ITV has bought upcoming Irish thriller The Galway Bay Murders starring Star Trek icon Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney.
The show from new TV writer Eithne Verling follows seasoned NYPD detective Nora Savage (Mulgrew), who arrives in the west of Ireland hoping to escape a traumatic past and find a quieter life. However, her plans are shattered when the body of a young woman is discovered in a bog, drawing Nora into a complex murder investigation alongside the local Garda team. The ensemble cast also includes John Connors (The Gentlemen, Irish Blood), India Mullen (Normal People, Under Salt Marsh), Cillian O’Sullivan (Daredevil: Born Again, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds) and Jack Rowan (A Town Called Malice, Wreck).
Mulgrew is playing the lead and the show was born out of a conversation she had with Verling after the pair had a chance meeting in Galway while the Star Trek actor was on holiday.
Irish broadcaster RTÉ is already aboard and the news was revealed at MIPCOM Cannes, where ITV Studios, which is distributing the show, also unveiled a new Australian TV drama label under Sara Richardson, along with a slew of sales for shows like Steven Moffat’s Number 10.
Two Cities Television is producing The Galway Bay Murders, which was previously called The Yank. Bosses at Two Cities recently told us the series, which has deficit financing from distributor ITV Studios, is an example of the indie “taking a bit more control of our own destiny” by making a lower-budget show for which they have almost total editorial control.
Darren Nartey, Head of Content Acquisitions at ITV, said: “The Galway Bay Murders is precisely the kind of bold, high-calibre drama our audiences love. Eithne Verling has crafted a completely magnetic crime thriller, with an outstanding cast led by Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney, a compelling central mystery and the stunning backdrop of Ireland’s west coast. We’re thrilled to partner with ITV Studios, Two Cities Television and RTÉ to bring this captivating new series to the ITV audience”
The series is directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Baltimore, Kin) and produced by STV Studios-backed Two Cities, Keeper Pictures and AS I AM Productions. The Galway Bay Murders is made in association with and distributed internationally by ITV Studios.