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IT’S ONLY FOUR days into 2015 and we’ve already got a hugely anticipated TV series about to hit our tellyboxes.
RTÉ One drama Charlie is about – in case you were totally detached from 2014 news – Charles Haughey, and stars Aidan Gillen as the titular character with Tom Vaughn-Lawlor as his right-hand man, advisor PJ Mara.
Haughey’s leadership rival George Colley is played by Peter Gowen, PD leader Des O’Malley is played by Marcus Lamb, and Haughey’s mistress Terry Keane is played by Lucy Cohu.
The three-parter will start tonight at 9.30pm on RTÉ One, and there’s quite a bit of hubbub about it online:
Here are seven things to know about the show.
1. It’s a drama – not a biopic
Writer Colin Teevan (who has been working on Charlie since 2010) said that there was “something Shakespearean about Charlie’s vaulting ambition and lust for power”.
That means we’ll get imagined conversations and scenes based on the information that the writers have. But with a life like he had, drama was never far from Haughey.
2. It won’t be sensationalist
At least, that’s what Aidan Gillen told us last month. “If it was a sensationalist hatchet-job I wouldn’t have been interested,” he said, describing the drama as a “fair assessment of a particular time in our history”.
Then again, Vaughn-Lawlor said he was “amazed” to find out that the show was all true.
3. There won’t be a lot about Haughey’s affair with Terry Keane
Because the show’s writer Colin Teevan described the affair as “not very interesting drama”, saying: “We’ll leave that to the soap operas”. Ah here. Don’t they know we’re mad for the gossip?
4. Gillen spent two hours a day being turned into Charlie
It started at 6am, and he had to wear a wig and get plenty of slap applied to his face. Patrick Freyne in the Irish Times reported yesterday that the suits for the character came from Louis Copeland, just like the real Haughey’s wardrobe.
Gillen also had his head shaved to look like he was going bald. Now that’s dedication.
5. The three-part series is set in 1979
At that time, Haughey was Health Minister, and plotting his (successful) campaign to succeed Jack Lynch as Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach. Teevan said that the series will bring us to the time when Haughey “seizes his opportunity to regain power and lead Ireland on the world stage, but domestic complications conspire to bring him down”.
6. We’ll be shown how Charlie liked to spend the cash
https://vine.co/v/OdgEWax2X23
One scene will juxtapose Haughey’s famous ‘living way beyond our means’ speech to the nation with images of a lavish party thrown at his massive home.
7. PJ Mara advised Vaughn-Lawlor on his role
Vaughn-Lawlor described their meeting as “invaluable”, saying Mara gave him “wonderful insights into the period and into the dynamic of his relationships with different politicians and how he worked and how his office was run – the temperature of the time”.
Here’s the trailer:
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He didnt’ come from nothing, he received an education that the vast majority of people could not afford back then, received his secondary education in Christians and went to university in the 40s and became a chartered account before he went to King’s Inn to become a barrister. Fees were astronomical back then.
Odran. It’s a pity he didn’t use all the education you say he got to run our Country. He was a gangster.
Completely agree with you.
Great article in the Sindo today by Gene Kerrigan about Haughey – it covers his funeral very well with facts and figures that I missed at the time ….
Can’t link onto this site from the Indo for some reason – technical glitch I suppose !
He used his education to be a gangster
Why would he be shítting it, he’ll be long gone by then. On that note, I don’t see why we have to wait 30 years for them to release docs from the Taoiseachs office.
I remember when Haughey came to our local National School during a Bye-election campaign … I remember thinking as a child “Is that him ?” …..
Definitely someone whose reputation far exceeded the natural energy of the man ! The funny thing was that the adults seemed very impressed altogether ….
Ends is sitting in the throne by accident, he is an accidental king who lucked into power when the big boys got caught out and died off…..
It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
The gombeen Irish electorate were enamoured by a snake conman. Even more pathetic is that Haughey still has his supporters, even to this day.
