''Quirke'' is a crime drama television series that was first broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

and

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 ...

in 2014. The three-part series is based on the Quirke novels by

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...

, writing under the pseudonym Benjamin Black, and was adapted by Andrew Davies and

Conor McPherson Conor McPherson (born 6 August 1971) is an Irish playwright, screenwriter and director of stage and film. In recognition of his contribution to world theatre, McPherson was awarded an honorary doctorate of literature in June 2013 by University C ...

Regular cast

Gabriel Byrne Gabriel James Byrne (born 12 May 1950) is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy L ...

as Quirke *

Nick Dunning Nick Dunning (born 1957 in London) is an English actor. His credits include '' The Young Ones'' (1982), ''Minder'' (1993), '' Boon'' (1995), ''Coronation Street'' (1998), ''Midsomer Murders'' episode '' Death's Shadow'' (1999), ''Kavanagh QC'' ...

as Malachi Griffin * Aisling Franciosi as Phoebe Griffin *

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; 19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career ...

as Judge Garret Griffin *

Geraldine Somerville Geraldine Margaret Agnew-Somerville (born 19 May 1967) is an Irish-British actress. She is known for her roles in the film ''Gosford Park'' (2001) and the ''Harry Potter'' film series as an adult Lily Potter (2001–2011). Her other roles ha ...

as Sarah Griffin * Stanley Townsend as Inspector Hackett * Brian Gleeson as Sinclair

Complete main cast

Production

''Quirke'' was commissioned by Danny Cohen and

Ben Stephenson Benjamin Stephenson is a television executive, formerly controller of drama at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and currently Head of Television at Bad Robot in the United States. Education Stephenson attended The Hewett School in ...

. The executive producers are Jessica Pope for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Ed Guiney for Element Pictures and Joan Egan for Tyrone Productions and Lisa Osborne as producer. A £389,388 production loan from the

Irish Film Board Not to be confused with Northern Ireland Screen. Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann or the Irish Film Board, is Republic of Ireland, Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television an ...

was provided for the series. The series was filmed in Dublin, from 19 November 2012 to 8 March 2013. Filming locations include Baggot Street,

Camden Street Camden Street () is a street in Dublin 2. It links Ranelagh/Rathmines ( Dublin 6) to the southern city centre of Dublin. It is divided into Camden Street Upper (southern end) and Camden Street Lower (northern end). History The name is likely d ...

and the main set at Clancy Barracks.

began broadcasting the series before

, debuting on 16 February 2014. The series has been sold to five broadcasters and will air in Germany (Degeto), Croatia ( HRT), Denmark (

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

), Iceland (

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

) and Slovenia ( RTV). The series was also broadcast on BBC UKTV in New Zealand in March 2014 and on NERIT in Greece in January 2015. The series began broadcasting in the US (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

) on 3 April 2015, and on

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network and K:, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crow ...

in Canada in August 2015.

Episode list

Home media

The DVD edition of ''Quirke'' was released in the UK on 9 June 2014.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 2357908
''Quirke''
at Raidió Teilifís Éireann British crime television series BBC television dramas 2014 British television series debuts 2014 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series Irish crime television series Irish drama television series Television shows written by Andrew Davies 2014 Irish television series debuts 2014 Irish television series endings Television shows set in the Republic of Ireland British English-language television shows John Banville