff done with smiles on their faces. They’re a friendly lot, really.
The garage looks authentic, and no wonder as it’s the garage belonging to the Sheridans, the dysfunctional, middle class family at the centre of The Dry.
It’s full of the sort of stuff you’d expect: there’s a garden hosepipe, some kids’ toys, and the obligatory bucket of paint. There’s even a painting lying there, which is nice. Proof, once again, that we’re in a posh part of Dublin.
They’re five weeks into a ten-week shoot so everyone’s well-drilled at this stage and just getting on with the job in hand. The last thing they need is some nosey journalists asking 'What’s this for?’ while holding up a cable, or crying for help to get a headset to work.
One by one, depending on the filming schedule, individual cast members are brought to the house next door for the purpose of being interviewed. This procession eats into the day and requires a Zen-like state until, well, showtime.
After being ushered into a very pleasant sitting room of the house next door, a beaming Ciarán Hinds greets me. It seems bonkers to think this guy is 71 years old now. He looks great.
Being happy is crucial to looking good and feeling motivated - or so I’m told. Life as an actor is traditionally precarious, but Ciaran’s career is a pretty impressive one, and in recent years he’s been getting plaudits from all over the place. And plenty of prominent parts.
He was Oscar and Bafta nominated for his role in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, his roles vary from Julius Caesar in Rome to Troll King Grand Pabbie in the Frozen franchise. For his (very different) performances in both Kin and The Dry, he picked up a couple of IFTAs.
"It's a beautifully crafted piece of work, is what it is," he says, when I ask him if he’s particularly happy with The Dry and his role as the mischievous father Tom. After all, this is a guy who’s worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, two titans of Tinseltown.
"It’s complex, because tonally it's trying to hit it right between the drama and the comedy and the truth. When it's slightly heightened and when it's just basically in the gutter.
"I mean it's great because a dysfunctional family is very volatile as well. But at the same time it's just people trying to get on with their lives. But sometimes it doesn't work out so well."
The eight-part comedy drama, once again written by Nancy Harris and directed by Paddy Breathnach, sees the return of Roisin Gallagher as recovering alcoholic Shiv Sheridan.
Familiar faces also reprising their roles include Hinds - obviously - as Shiv’s dad Tom, Pom Boyd as mammy Bernie, as well as Siobhán Cullen as Caroline, Moe Dunford as Jack, Adam Richardson as Ant and Emmanuel Okoye as Max.
As anyone who’s ever worked on a TV show will tell you, the stages to success are all outrageously precarious. It’s a miracle a show gets greenlit in the first place - and it’s almost incomprehensible if a show gets a second run. You’ve a much better chance of winning the Lotto.
"The truth is, I personally have never done a second series of anything," Ciarán admits, when I ask him about the feeling of reuniting with the cast and crew of The Dry. "And I haven't done that much serial television. I want to do things that are serious, but mostly they're individual stuff. Theatre and stuff. They’re usually one-off projects."
And indeed, The Dry in itself was initially something of a one-off project, as no one involved gave it a thought when the original eight-parter wrapped a couple of years ago. Everyone went off to their next job. The Dry was done. Or so they thought.
"This is the first time I've ever come back into a series, but the series wasn’t made with the intent of making it an ongoing series," Ciarán explains, before putting the show in context and showing how these things work.
"The fact is, we made this two years ago, and it was only shown in Ireland in March. I think it has been shown elsewhere in America and Canada, and by that time we were getting word back that people were enjoying it. So I think they must have thought: could we go again?"
For Irish viewers it would seem that season two is following the first run quite quickly, as it was screened last year on RTÉ One. The reality is somewhat different, as it debuted previously on ITV's Britbox service in the UK.
"So when we came to do the second run, it was only a couple of months after it had been shown in Ireland." Ciaran says. "But the truth is, it was two years since we shot it. So we'd all be doing many different things in those two years, you know, in many different places with different people.
"But the director Paddy Breathnach is a fantastic man to work for. He thought we'd be straight back in there with the characters and then he admitted in the first week he said: 'God, you know I didn't think . . . it was almost like as if we just come in and we carry on - but in fact, I'd forgotten you guys’ heads.
"‘You’ve been doing different accents different parts to come back into where we weren't just takes a little bit of time. Yeah, so we had a couple of days prep - not a lot." But it was enough to get the motor running. "Then he realised after two or three days, it’s starting now - the engines are now more oiled and more greased."
Season 2 also sees some new faces about the place.
Michael McElhatton joins as Finbar, Bernie’s new close companion, while Thommas Kane Byrne plays Billy, Ant’s new nemesis. The arrival of charming barista Alex, played by Sam Keeley, could signal a new love interest for Shiv.
But ultimately this is a show about a family. A very Irish family. A very realistic family, albeit exaggerated. A family with foibles, problems and lots of niggly stuff, just like in the real world.
"I think with the second season - yes, it’s dysfunctional family, but it's very volatile," says Ciarán. "The first season was fairly volatile, but there's other stuff going on here that’s kind of almost - I wouldn’t say destructive - but it’s kind of odd and dark, just by circumstance."
On a broader level, Ciarán gets talking about the ageing process and how growing up and getting older are definitely not the same thing. That’s one of the bonuses of acting of course.
"I think there's a child in all of us, still," he says, reflecting on the ageing process. "I mean, many, many people will deny it, but they're very serious and they've grown up. But sometimes when you see their behaviour, you go like: ’See, that’s still childish, to be quite honest.' Whether you’re powerful or not, that’s behaving like a child."
It’s a bit different for actors though. And it’s impossible to disagree, because that inner child is where the performer's magic begins to happen.
"And we admit to it and part of the childishness allows us to be able to play and invent and imagine," he says, before acknowledging an obvious impact of ageing on the acting process. "But of course you've got other responsibilities. The stuff like learning the bloody lines. So it's a nightmare when you reach a certain age.
"You learn a lot of lines, and then you’ve got to get rid of them because you’ve got to learn more. It’s like clearing out your room. By this stage, after 45 years of working, and learning and stuff like it's just kind of like a big, grey splurge in there.
"You can tell by the way Roisin and Caroline and Adam are all speedy, really speedy," he adds, complimenting his Dry cast members and smiling that smile again. "So basically we hang on to their coattails and hope we get away with it."
The Dry, Wednesdays on RTÉ One and available to stream on the RTÉ Player.
