The IT Crowd's Chris O’Dowd returns to his Irish roots for his new series Small Town, Big Story, which caused disruption when it was filmed just a few miles down the road from his mum’s house in rural west Ireland. “When I was thinking about a place to set the show, I wanted somewhere small that was more like a village. I imagined my mother’s home, which is 10 miles or so outside Boyle,” he says. “I’d shot Moone Boy in Boyle and I always wanted to go back.”.
The six-part comedy is about what happens when a big Hollywood TV production descends on the fictional small town of Drumbán. Chris based the show on his own experiences of filming the 2012 comedy hit Moone Boy about a lad with an imaginary friend. “Initially, everything is fantastic for the residents,” he explains. “It’s exciting, it’s a bit of a buzz. Then eventually it’s, ‘Argh, they’re blocking my driveway again,’ which is not so fun.".
“What I found funny, while filming Moone Boy, was people from the town and passers-by walking around in their best clothes or with more make-up on, just in case they were caught on camera.”. As well as writing and directing Small Town, Big Story, Chris also appears as the author of the book that the TV series being made is based on. “I wanted to play someone who is a complete braggart,” Chris, 45, says about the role of Jack E McCarthy. “I love a little bulls*****r, but you don’t find them any more because people can be found out so quickly on the internet.”.
House Of The Dragon’s Paddy Considine plays town doctor Séamus Proctor, while Mad Men star Christina Hendricks is Wendy Patterson, a local girl who found success as a TV producer in LA and returns home after more than 20 years. To add a twist to the tale, Séamus and Wendy are hiding a secret from Millennium Eve that the spotlight of the TV production threatens to reveal. Chris, who is married to TV presenter Dawn O’Porter, can thank his wife for helping Christina get involved in the project. “I was on the phone to my missus in California, and she said, ‘You’ll never believe who was in the house today,’” he remembers. “And she said, ‘Christina Hendricks!’ They were talking about some vintage clothes business. I thought she’d be good on the show and it went from there. She seemed perfect.”.
Christina’s character Wendy has lost her Irish accent, unlike many of the people Chris comes across in real life. “I meet them all the time, the type of Irish Americans who sound like they have never been to Ireland but then start talking in an Irish accent after 10 minutes,” he says. “I know people make a choice, and I thought her character would leave it behind.”. With Paddy, the pair bonded over the music used in the series. “There’s a nice meeting of brass and Irish music and Paddy’s character Séamus plays a trombone. Paddy and I both took trombone lessons. I wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about!”.
