Filming of RTE’s Haughey drama starts this week

Aidan Gillen from Love/Hate will play Charles Haughey.  Photo via WikiCommons

RTÉ has announced that a new three-part series about disgraced, former Taoiseach Charles Haughey will begin filming this week.

Aidan Gillen, who played John Boy in the first two series of Love/Hate, will take on the role of Haughey. His former colleague and current Love/Hate star Tom Vaughan-Lawlor – who plays Nidge in RTE’s acclaimed crime drama – will join him on screen. Vaughan-Lawlor will play the role of Haughey’s spin-doctor PJ Meara.

The three-part political drama is produced by Touchpaper and Element Pictures and supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) Sound and Vision Fund.

It was thought that RTÉ required an actor to play Haughey that would be recognisable in the British and American markets as well as on home soil. Gillen certainly fulfils that requirement with a CV that includes roles in American series such as The Wire and his on going part as Littlefinger in the hugely successful Game of Thrones.

The drama has a working title of Charlie and covers the period from Haughey’s bid for power in 1979 to his desperate attempts to hang onto that power until he leaves politics in 1992.

It will feature many of the main events from Haughey’s career and will show the rise and fall of one of Ireland’s most notorious politicians.

Kenny Glenaan and Charlie McCarthy will direct the series while Dubliner Colin Teevan will write it. Each episode will be 90 minutes long and filming will last for nine weeks.

RTÉ have not announced when they expect it to go on air but Jane Gogan, Head of RTÉ Television Drama said, “We have a fantastic cast lined up to tell a story about one of the most intriguing characters in Irish political life.”

Photo courtesy of WikiCommons