If Captain Janeway and Chief O’Brien ever took shore leave together, you probably wouldn’t expect them to end up investigating a body in an Irish bog. Yet ITV has found the next best thing, acquiring ‘The Galway Bay Murders‘, a six-part crime thriller starring Kate Mulgrew (‘Star Trek: Voyager’, ‘Orange Is the New Black’) and Colm Meaney (‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, ‘Gangs of London’) for ITV1 and ITVX.
Yes, that’s Captain Kathryn Janeway and Chief Miles O’Brien teaming up for a murder mystery. Sadly, there are no starships involved, although the investigation sounds like it could use a tricorder or two.
The drama comes from Two Cities Television, the company behind the excellent ‘Blue Lights’, and swaps the streets of Belfast for the spectacular, occasionally rather unforgiving landscape of Connemara on Ireland’s west coast.
Mulgrew leads the cast as Nora Savage, a seasoned NYPD detective who has travelled to Ireland hoping to put a traumatic experience behind her. She’s looking for a quieter life, which, as anyone who has watched a television crime drama knows, is almost certainly the worst thing a detective can wish for.
Sure enough, when the body of a young woman is discovered in a bog, Nora finds herself drawn into a murder investigation alongside the local Garda team. So much for a relaxing change of scenery.
Secrets Beneath The Surface
The investigation eventually leads to Free Farm, an organisation where young people live and work together, combining sustainable agriculture with scientific research. On the surface, it sounds like the sort of wholesome venture that might feature in a particularly enthusiastic episode of ‘Countryfile’.
Unfortunately, there’s rather more going on beneath that idyllic exterior. The detectives uncover secret relationships, competing loyalties and hidden motives, all of which threaten to turn the murder investigation into something much bigger.
The six-part series promises a mixture of mystery, dark humour and strong characters, with the rugged Connemara landscape providing a dramatic backdrop. Given Two Cities’ track record with ‘Blue Lights’, there’s certainly reason to be interested.
And the Star Trek connections don’t stop with the two leads. The supporting cast includes Cillian O’Sullivan (‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’), who played Dr Roger Korby in the third season of ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’. That’s three actors from different corners of the Trek universe in one Irish crime drama. Someone at casting was clearly on a five-year mission.
Also appearing are John Connors (‘The Gentlemen’, ‘Irish Blood’), India Mullen (‘Normal People’, ‘Under Salt Marsh’) and Jack Rowan (‘A Town Called Malice’, ‘Wreck’). The details of their characters are being kept relatively quiet for now, which is probably sensible when practically everyone could be a suspect.
From A Chance Meeting To A Six-Part Thriller
There’s a lovely story behind how the series came together. ‘The Galway Bay Murders’ was created and written by Eithne Verling, a former archaeologist and museum curator with a close personal connection to the area. This is her first television drama, and all six episodes were written specifically for Mulgrew.
The pair met by chance in Galway while Mulgrew was on holiday, struck up a friendship, and eventually developed the idea for the show. It’s a slightly more productive holiday encounter than most of us manage.
The project was originally announced by Irish broadcaster RTÉ in April under the title ‘The Yank’, before being renamed ‘The Galway Bay Murders’. Filming began in Connemara earlier this year, with Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Baltimore, Kin) directing.
The production brings together Two Cities Television, Keeper Pictures and AS I AM Productions, with ITV Studios handling international distribution. RTÉ commissioned the drama for Ireland, while ITV has now secured it for UK audiences.
Darren Nartey, ITV’s Head of Content Acquisitions, said: “The Galway Bay Murders is precisely the kind of bold, high-calibre drama our audiences love.”
Whether the show can live up to that promise remains to be seen, but a cast led by Janeway and O’Brien, a murder mystery from the team behind ‘Blue Lights’, and the stunning Irish coastline certainly make for an appealing combination.
‘The Galway Bay Murders‘ is coming to ITV1 and ITVX. A UK premiere date has not yet been announced.
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