Has this show not been made before? It begins with Tom Vaughn-Lawlor playing the right hand man of a gangster played by Aidan Gillen. #love/hate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6tQN6H_tVY
PJ OMara is in the clip above if ye want to see him …
Bertie and Vincent Browne are a swell !
It was haughey who said Bertie was the most devious of them all.
Should make interesting tv, as with many ff’ers he looked after himself and those close to him first and foremost.
He had his faults, but he was a decent man, a politician for the people, and he maintained Fianna Fáil as the party for the people. It’s just a pity they don’t look after their own any more. The little things he did, like introducing free travel, show what he and Fianna Fáil used to stand for.
Can you give me the recipe for whatever it is you’ve smoked, eaten or drank?
Trust me, the fact this show was made by RTE I can guarantee it will be absolute rubbish.
Are you crazy wholeduck?????
and Mary Harney opened her big gob and made statements which ment that any court cases against him would be dropped as he could not get a fair trial.
And Mary has done very well for herself since – Was she not the Minister who was in charge of Whistleblower Gerard Ryan and the Ansbacher document.
A politician for the people in the same way Bertie Ahern was a socialist, Wholeduck?
Decent? His giving some things to the people hardly is proof of that. We had to be kept onside and our loyalty bought. How else could the likes of one such as he prevail?
He was a corrosive, irresponsible and corrupting influence on Irish politics and society.
I don’t think corruption is exclusive to just one party I’d include the current administration as well.
Career politicians are a sham.
Some say he was bad. Others say he was great. But – again, nobody had a clue at the time.
Just like Drumm, Fortune, Fingleton, etc.etc. We are simply incapable of spotting the rotten apples.
As dodgy as he was, he would have had the balls to stand up to Europe and bond holders and negotiate a deal that wouldn’t have saddled 100% of the debt on us.
You think so? I very much doubt it! He was a bully but Thatcher was able for him.
Did she get advice from this confidant I wonder Ray ?
It was he and those that came after him that did all the harm, largely following on from policies Haughey himself had started. People give out about the current crowd but some forget that they were left to clean up the FF mess from the outset, including difficult decisions over bond payments and onerous budget cuts.
As for Haughey being able to get the better of a powerful leader like Angela Merkel for the betterment of Ireland’s bailout conditions, as a case in point look at the state of his relationship with Maggie Thatcher and the disdain and distrust that existed there – hardly proof that he could have achieved anything better for the country during the bailout.
Gangster
Born in Castlebar – Just like Pee Flynn and Enda funnily enough …and is Lucinda from Mayo – Pat Rabbitte is …
He’s from Kiltimagh actually
A thief and bulshi88ter..he resembles everything that is wrong with Irish politics
‘Gillen spent two hours every day being turned into Charlie’.
All he has on is a wig
What did you expect?plastic surgery.
Beano – how long does it take you to mimic a human?
That’s very good Gravel – you are learning – Good !
He had a lust for Power money and women, nothing to do with the running of his Country oh boy but did he love the money and his shirts. A disgrace to Ireland
come on RTE and do a show about the Labours partys connections to serious crime in the 80s as well
Staring the obvious the man was a crook allegedly
Stating
You can remove the allegedly
Finbarr, Alex White used to work in RTE and is now Minister for Communications i.e. basically in charge of RTEs budget!
Alex White takes medical cards of dying people doesn’t he – at least Haughey had the brains not to do that !
Haughey and Ardal O’Hanlon’s Da decimated the health services in the 80s. Never forget that.
At Maggie’s command is my guess – because mi5 knew about Terry Prone and that would not go down well with Catholic Ireland at the time ….
Dermot
I presume you mean Terri Keane. Terri Prone is someone totally different.
Terry Keane. Sorry for typo
Of course – a freudian of gigantic proportions – Terry Keane …..
Thanks Lep .
