Moe Dunford: New drama The Dry is 'the most honest piece of writing'

‘Rosie’ told a harrowing story of homelessness in Ireland. Now the same director and star tackle our relationship with alcohol in new drama, ‘The Dry’.

Moe Dunford of RTÉ drama series 'The Dry', pictured at the RTÉ New Season Launch in the RDS, Dublin. Picture Andres Poveda Photography

The Irish relationship with alcohol is explored in The Dry, a wickedly dark, funny and revealing new series centred around one colourful Irish family.

The offbeat drama centres on Shiv (Roisín Gallagher), a returning emigrant who’s back in Ireland from London, recently sober and taking it one day at a time.

But Shiv’s newfound and hard-won sobriety is about to meet some serious challenges. Members of her family have a relationship with the booze that could be characterised as messy at best, while her Mr Big - the guy from home that got away - loves nothing better than a smooth bottle of Barolo.

He’s played by actor Moe Dunford, who signed up after reading dramatist Nancy Harris’s witty, pithy script: “One of the most honest, truest pieces of writing I’ve seen come out of Ireland”.

Shiv and his character, Jack, have a history of getting amorous with a few glasses of wine and newly-returned Shiv is initially reluctant to tell him how she’s changing her life.

“There’s a Bonnie and Clyde element to them. They bring out a fire in one another,” says the Waterford man.

“They both sort of have this idea of freedom and fun. I like to look at it that that’s what Shiv is looking for in a way, on her road to recovery or to find her true voice.

“I love how the story deals with recovery and how you get to see the inner workings of AA and all of the truthfulness and reality that goes along with that. Just within the family dynamic how people can send up the silliness of the Irish, and the masks we wear and the ‘what you mean you’re not having a drink’, sort of attitude at functions and funerals.

“Nancy has made something really special. Paddy [Breathnach, director who previously worked with Dunford in the powerful movie Rosie] really looks at all of the characters as real human beings, really complex. And there’s so many different things going on.”

The Dry is one of two major series Dunford has been working on in recent times, of which more later. And it certainly feels that Irish storytellers and stories, following a sluggish start, are rapidly becoming among the leading forces worldwide in episodic television.

Moe Dunford in 'The Dry'.

Normal People was an intimate love story told in Irish accents and featuring those GAA shorts that became a phenomenon, with Kourtney Kardashian among its many famous fans.

Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters - featuring the exploits of another colourful family - is currently spearheading Apple’s streaming schedule. Bodkin, being shot on location around Union Hall in West Cork, is a darkly comedic tale of a group of podcasters investigating the disappearance of three strangers. The executive producers? None other than Barack and Michelle Obama.

There’s ample proof, as though it were needed, that international audiences want to see and hear stories told in our own voices.

“Well, just look at the quality of shows,” observes Dunford. “I love Derry Girls. I love so much of the stuff that’s come out of here and what they did with The Young Offenders. You’re dealing with an innately Irish story that can be relatable around the world.

“The obvious thing is streaming wasn’t so popular as it is now and movies were the place to go and see your quality drama or the characters you know and love. I think that’s a lot to do with streaming and the times we’ve been living in, the times we’ve come through.” That’s not to say he doesn’t love the cinema experience, and like many of us, has spent his summer falling in love with a couple of movies - the biggest of blockbusters and a little Irish film that could go all the way to the Oscars.

In fact, after we speak he is heading off to his local cinema in Dungarvan for a repeat viewing of Tom Cruise working his movie magic in Top Gun: Maverick.

“I’m going in to see Top Gun again today for a second time because while it’s great to have our streaming experiences, I just think it’s like my first time watching Mad Max: Fury Road. I love to see practical effects on screen and how they did it for real. I literally was just like a kid beaming in the cinema watching it.”

He has also joined the growing audience for Ireland’s nomination for Best International Feature at next year’s Oscars. An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), a moving drama about one girl’s formative summer in 1980s Ireland, is described by the actor as: “Profoundly beautiful - it’s just gorgeous.” The low-budget movie proved to be a big hit with Irish audiences through the summer and is now finding an international fanbase.

Moe Dunford with Roisín Gallagher in 'The Dry'

He’s also excited at the prospect of seeing the forthcoming Irish-language movie, Róise & Frank, about a grieving widow who starts to believe a stray dog who has come into her life might be her husband reincarnated. It was shot down the road from his Dungarvan hometown in the Irish-speaking village of Ring.

“Irish movies, movies shot in our native tongue, and the blockbusters, it gave me a lot of hope,” says Dunford. “It also made me want to speak more Irish - I’d love to do a movie ‘as Gaeilge’ and be able to do it, because these movies and watching them on the big screen, get us in touch with our roots and who we are and using our native language.

“To see actors speak our language, it’s just wonderful. I do think [Irish] should stay alive, and that’s why it’s so great to see it up there on the big screen.”

Over the past decade, Dunford has built a career ever since his breakthrough performance in Irish indie, Patrick’s Day, in which he played a young man with mental health issues.

Following a four-year stint as Aethelwulf on hit series Vikings, he starred in several feature films including gritty prison drama, Michael Inside, the charming tale of an unlikely friendship that was Handsome Devil, murder mystery thriller The Dig and most recently in a new take on Texas Chainsaw Massacre released by Netflix.

The actor is glad to be back in his hometown having spent much of the summer shooting a major new TV series in Spain.

He joins a returning cast for season two of The Head, a crime thriller that has proven to be an international hit, aired in 90 countries.

Following the events of the first series, set on a glacial polar research station, season two is set on an ocean freight ship carrying out a high-stakes scientific mission.

“It was a real adventure,” he says of the three-month shoot, which also gave him an opportunity to work with Northern Irish actor John Lynch.

“Season two is set on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Like Knives Out was inspired by Agatha Christie, this is like a mash up between Agatha Christie and John Carpenter. It’s set on a scientific research station - it’s very 1980s inspired.

“We were shooting on real ships and oil rigs. Being over there with the crew in Spain, it gave me the feeling of what I’d hoped acting would be like when I was a kid.”

• The Dry will screen on RTÉ later this autumn.