''Clean Break'' is an Irish drama television series commissioned by

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

and produced by Octagon Films. The four-part series premiered on 27 September 2015.

Synopsis

Frank is a car dealer running out of fiscal rope. He kidnaps the local bank manager's family, which gets him into serious trouble.

Plot

Frank has money troubles. The bank manager, Desmond Rane, informs him that his house, his car dealership, and a piece of land Frank and his wife had purchased with the notion of building a resort will all imminently be repossessed. Frank's wife currently lives on the Isle of Man and their daughter, Corinna will have to leave Frank and go live with her if the properties are taken away. Working with two local criminals, Frank makes plans to kidnap Rane's daughter and wife. He also hires a local boxer, Danny Dempsey, to assist in the kidnapping by keeping everything on an even keel and making sure nobody gets hurt. Danny's initially reluctant but soon signs on. The job goes ahead, and overall seems to work out well. Then, Rane's daughter, Jenny, recognizes Danny. The other kidnappers hear her say his name. So, they try to kill Danny, who gets shot but manages to escape and begins to seek hiding places around the town. The kidnappers take the money and set the family free. However, a short time later everyone suspects that Danny has committed the crime. The kidnappers tell Frank that he only gets his part of the money when he brings Danny to them. Frank realizes that they might kill Danny. He also finds out that the boxer is his daughter's boyfriend. Corrina is angry that her father asked Danny to take part in the crime. She finds out where he is hiding but refuses to share this information with her father. The kidnappers however know about Corrina's and Danny's relationship and they want to use her to get to him. In the end it turns out that the kidnapping wasn't Frank's idea, but Desmond Rane's. Frank suspects this, having seen Desmond's name in the kidnapper's contact book during a raid of the kidnapper's hideout, but he's not 100% certain. However, the bank manager kills Noel, the kidnapper who not only is the only person who knows of Rane's involvement, but also is the only one who knows where two bags of the ransom money are buried. Rane pretends to have acted in self-defence. The police find evidence that suggests Frank was the brains behind the abduction. Frank gets arrested. Danny leaves town on a trawler, and Corrina finally goes to live with her mother. Next we see of Desmond Rane, he's calling a live

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

game. He's in possession of one bag of the ransom money. He has got away with his crime. Only his daughter knows what has really happened, but he's convinced, for now, that she won't tell anyone. He uses the money to buy a valuable and unique stamp. He gazes at his prize stamps and begins singing.

Overview

The series was written by

Billy Roche Billy Roche (born 11 January 1949) is an Irish playwright and actor. He was born and still lives in Wexford and most of his writings are based there. Originally a singer with The Roach Band, he turned to writing in the 1980s. He has written a n ...

and directed by

Gillies MacKinnon Gillies MacKinnon (born 8 January 1948) is a Scotland, Scottish film director, screenplay, writer and painting, painter. He was born in Glasgow and attended the Glasgow School of Art where he studied mural painting. Following this he became an a ...

and

Damien O'Donnell Damien O'Donnell (born 1967 in Dublin) is an Irish film director and writer. He has directed three feature films thus far: '' East is East'' (1999), starring Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jimi Mistry, and Archie Panjabi; '' Heartlands'' (2002), st ...

. The story plays in the town

Wexford Wexford ( ; archaic Yola dialect, Yola: ''Weiseforthe'') is the county town of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the ...

. The series stars

Aidan McArdle Aidan McArdle is an Irish character actor. He is known for being a series regular in shows such as '' Beautiful People'' (2008-2009), '' Garrow's Law'' (2009-2011), and '' Mr Selfridge'' (2014-2015). Early life and education Aidan McArdle wa ...

Damien Molony Damien Molony is an Irish actor. He is best known for his television roles as Hal Yorke in BBC Three's '' Being Human'', DC Albert Flight in the BBC's '' Ripper Street'', DS Jack Weston in Channel 5's '' Suspects'', Jon in Channel 4's '' GameFa ...

and

Adam Fergus Adam Fergus is an Irish actor. Early life Born in Drogheda, Ireland on September 24, 1979, and growing up in the nearby village of Laytown, Adam is the son of a nurse and a recruitment specialist. He attended Clongowes College before going t ...

began writing the series in 2010. The production of the series started in November 2014.

Cast

as Desmond Rane *

as Danny Dempsey *

as Frank Mallon *

Simone Kirby Simone Kirby (born 28 October 1976) is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Oonagh in the Ken Loach film '' Jimmy's Hall''. Other credits include Irene O'Donnell in ''Peaky Blinders'' (2014), Marilyn Hull in ''Notes on Blindness'' (2016) ...

as Annette Rane *

Amybeth McNulty Amybeth McNulty (born 7 November 2001) is an Irish actress based in Canada. She is known for her starring role as Anne Shirley in the CBC/Netflix drama series ''Anne with an E'' (2017–2019), based on the 1908 novel '' Anne of Green Gables'' ...

as Jenny Rane * Kelly Thornton as Corrina Mallon *

Ned Dennehy Ned Dennehy (born 8 December 1965) is an Irish actor in films and television. His credits include ''The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog'' (1998), '' Blitz'' (2011), ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1'', '' Downhill'' (2014), '' Luther ...

as Noel Blake * Sean McGinley as Ben * Seán Duggan as Ernie *

Marie Mullen Marie Mullen (born 1953) is an Irish actress. She is known for co-founding the Druid Theatre Company, located in Galway, Ireland. She is also known for her performance in the 1998 production of ''The Beauty Queen of Leenane'', for which she ...

as Mrs. Rane *

Phelim Drew Phelim Drew (born 1969) is an Irish actor. His credits include '' My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown'' (1989), '' Into the West'' (1992), ''Sharpe's Battle'' (1995), '' The Nephew'' (1998), ''Angela's Ashes'' (1999), '' Bloom'' (2003), ''K ...

as Detective Tom Burke *

Jimmy Smallhorne Jimmy Smallhorne is an Irish filmmaker who wrote, directed and acted in his debut feature film ''2by4''. The drama about a closeted gay construction worker in New York City was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival ...

as Sammy

Nominations

Irish Film & Television Award * 2016: Best Drama Script (

) Writers Guild of Ireland: ZeBBie Awards * 2016: Best Television Script (

, for episode four)

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=4183980, title=Clean Break
Watch tantalising teaser for new RTE drama Clean Break from the makers of Love/Hate

RTÉ Pack A Punch With New Drama ‘Clean Break’

* [http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-reviews/clean-break-puts-plenty-of-clear-water-between-it-and-stuart-carolans-dublin-gangland-saga-lovehate-31563800.html Clean Break 'puts plenty of clear water between it and Stuart Carolan’s Dublin gangland saga Love/Hate']
“It’s exciting and scary”: Meet one of the stars of new RTÉ drama Clean Break
2010s Irish television series RTÉ original programming Irish English-language television shows Irish crime television series