Just to remind: allowing for inflation haughey was responsible for embezzling roundly €44 mil. But yeah man of the people and all that. Especially with all that yacht captaining and portraits on the wall in riding jodhpurs etc
A corrupt criminal typical of the Irish Establishment where nothing has changed to the present day. The worst that can happen is early retirement or if you were really bold than community service……but your pension is safe nobody can touch that.
I agree Joe, Ray Burke, Ivor Callely , etc.etc.
No.8 He was a thieving, good for nothing bollix.
No. 9 …… He was brought into power on the strength of his gun-running republicanism because Lynch was seen as being too compliant to the British – look at how that turned out !
That is why we have to counter-balance the next Sinn Fein led government with Independents – be they in opposition or in Government.
Independents will resign and stand on principle and collapse a Dail – Party politicians never do !
Well said Dermot
I doubt any fictional portrayal of that man will ever be as far fetched as what he actually got upto and got away with.
I for one won’t be watching ! I lived through the Haughey era and its corruption and I have no desire to do so again ! A sad small little man with a ‘napoleon’ complex.
@Mary McCarthy. I wish I had done the same as you. I thought the programme was dreadful.
I agree. For a nation of story tellers that was one very poorly told story. Foreign viewers, and even younger irish viewers, would have been clueless trying to follow that.
Will it clash with the Darts?
That election speech is so like what we listen to now by another sleeven called Edna my God it’s unbelievable the way history repeats it’s self . He told us to tighten our belts and he was spending tax payers money like water
Well you hardly expect him to put the tax takings away in a piggy bank and not spend them?
Maureen. He too will have his slot on TV called. Enda the ? Make up your own minds readers the Journal wont let me print what i think .
“The three-part series is set in 1979″ it actually spans 1979-1992
All I can hear is a posh johnboy and Nidge
Know enough about him, he was interested mainly in himself and what he could get. I’ll be washing my hair.
Despot
And I won’t be watching instead I will remember the party i threw when he died hateful man
Hear hear. I’m gonna watch that YouTube vid of your man dancing on his grave instead. LOL
he will go down as a great man
No he’s just gone down,6 feet to be exact.
he stood his ground with maggie thatcher
I hope your being sarcastic. He was a sumb&g and a crook.
The above trolling is at the same level as Haugheys ethics.
Who is trolling? ?
I hope they’re all trolling to be honest.
After watching it he went down on a lot more and very often. Ugh!!!!!!!
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, aka mad cow disease or CJD, was around in the 80′s and the running joke at the time when Mr Charles J Haughey, aka CJH, was in power was…
Q. What’s the difference between CJD and CJH?
A. You can catch CJD!
Legend
infamous legend ….
Leg end
Bell end
Ah lovely Ireland -
If you had a big tax bill you could
1. Pay it.
or
2. Pay some of it into a brown envelope ….
Suppose half the cast lined up for LLS friday nite.
I’ll watch paint dry instead
The late late show was on Friday night.
Thank god for sky plus. Darts final too big to miss tonight. Charlie will have to wait…
Don’t even bother, it was tripe
He was undoubtably a politician who feathered his own nest and then some. He also realised we had no natural resources, the only thing we had was educated youth (for the time). The IFSC was his baby and he saw our future based on our people rather than our resources, as it is today. He was greedy but ruthless and how we need someone like that today!
You mean that we need someone that is corrupt (greedy) and ruthless? That is what Haughey was. He was like a rotten apple. Look how he corrupted so many other FF politicians, so many of them on the take from developers and selling their votes. No thanks!!!
Mmmmm, it’s all a bit……,Blah Blah!
Cant watch anymore of it!. Dont like the format. Makes Brian Lenihan look like an eegit and he was a true gentleman.
Makes you sick to see how things really are behind the scenes. Haughey was a bully and a truly horrible man.
And for such a hyped up production the wigs are atrocious!
Mary … you might want to reassess your opinion of Brian Lenihan later on this year …… His widow has denied he had an Ansbacher Account … and he could still afford the kidney transplant (alcoholic) after Charlie took the money for himself …
People in Ireland have to learn the difference between Charm and Integrity !
