Jamie Dornan is reteaming with The Fall writer Allan Cubitt for a new BBC drama. The pair, following on from their huge success with The Fall, will adapt the Irish novel Death And Nightingales, which was written by Eugene McCabe and first published in 1992.
The synopsis for the book reads thusly:
“It is 1883 and against the fearsome beauty of the Fermanagh landscape, the fate of Beth Winters slowly unfolds. Beth is determined to decide her own destiny yet seems doomed to repeat the tragic mistakes of her family.Through the events of the day of her twenty-fifth birthday, decades of pain and betrayal finally build to a devastating climax. In this powerful and gripping novel McCabe creates a lyrical indictment of the tensions that tear both families and nations apart.”
Ann Skelly of Little Women will play Beth Winters in the TV adaptation, with Jamie playing her lover, Liam. Matthew Rhys, seen recently in The Americans, will also appear, portraying Billy, Beth’s domineering protestant father.
“I’m thrilled to be reunited with Allan and his brilliant scripts to play such an intriguing character like Liam Ward and to return to Northern Ireland and BBC Two,” Dornan has said.
Filming will begin on the series’ three episodes at some point this summer, over in Northern Ireland.