Behind the scenes with the Young Offenders on the filming of season four
Chris Walley during the filming of a prison scene on the new series of The Young Offenders. Picture: Miki Barlok
Lights, camera, action. After a long four years away from filming the hit show, the cast of the Young Offenders are back for brand-new season.
Since series three ended in 2020, fans of the comedy drama have been patiently waiting for their fix of the much-loved Cork characters. At long last, Conor, Jock, Mairead, Billy Murphy and the rest of the gang are returning to TV screens - and the cast are just as excited as their viewers.
During a visit to the show’s set in Cork city, that enthusiasm is palpable - as is the family-like dynamic between the actors and crew. Jokes, laugher and taking the piss are part-in-parcel of a day behind-the-scenes of The Young Offenders.
Just like spending time together, getting into character is second nature for the cast, no matter how long it has been.
“It’s a bit frightening how easy it is to slip back in to be honest,” says Hilary Rose, who plays Mairéad MacSweeney.
“Once you get the haircut, it’s pretty easy to get back into it. The cold head – I’m like, ‘ok, I’m Conor again’,” adds Alex Murphy, who plays her on-screen son, Conor MacSweeney.
For Shane Casey, it’s the tracksuits and the “shit runners” that allow him to slip back into Billy Murphy mode.
The trio are sitting around a table during a break from filming season four on a set at Cork’s Marina Market. Dressed as their characters, Alex and Shane are both in their trademark tracksuits while Hilary is in casual jeans and a jumper.
This season, Conor MacSweeney and his best friend Jock O’Keeffe, are no longer teenage rogues. They’re in their early 20s – though they are still getting themselves into trouble.
While the skin fade haircut remains part of The Young Offenders uniform, Alex notes one bonus of playing closer to his own age – he didn’t have to wax his chest hair.
Shane is quick to jump in and share an anecdote about his cast member’s grooming routine. On one occasion in season two – when wax appointments were required to play the role of a teenage Conor - the entire cast decided to make a day of it.
“This is chest waxing by the way, just to clarify,” Casey says, as his cast mates laugh beside him. “We all went down for a little giggle one Friday evening to see him getting his chest wax in season two.” While they are in the comfort of the walls of the Marina Market on the day we visit, filming often takes the cast to different locations in Cork. From working in the English Market to the views from Bells Field, the city – and its people - have has always played a major role in The Young Offenders franchise.
Even if slipping into character didn’t come easily, it would just take a walk across the Northside of Cork city to get back into the zone, according to the cast.
“Cork is just full of characters,” Murphy says. “They have stories, and they tell you their opinion. You don’t go looking for them – they come up to you. I always remember in one of the seasons we were filming in a shopping centre and this woman went up to the director with big HD brows and said: ‘Can I be in the show?’ and he just looked at her and went: ‘Yes’.” “She was in the next scene,” he adds.
Casey continues: “You get a lot of people coming up and telling you stories that are far more out there than what we’re doing. If we used any of the actual stories that people relay to you…it would be a different type of show.” With a prime-time spot on BBC One, season four of The Young Offenders will likely bring the show to a new audience. It’s already proven to be a hit amongst British viewers receiving 6.3m BBC iPlayer requests in 2023.
Murphy, Rose and Casey are all still surprised by the demographics that approach them in public. From teenagers to parents and grandparents, their reach has been far and wide.
“I feel the love constantly. There’s not a day goes by where someone doesn’t come up to me and say, ‘I love the show’ or ‘I love Billy Murphy’. You could be having a really shit day and your day can just turn around…. it’s very rewarding,” says Casey.
Some of the best compliments they receive come from those who say they watch the show as a family.
“Paschal Sheehy was one of the first people who said that,” says Casey, before launching into an impression of the news presenter: “Paschal Sheehy RTÉ news. Cork. He said we sit down religiously and watch it as a family together.”
When they began filming the first Young Offenders movie, a now 26-year-old Murphy was just 17 while Hilary was pregnant with her first child. It’s safe to say a lot has changed since then.
“When it comes to the story and the world that it’s in, you could say how many more seasons could you get, but how long is a piece of string? That’s just really good writing if you can keep going and keep going,” says Rose.
“But I think for all of us, it was about us wanting to come back and do it as well which was lovely.
“I think enough time had passed,” she laughs. “We wanted to come back and do it.”
- The Young Offenders airs on BBC One at 9.30pm on Friday, May 10