1.) Yes. She did deny it. How is that a sign of a bad person? Proof should be the judge not an unfinished version of events which is the status quo on Ansbacher.
2.) Possibly a strong drinker. O Malleys memoirs indicate a strong pub culture in LH at the time. So this wouldn’t be unusual and I dobt think its an indication of a particular flawed character…because if it is what does that say about the wider national past time?
3.) That money did pay for the op. The issue was that more than was needed was raised and its assumed Haughey pocketed the difference.
Haughey was corrupt. Why can I say that? Its been proven with information, facts and data. There is however no information available to say the same of Lenihan. Not saying its not true but judgement should be informed by facts and truth not personal or political ambivalence towards an individual.
A great leader and never afraid to engage with the public not like enda …He ripped of the banks to fund his lifestyle and not the taxpayer unlike enda and co
Ben Dunne was a grocer !
Enda and co never ripped off anybody for their own gain and in order to live in the style of a millionaire. Haughey did and this is the trait of a great leader? He was a corrupt hypocrite who had some flashes of inspiration life the IFSC and free travel for pensioners. He cooked the books and spent a fortune to win an election, ran arms, nearly destroyed the economy first time round, tapped the phones of opponents, etc. it sounds more like the profile of a Mafia Boss.
Ray – Enda and Co. never ripped anyone of ?
Irish Water
Prom Deal
etc.
Ripping off is a matter of opinion. But for their own gain? Certainly not! There is a huge difference between charging for services or imposing taxation and taking money to fund your own lifestyle.
The Labour(s) Party’s connection to serious crime in the eighties?Not underplaying events as stated but a huge bit of a reach there Finbarr isn’t it?
what about the forging of money that was carried out by some prominent members
The above Minister employed somone that has serious connections to major crimes that were carried out here in Cork …whats the reaching about that
Finbarr I believe you are confusing certain prominent members of Democratic Left who later joined Labour.
Formed in 1967, its leaders included Peter Graham and Maureen Keegan of the Young Socialists (originally the youth wing of the Irish Labour Party), Gerry Lawless of the Irish Workers Group, and Frank Keane, former Commandant of the Dublin Brigade of the IRA. Graham was a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, and Keegan was active in Paris in May 1968. Saor Éire was intended as an urban guerrilla group. Its leaders believed that the working class was key to the armed struggle. Its sole political statement was the Saor Éire Manifesto published in May 1971 (printed by the Red Mole).
Between 1967 and 1970, Saor Éire carried out a number of bank robberies, the proceeds being used to purchase arms. The group provided arms, training and funding to Nationalists in Northern Ireland after the outbreak of the Troubles in 1969. A raid on two banks in Newry in County Down in March 1969 netted £22,000, the biggest single haul from a robbery in the country at the time. In February 1970 the group took over the village of Rathdrum in County Wicklow, stopping traffic and cutting phone lines, and robbed the local bank.[1]
On 3 April 1970, in the course of a bank robbery in Dublin, a police officer, Garda Richard Fallon, was shot and killed. He was the first member of the Irish security forces to die in the Troubles. Allegations of Irish Government connections with Saor Éire were made in the Dáil (Irish Parliament) immediately afterwards and over the following years.[2] Three men, Sean Morrissey, Patrick Francis Keane and Joseph Dillon were tried for the murder and were acquitted.[1]
Over thirty years after his death, the family of Garda Fallon accused the Irish Government of assisting members of Saor Éire in escaping after the murder.[1] Previously secret Irish Government files made available in 2006 confirmed the sighting of Jock Haughey, brother of the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, in the company of a member of Saor Éire in London during the period before the Arms Trial.[2] The Irish Government has refused to hold a public inquiry into the matter and possible State collusion with members of the organisation.[2]
On 13 October 1970 Liam Walsh, a member of Saor Éire, died in a premature bomb explosion on a railway embankment in Dublin.
