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26th August 2026 – The BBC has released the first look artwork for the dark comedic drama Tall Tales & Murder, which will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One Northern Ireland this Autumn.
Tall Tales & Murder is from Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan and has been co-created with Emmy and Directors Guild of America Award winner Chris Addison. It is a co-commission from BBC Northern Ireland and RTÉ in association with Screen Ireland. It is produced by Avalon (Breeders, Starstruck, Catastrophe) in association with Ireland-based Metropolitan Pictures (KIN).
The six-part series mixes a Bonnie and Clyde style adventure of bent cops, kidnapping, underworld fixers (not to mention libido-enhancing horse medication bootleggers) and the dilemmas of unconventional heroes and villains with an 8th Century tall tale of monks, Vikings, buried treasure and a priceless holy book.
Bridget, played by Ella-Lily Hyland (Black Doves, Towards Zero, Silent Roar), is an unconventional nurse who works the night shift at a Dublin nursing home. She reads the old folk bedtime horror stories, arranges clandestine late night dances and euthanises them if they ask nicely.
Into this secret world comes Paul, played by Casey Walsh in his first television acting role, a young man stuck stealing cars to repay a debt to crime boss Ma Baker, played by Philippa Dunne (Amandaland, Derry Girls, The Woman in the Wall). Paul is desperate to stay out of prison and needs a legitimate job to keep him safe, so calls on his guardian-angel-of-sorts, an irascible detective called Bunny Ryan, played by Brian Doherty (Blackshore, Fair City). Bunny uses his personal history with the Matron of Bridget’s nursing home, played by Aisling O’Sullivan (Raw, The Clinic), to pull in a favour – a favour that will cost him dear.
On Bridget and Paul’s first shift together at the nursing home, a mysterious, comatose patient known only as ‘Anonymous’, played by Aidan Gillen (Love/Hate, Game of Thrones, KIN), wakes up and reveals he’s the long-lost gangster Grinner McNair, with a buried hoard of Celtic gold.
Could this treasure be the answer to all Bridget and Paul’s troubles? Will they risk everything to find it?
But they’re not the only ones after it – things get complicated as vicious gangster Wesley Swanson, played by Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders), and his henchmen close in…
The drama was filmed in the Republic of Ireland and is based on the nine-book Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.
Tall Tales & Murder was commissioned by David Crean, RTÉ Head of Drama, and Dermot Horan, RTÉ Director of Acquisitions & Co-Productions; and Eddie Doyle, Head of Content Commissioning, and Jason Butler, Commissioning Editor, for BBC Northern Ireland. Produced by Avalon in association with Metropolitan Pictures, Tall Tales & Murder is executive produced by Chris Addison, Richard Allen-Turner, Rob Aslett, Stuart Carolan and Jon Thoday for Avalon, with David McLoughlin and Catherine Tiernan for Metropolitan Pictures. Caroline Norris is Series Producer, Gemma O’Shaughnessy is Producer and the series is directed by Chris Addison and Neasa Hardiman. It will be distributed internationally by Avalon.
-ends-
Dan Lloyd at Avalon
DLloyd@AvalonUK.com
+44 (0) 7779 026714
Victoria Wedderburn at Avalon
VWedderburn@AvalonUK.com
+44 (0) 7557 160139
Maria Devenny at BBC Northern Ireland
Maria.Devenny@bbc.co.uk
+44 7825 136 854
Caoilinn Putti at RTÉ
Caoilinn.Putti@rte.ie
+353 87 032 4186
Notes To Editors
About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award-winning talent management, television production and live promotion group with offices in London, Los Angeles and New York. Avalon, Artists Rights Group and The Agency together represent a diverse and distinctive roster of artists including actors, comedians, writers and directors, among them Academy Award, BAFTA, Emmy, Tony and Olivier Award-winners.
Avalon is the UK’s largest independent television production company, with over 40 shows in production in the last year including: hit entertainment format Taskmaster (Channel 4 in the UK, Network 10 in Australia, TV4 in Sweden, TVNorge/Discovery+ in Norway); multi-Emmy award winning Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO); Not Going Out (BBC), the UK’s longest running sitcom on air; Tall Tales & Murder (BBC/RTE), a highly anticipated darkly comedic crime drama; upcoming live-action, sketch comedy series The Terrors of Jordan Mendoza (Adult Swim); a brand new series of the iconic satirical puppet show Spitting Image: The Rest is Bulls*!t (YouTube) and Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly (Channel 5 in the UK, Network 10 in Australia). Avalon has produced over 4,000 episodes of programming for audiences in the UK, US and around the world, winning 39 Emmy Awards and BAFTAs from 100+ nominations.
Other landmark Avalon shows include Catastrophe (Amazon/Channel 4), Breeders (FX/Sky), Starstruck (HBO Max/BBC), Flatbush Misdemeanors (Showtime), Workaholics (Comedy Central), The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), TV Burp (ITV) and Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV/Sky). Avalon has also produced over 60 comedy specials for various platforms including Amazon, HBO, Netflix and Sky, as well as numerous podcasts and radio shows, including over 300 episodes of the record-breaking, arena-touring podcast, Shagged. Married. Annoyed. with Chris & Rosie Ramsey. Avalon’s dedicated distribution arm licenses its catalogue of programmes and formats to over 200 territories worldwide.
Avalon also produces and promotes live comedy around the world and has promoted more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company. Avalon produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show, Jerry Springer: The Opera, winner of four Olivier Awards, and is currently producing the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical, Operation Mincemeat in the West End and on Broadway.
For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press or follow @avalonent
About Screen Ireland
As the national agency for the Irish film, television drama, animation, and documentary industry, Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is the creative partner to the sector, investing in talent, creativity and enterprise.
