‘Wrecking the Rising’ is taking over TG4 on Tuesday the 27th December from 22:15 with all three episodes playing in a row.
The show, also trading under its’ Irish language title ‘Éirí Amach Amú’ was first broadcast in April of this centenary year and is one of the dramas to address the 1916 Rising.
The time travelling premise of the show involved a trio of re-enactors who spend their spare time depicting the events of Easter week, When a period relic is unearthed, events take an unexpected turn with the modern men plunged back in time to 1916 just before the Rising.
The men’s first intervention is pretty seismic by accidentally depriving the rebellion of its’ main leader – leaving them with a stark choice – do they keep history on track or battle to forge a new path and outcome for the rebels, the Rising and the entire history of the country?
In the lead roles, Peter Coonan, Sean T O Meallaigh and Owen McDonnell proved a highly engaging focus for a fantastical dash through history where facts were suddenly fluid and famous outcomes open to fresh influence.
The decision to play the episodes back to back resonates with the filmmakers behind the show with writer James Phelan happy to concede that the fantastical mini-series was originally conceived as a movie in the first place.
James explains, “It should be an ideal way to view ‘Wrecking’ in one sitting. Originally I felt that the idea would suit a feature anyway. I guess most of the inspirations from ‘Back to the Future’ to ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ were filmic but when TG4 showed interest, the material also fell naturally into a three episode arc.
“The core concept behind exploring 1916 with the ability to alter established history inspired some great cliffhangers that will now only be separated by ad breaks.”
Looking back on the show now, James is exceedingly proud of how it turned out. “The entire team at Tile Films lead by Stephen Rooke and Catherine Quinn did a terrific job. The director Ruan Magan was an excellent collaborator and it would be hard to imagine three better actors than Peter, Sean and Owen in these roles.
“I think we made a fun, thought provoking, irreverent yet weirdly respectful comedy drama about 1916.”
The timely repeat caps a busy year for Phelan with the legal drama ‘Striking Out’ set to hit screens on RTE on New Years Day at 9.30pm. He has also scripted multiple episodes of the Boomerang hit animation ‘Oddbods’.
‘Wrecking the Rising’ broadcasts on TG4 on December 27th starting at 22:15.