Peter Graham was assassinated in Dublin on 25 October 1971 in what was referred to at the time as an internecine dispute about a large sum of money. His killers were never brought to justice. Among the mourners at his funeral, along with leading Republicans and left-wingers, were Tariq Ali of the International Marxist Group and Charlie Bird, previously a member of the Young Socialists and later a news correspondent for RTÉ television. A photograph of the funeral shows Ali and Bird giving a clenched fist salute at the grave.[3]
Maureen Keegan died of cancer in 1972. By then many of the members believed that the organisation had been taken over by gangsters and was losing sight of its original objectives. Saor Éire prisoners in Portlaoise Prison issued a statement on 18 May 1973 announcing their resignation from the organisation because of the actions of ‘undesirable elements’.
On 10 June 1975, Larry White, a leading Saor Éire activist from Cork was shot several times on Mount Eden Road. He died of his injuries a short time later.[4] The Official IRA are widely believed to have been responsible for the killing with a number of members claiming that White had aided the INLA in shooting and injuring Sean Garland in Ballymun in March of that year.[5] In 1976 number of members of Official Republican Movement were convicted of the murder of Larry White among them Bernard Lynch[6] (the husband of Labour party TD Kathleen Lynch) the case was later quashed on the basis of evidence at the original trial was no longer admissible.[7]
Saor Éire was officially disbanded in 1975.
In 1977, following the assassination of INLA/IRSP leader Seamus Costello, a newspaper said it had received a phonecall from a man alleging to be a spokesperson for the group. The caller stated that Saor Éire claimed responsibility for killing Costello although it is widely accepted that the Official IRA were responsible
my point exactly…Labour quietly turned a blind eye to their past history
as it stands most of the Labout party TDs have blocked certain people on Twitter for voiceing their opinion on the state of the country …they would know all about suppressing freedom of speech
Finbarr those ex members of DL even obtained elevated positions in Labour.
why does RTE not do a show about that so
Upset the Labour minister who controls the purse strings for RTE,yes I wonder too.
Finnbarr …just a suggestion …
But could you write a crime novel …a fictional one of course !
Dreadful show. The overacting was painful. Full of cliches and trying so hard to help the audience understand who the characters were.
Exactly! And they used those dreadful wigs to do it.
I can’t get beyond the wigs!
He had fire in his belly at least , understand the abandonment of the minority in the North by the free state and the British and had the common touch , I’d have a lot of respect for him, warts and all , can’t see him capitulating to bankers somehow …
Looks like littlefinger has escaped westeros to Ireland. He looks terrible
Ahh they should of had some steamy scenes with his affair . Would have been up there with Miley & fedelma lol
They had. You obviously did’nt watch it!
You’re right I didn’t . I love overseas so can’t . I get the general plot from news site like this . That’s all I got !!
GUBU……..
Great first episode. We, as a nation, need these dynamos back to show us the good time. We miss you FF! 2 peas in a pod, FF and ireland
Wonder what was his preference corn flakes or rice krispies? ????
He played a blinder ,and got away with it for a while ,look at all the other European leader’s are they any better ,no excuse ,but are they ,I think the fact that politician’s are so corrupt we don’t actually believe it ,we can’t get to grips with it ,just look at Enda he appears to see no wrong in some things he is doing ,it for the good of the country that he promotes his mates and neighbours and cronies and look at the unions and the money situation that has vanished A stop
AKA Nidge
Lookin forward to it .
I am not a FF supporter BTW
Growing up in the 80.s . I can dam be sure remember my dad leaving to go work in kilburn . Not nice times. And a London was a horrible place for Irish . Been there.
I’m watching this instead!!
Well No.3 was bullshit
For their own gain?
This comment is in the wrong place – apologies!
what a waste of time! a form of powerpoint presentation of bullet points being delivered by somebody who had no rehearsal and all designed for the mega moment of straight into camera lens! It is a pity that they didn’t watch Borgen before making this… the times were amazingly interesting (no matter your political belief)… it is an opportunity missed!
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