A NEW drama series produced for just €220,000 will begin next week on the Dublin community television station DCTV.
Its producer Bill Tyson said this was the first time a community television station in Ireland had produced such a drama series.
The Houseis an eight-part series that follows the stories of four characters as they deal with murder, computer fraud, dodgy bankers and newspaper ethics.
It will be broadcast on the Chorus NTL platform, on channel 802, which is available in some 200,000 homes around the State. It will begin next Thursday, September 3rd, at 7pm and will be repeated on Fridays and Sundays.
Senator and writer Eoghan Harris will play a newspaper editor with anger management issues in the new drama.
He said this would be his third film role, after appearing in How to Cheat in the Leaving Certand Disco Pigs.
Mr Harris said this role as a right-wing newspaper editor confirmed his belief that he was being typecast, as he had played similar authoritarian figures before.
“I’m always being asked to play a heavy authoritarian figure when in fact I’m as soft as a pussy cat,” he said, “but I’m still waiting on the call from Hollywood.”
The script was edited by Fair City's Elaine Walsh who co-wrote the series with Bill Tyson and director Declan Cassidy.
The production team of Mr Tyson, Mr Cassidy and director of photography Shane Tobin are also behind the short film Whatever Turns You On, which is one of 60 short films on the list for next year's Oscar nominations.
Mr Harris said he took part in the film because he was a great believer in new technologies which reduced film-making costs.
The Housewas filmed using the latest digital technology which eliminated the need for tape or film, thus reducing costs significantly. Mr Tyson said the digital technology meant that the drama was filmed for about a 10th of the usual cost of national television drama.
Mr Harris said he had expected an explosion in community-based film-making when this new technology became available several years ago, but it was slow to materialise. The series was funded by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland in partnership with FIT (Fastrack to IT) and production company Timesnap Ltd.
