Killinaskülly - TV comedy set for export to Germany

AS he celebrated another Christmas TV topper yesterday, comedian Pat Shortt revealed Germany is creating its very own Killinaskully.

The RTÉ comedy blockbuster is being adopted by a top German TV network which is planning it’s own version of the quaint Irish village.

But in the German version, Deiter the visiting German character, will be a Swede.

Shortt, who writes Killinaskully and plays a number of lead characters in the comedy, is in talks with a German TV network but he declined to reveal its identity.

Killinaskully drew 820,000 viewers on Christmas night, topping the holiday audience listings.

Shortt said: “The Germans want to take on the concept and create their own Killinaskully in Germany. I am advising them on the script and they are really bowled over with the idea.”

He said the homegrown Killinaskully is also headed for international audiences with networks in New Zealand and Europe wanting to buy the series from RTÉ.

Shortt, who has just moved into his €2.7 million home in Castleconnell, said he was not concerned that some critics have ‘panned’ the series.

“After all a critic’s opinion is just one person’s opinion. To be honest, if critics don’t like it, so be it. That has always been my approach. Sometimes they have lots of good things to say, but at the end of the day it is just one person’s opinion.”

He said viewer figures speak for themselves.

The last series of seven episodes, he said, drew a core audience of 500,000 for each episode, which rose to more than 800,000 some nights.

“Given the size of our population we are very big. We are up there with the top programmes,” he said.

Shortt said the Christmas episode was particularly challenging as they decided on an adventurous story line which involved ghost scenes with characters being faded in and out of shots.

He said: “It was very daring as we had to keep it within the normal budget. We had to get three shoots of some scenes and this meant numerous takes to get those three. A special effects crew worked at nights doing darkness scenes and we had a stunt man over from London for the final scene. Technically it was very, very heavy. But we pulled it off and it was quite daring.”

Each episode involves eight days’ shooting on location the in the North Tipperary villages of Killioscully and Ballinahinch, with as many as 100 cast and crew at times.

Shortt and Limerick author Mike Finn are working on the script for the next series of seven episodes. Pat said: “RTÉ have not commissioned it yet, but you have to start on the script in advance of being commissioned. That’s the way it works.”

The early editing is done at Pat’s own studios at the Eastway Business Park, where his Shortt Comedy Theatre Company is based.

Final editing is done at a specialist editing studio in Dublin.

Shortt and his wife Caroline are busy settling into their new home, The World’s End House in Castleconnell, with children Fay, seven, Lilly, six and two-year-old Lughaidh.

Next week he hits the road with his new show You’ll Never Get Away With That Here and commences a nationwide tour at Vicar Street in Dublin.

He said: “I will finish that tour at the University of Limerick Concert Hall next November, and will break for three months to make the third series of Killinaskully.”