''The Irish R.M.'' is a trilogy of books by the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

novelists

Somerville and Ross Somerville and Ross (Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin, writing under the name Martin Ross) were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series ''The Irish R.M.''. The tele ...

and a 1983 television

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series based on them. They are set in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century west of Ireland.

Books

The television series is based on stories drawn from: * ''Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.'' ( Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1899) * ''Further Experiences of an Irish R.M.'' (Longmans Green & Co., London, 1908) * ''In Mr Knox's Country'' (Longmans Green & Co., London, 1915) All three books are in the public domain and can be accessed and used without royalty. The various stories concern the life of an Irish ex-

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

officer, Major Sinclair Yeates, recently appointed a Resident Magistrate (R.M.) in Ireland, when the entire island was still part of the United Kingdom. In the television series the Major is English and has previously spent little or no time in Ireland.

Filming

A television series based on the books was made in the 1980s, and was filmed in Ireland at locations in

Kildare Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 8,634 making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. The town lies on the R445, some west of Dublin – near enough for it to have become, despite being a regional ce ...

and Wicklow with additional locations in the west of Ireland in a co-production between

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1) is the ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the area. It is run by ITV plc an ...

and Raidió Teilifís Éireann. It was broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

and

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

in the United Kingdom, and

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

in the Republic of Ireland. Like the books, the television series is a number of short stories around a few central characters. Morristown Lattin – the house used as Aussolas Castle, the residence of Beryl Reid's incarnation of the erstwhile Mrs Knox (located at Newhall,

Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...

in County Kildare), was badly damaged by fire following completion of filming for the series. It has since been repaired. Johnstown Kennedy – the house used as Major Yeates' residence, Shreelane House – was situated near

Rathcoole, County Dublin Rathcoole () is an outer suburban village, south-west of the city of Dublin, in the jurisdiction of South Dublin, Ireland. Rathcoole is also a civil parish in the Barony of Newcastle. Etymology Ráth is the Irish word for a ringfort, a circu ...

. The extensive outbuildings were transformed into shops and pubs for some of the village scenes. The house was demolished soon after the third series was completed and a golf course now stands on the site. The design of the course preserved the large number of mature trees, and in addition the house's date stone and a number of other items are on display. Furness House, near

, was used as Castle Knox, the home of Sir Valentine and Lady Knox and their daughter Sally. For the second and third series, many of the Skebawn village scenes were filmed in Robertstown.

Plot

Major Yeates (

Peter Bowles Peter Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English television and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and ''I, Claudius''. He is however, best remembered for his roles ...

) is portrayed as an Englishman, and much of the humour of the first series derives from his difficulty in adjusting to the more relaxed class boundaries and slower pace of life of rural Ireland. The timeline of the television series begins in 1897, when the Major departs for Ireland, and ends shortly after the death of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

. The R.M. has to deal with all sorts of everyday events with colourful characters, often being outfoxed by the machinations of his

friend, Flurry Knox ( Bryan Murray).

Anna Manahan Anna Maria Manahan (18 October 1924 – 8 March 2009) was an Irish stage, film and television actress. Manahan received two Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nominations for her performances in the 1968 production of '' Lovers'' an ...

played the redoubtable housekeeper, Mrs Cadogan, while

Virginia Cole Virginia Cole (c. 19478 November 2018), was an Irish actress who appeared in several of Ireland's iconic tv shows and films. Biography Cole was seventeen when her acting career began in earnest with the part of Concepta Feeney in Tolka Row. Fro ...

played Bridget.

Themes

Political references are, however, not completely absent; where they occur, they are invariably introduced in a subtle manner by guest characters. Notable among these are several visiting officials from

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the s ...

who regard the Major's dispensation of justice as unduly lenient, and a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

with strong Irish nationalist sympathies who exploits the naivety of the Major for his own purposes. In every case, the comfortable, if somewhat adversarial, co-existence of the Major and the local population is at risk. One element of the series' humour involves the efforts of Flurry and the Major to hasten the departure of these troublesome visitors. One of the show's key strengths lies in its ability to convey the extent to which the lives of the Anglo-Irish gentry and the simple, if rather stilted local characters, often became inadvertently intertwined to produce the memorable comic effects that are so unique to the Irish psyche.

Episodes

Series 1 (1983)

Series 2 (1984)

Series 3 (1985)

Home media

All three series of ''The Irish R.M.'' were issued on DVD in the UK, distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

. The DVD also includes an Ulster TV documentary about the filming of the first series. There are two slideshows, one of profiles of the lead actors and the other sample recipes from ''Mrs Cadogan's Cookbook'' ().

References

External links

*
Irish R.M. books on Internet Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish R.M., The 1983 British television series debuts 1985 British television series endings 1980s British comedy-drama television series 1980s British legal television series RTÉ original programming Channel 4 television dramas Irish comedy-drama television series British comedy-drama television shows Irish legal television series Period television series Television series by ITV Studios English-language television shows Television shows produced by Ulster Television