RTÉ announces 'gripping' new crime thriller starring Colm Meaney set in Irish beauty spot

A gripping new crime drama starring Irish legend Colm Meaney will soon hit or screens.

The new six-part crime thriller, The Yank, stars Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager, Orange is the New Black) in the leading role of Lieutenant Nora Savage alongside Colm Meaney (Gangs of London, Star Trek: The Next Generation), 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).

Filming has already begun in Connemara, Galway.

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The Yank is writer Eithne Verling’s first television drama script and was created specifically for Mulgrew after the pair had a chance meeting in Galway while the actor was on holiday.

The series is set in the west coast of Ireland and sees seasoned NYPD detective Nora Savage take a career break from the NYPD following a traumatic event and moving to her family home. Expecting a change of pace, Nora is unexpectedly pulled into a murder investigation involving a female climate activist.

As she goes head-to-head with a ruthless environmental magnate, putting those closest to her at risk, she is forced to confront her personal demons head on. As the investigation builds to a tense and savage climax, it pushes Nora and the squad into a thrilling hunt for the killer.

The world of Connemara is the backdrop for The Yank with its solitude, stillness, scale and beauty a central character. The Irish language, heritage monuments, the coast and culture are part of that and add texture and depth to this story.

With themes of power play, control, fanaticism and deception, the drama also explores Traveller culture, a story that was important for Verling to highlight as part of her work with Galway City Museum for the past 12 years.

Writer Eithne Verling said,

“Writing, for me, is the easiest way I can think of to manage the parade of thoughts that pass through my head. The Yank deals with some of the bigger thoughts, which I have set in a story about a woman’s attempt to find meaning in the world following a deep personal trauma.

“I wrote The Yank for Kate, who I met a number of years ago. Our meeting felt like it had been pre-ordained, a friendship both instant and familiar.”

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Kate Mulgrew said,

“The Yank was borne out of my love for Ireland, and the luck and perspicacity I have enjoyed when it came to knowing who will matter to me both emotionally and creatively.

“That person is Eithne Verling, and the character we contrived is Nora Savage – a woman very like myself, had I been slashed with grief, blessed with raw courage and born a natural hunter of that which destroys. The Yank is the intriguing and unexpected story of a woman who has nothing to lose, and her obsessive attraction to what lies beneath.”