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A SHORT HISTORY & BACKGROUND
"I remembered the holidays
in Ireland I took when I was a kid,
when my father took all eight of us back to this tiny village
in County Kerry where he was from... and then I remembered some
of the characters... and then I was off and running."
KIERAN PRENDIVILLE
Ballykissangel Creator
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Ballykissangel
was created in 1992, when Kieran Prendiville came up with an
outline for a new comedy/drama series based around an Irish
mountain community with storylines 'just this side of credulity'.
He was determined that the stories would not be those considered
stereotypical of the Irish - 'no "Oirishness", no begorrahs,
shillelaghs or Little People.' The show was partly based on
Kieran's memories of family holidays in County Kerry when he
was a child and the name was derived from the town of Ballykissanne,
where he grew up.
There was a lot of interest from BBC Northern Ireland and World
Productions and the BBC commissioned the show in 1994. Kieran's
original outline had included some 21 characters, including
Quigley's other two daughters and a playwright, which were dropped
early in the pre-production stage along with several other characters.
Another adjustment to Kieran's concept was the choice of location
for the show. He had visualised a village square with the church,
shop and Fitzgerald's each taking up one side of it but BallyK's
producer, Joy Lale had fallen in love with Avoca, a linear village.
It didn't quite fit the script, but its rolling hills and community
atmosphere made it the perfect setting for the show.
The BBC were so confident of BallyK's success that they commissioned
a second series several months before the first was broadcast.
Ballykissangel began transmission in February 1996 and it was
a huge hit, attracting around 15 million viewers.
The end of the third series saw some major changes in the cast
line-up and new characters arrived during the fourth series
to bring new blood to the show.
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© World Productions 2000
All rights reserved; Photographs © BBC, Channel 4 and World Productions
No material from these pages may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of the copyright owners.
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