THE IT Crowd star Chris O’Dowd has teamed up with a Mad Men actress for a brand new sci-fi series.
Chris and Christina Hendricks both found fame in the rival shows but have now landed themselves a brand new project together.
Chris O’Dowd is launching a brand new show[/caption]
He has teamed up with Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks[/caption]
Following the success of his semi-autobiographical sitcom Moone Boy, Hollywood star Chris has penned a comedy-drama that combines his past and present life, with a huge helping of science-fiction.
Speaking about choosing to make the show, Chris revealed: “I’d been looking for something to set in the north-west of Ireland, somewhere small, like a village.
“I imagined my mother’s home, which is 10 miles or so outside of Boyle [Chris’ hometown, where Moone Boy was filmed]
“But this time I wanted to make somewhere up – Drumbán, where it’s all a bit dark and silly.
“I had been working in Ireland up by the lakes and I had forgotten how beautiful they were, so I thought they would be a beautiful place to set a show.
“It feels a lot more authentic filming in places with character.”
In the six-part series, US TV executive Wendy Patterson (Christina Hendricks) chooses her sleepy hometown in rural Ireland as the location for the studio’s next blockbuster series.
While the locals are thrilled, local GP – and Wendy’s former boyfriend – Seamus Proctor (Paddy Considine) is afraid that it will shine a light on a hushed-up alien landing 25 years previously.
“I thought the show needed a secret that characters could keep – or not keep,” says Chris, who also has a cameo role.
“That’s the part about aliens. It’s about the ramifications that it has on the characters from the town.
” And a secret that two of those characters have been keeping since Millennium eve…”
Chris’ wife, television presenter Dawn O’Porter, was instrumental in getting Christina Hendricks on-board with the show – and the Mad Men star clearly had a blast during filming.
“It’s a comedy but we play it very, very seriously, which I think makes it even more funny,” said Christina, 49.
“There is the recurring theme of birds dropping from the sky at inopportune moments.
“The way it happens and people’s reactions completely cracks me up. For example, a large swan drops from the sky and just clobbers one of the characters out of the blue!”
It is a long way from The IT Crowd[/caption]
