Say Nothing | |
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Genre | Drama |
Created by | Joshua Zetumer |
Based on | Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe |
Starring | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original languages | English Irish |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 9 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | FX on Hulu/Hulu on Disney+ (United States) Disney+ (Internationally) |
Release | November 14, 2024 |
Say Nothing is a 2024 historical drama limited series created by Joshua Zetumer for the American streaming service Hulu and produced by FX Productions. Detailing four generations in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, it is an adaptation of the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe.
The series follows the lives of people growing up in Belfast in the 1970s, 80s and 90s during the Troubles, as well as their involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and inquiries into the Disappeared and particularly the murder of Jean McConville. [1]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
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1 | "The Cause" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
2 | "Land of Password, Wink, and Nod" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
3 | "I'll Be Seeing You" | Mary Nighy | Clare Barron | November 14, 2024 |
4 | "Tout" | Mary Nighy | Joe Murtagh | November 14, 2024 |
5 | "Evil Little Maniacs" | Anthony Byrne | Story by : Joe Murtagh & Kirsten Sheridan & Joshua Zetumer Teleplay by : Joe Murtagh | November 14, 2024 |
6 | "Do No Harm" | Alice Seabright | Clare Barron | November 14, 2024 |
7 | "Theater People" | Anthony Byrne | Clare Barron & Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
8 | "I Lay Waiting" | Michael Lennox | Story by : Kirsten Sheridan Teleplay by : Kirsten Sheridan & Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
9 | "The People in the Dirt" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
The production is an adaptation of the Patrick Radden Keefe best-selling book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland , which detailed the abduction and murder of widowed mother-of-ten Jean McConville. [2] Edward McDonnell, Monica Levinson, Joshua Zetumer and Michael Lennox are executive producers with Zetumer also serving as showrunner and Lennox directing the nine-part series. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson's Color Force are producing. [3]
In February 2024, Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan and Maxine Peake were confirmed as the lead cast. [4] The cast also includes Michael Colgan, Kerri Quinn, Stuart Graham, Laura Donnelly, Rory Kinnear, Amy Molloy, Helen Behan, Damien Molony and Judith Roddy. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Filming took place in the Walton area of Liverpool in May 2023. Filming locations also include Belfast, London, Sheffield, [9] and Shepton Mallet Prison, near Bath in Somerset in August and September 2023. [10]
The series was released internationally on 14 November, 2024, on Disney+ in the UK and elsewhere [11] and on Hulu in the United States. [12]
The series portrays Gerry Adams as being a senior IRA commander. Adams has always denied any involvement in the IRA. Each episode contains an endnote stating "Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence." [13] At the end of episodes 7 to 9 there is an additional disclaimer that "He further denies any involvement in the abduction of Jean McConville."
Episode 9 depicts Marian shooting Jean McConville. Marian Price has denied any involvement in the death of McConville. [13] [14] The episode contains an endnote stating "Marian Price also denies any involvement in the murder of Jean McConville." In December 2024, she initiated legal action against the makers of the show for the depiction. [15]
Say Nothing has 91% positive reviews from 33 critics and an average rating of 8.3/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics consensus on the website states, "All the more powerful for its moral and political ambiguity, Say Nothing is a haunting depiction of The Troubles." [16] On Metacritic, the series has a "generally favorable" reception based on a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 from 19 critics. [17]
Benji Wilson in The Daily Telegraph awarded the series five stars. [18] Phil Harrison in The Guardian described it as a "gripping drama". [19]
McConville's son was critical of the adaption, saying that "[u]sing what happened to our mother for entertainment is sickening. To make money out of her murder and the pain that has been in our lives ever since is cruel and obscene. I doubt they even think of us as real people." [20]
On 4 December 2024, Marian Price announced, through her solicitor, that she would be taking legal action against Disney+ over the series depicting her killing Jean McConville. [21] [22] [23]
Gerard Adams is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011–2020. From 1983–1992 and from 1997–2011, he won election as a Member of Parliament (MP) of the UK Parliament for the Belfast West constituency, but followed the policy of abstentionism.
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor of stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of international film audiences in Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, and subsequently starred in many more of Jordan's films, including Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018). He also played a starring role in the Hugo Blick 2011 TV series The Shadow Line.
Jean McConville was a woman from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who was kidnapped and murdered by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and secretly buried in County Louth in the Republic of Ireland in 1972 after being accused by the IRA of passing information to British forces.
Eamonn McCann is an Irish political activist, former politician and journalist from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 to 2017. In 2019, he was elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council, remaining in the position until his resignation for health reasons in March 2021.
Dolours Price was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer. She grew up in an Irish republican family and joined the IRA in 1971. She was sent to jail for her role in the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, and released in 1981. In her later life, Price was a vocal opponent of the Irish peace process, Sinn Fein, and Gerry Adams.
Marian Price, also known by her married name as Marian McGlinchey, is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer.
Divis Tower is a 19-floor, 200-foot (61 m) tall tower in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is located in Divis Street, which is the lower section of the Falls Road. It is currently the fifteenth-tallest building in Belfast.
Brendan Hughes was a leading Irish republican and former Officer Commanding (OC) of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Also known as 'The Dark', and 'Darkie', he was the leader of the 1980 Irish hunger strike.
Ivor Malachy Bell is an Irish republican, and a former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who later became Chief of Staff on the Army Council.
Color Force is an American independent film and television production company founded in 2007 by producer and film executive Nina Jacobson after her 2006 termination as president of Disney's Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group.
Anthony McIntyre is a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer, writer and historian.
The Disappeared are people from Northern Ireland believed to have been abducted, murdered and secretly buried, the large majority of which occurred during the Troubles. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims' Remains (ICLVR) is in charge of locating the remaining bodies, and was led by forensic archaeologist John McIlwaine.
The 1973 Old Bailey bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA (IRA) which took place outside the Old Bailey Courthouse on 8 March 1973. The attack was carried out by an 11-person active service unit (ASU) from the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade. The unit also exploded a second bomb which went off outside the Ministry of Agriculture near Whitehall in London at around the same time the bomb at the Old Bailey went off.
Anthony Boyle is an Irish actor. A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Boyle began his acting career on London stage and rose to prominence for originating the role of Scorpius Malfoy in the West End and Broadway productions of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He has appeared in the films Tolkien (2019) and Tetris (2023) as well as the miniseries The Plot Against America (2020), Manhunt (2024), Shardlake (2024), and Masters of the Air (2024).
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland is a 2018 book by writer and journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. It focuses on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It spent six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list and received widespread critical acclaim. It was adapted into a 2024 limited series for FX and Disney+.
The Belfast Project was an oral history project on the Troubles based at Boston College in Massachusetts, U.S. The project began in 2000 and the last interviews were concluded in 2006. The interviews were intended to be released after the participants' deaths and serve as a resource for future historians.
Lola Petticrew is a Northern Irish actor. Their films include A Bump Along the Way (2019), Dating Amber (2020), and Tuesday (2023). On television, Petticrew is known for their roles in Bloodlands (2021–) and Three Families (2021) on BBC One, and the FX series Say Nothing (2024).
Hazel Doupe is an Irish actress. She made her breakthrough in the coming-of-age film Float Like a Butterfly (2018). Her films since include You Are Not My Mother (2021). On television, she is known for her role in the FX series Say Nothing (2024).
Josh Finan is a British actor, known for his role in the TV series The Responder.