“Funny, sharp and full of heart,” Channel 4’s new Irish drama is ‘fizzing with love and panic’

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Channel 4 is producing a new Irish drama called The Rachel Incident, starring Ellis Howard, known for her role in What it Feels Like for a Girl. Rebecca Holdsworth, Channel 4’s Drama Commissioning Editor, describes the show as humorous, witty, and emotionally resonant, and filming has already started.

This eight-episode series is based on Caroline O’Donoghue’s popular novel of the same title. It’s a story filled with longing and unreturned affection, balanced by witty humor as it follows a young woman navigating friendships, relationships, and a turbulent Ireland.

Máiréad Tyers, known for her roles in Extraordinary and The Walsh Sisters, and Howard star as Rachel and James. According to O’Donoghue, their chemistry is instantly memorable, perfectly capturing the excitement and anxiety of being in your twenties.

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The story, set in 2010, follows Rachel, a bookstore employee, who immediately falls for James. He’s openly straight and quickly asks Rachel to be his roommate, sparking a friendship that profoundly impacts both of their lives.

They were a group trying to live a free-spirited, artistic life in Cork City, but the effects of the recent economic downturn were always present.

So, Rachel confesses she’s completely fallen for her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, and it’s a mess! Luckily, my favorite character, James, tries to help her by organizing a book launch for Fred at the store, hoping Rachel might have a chance with him afterward. But things get complicated fast – it turns out Fred has his own ideas about what he wants! This kicks off a whole web of secrets and compromises that really pull James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s wife, Deenie – who, by the way, is a super cool and influential literary editor – into a really tangled situation.

Joining the cast are Sarah Greene, known for Bad Sisters, as Deenie, and Daniel Ings (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) as Dr. Fred Byrne. The series will also star Ardal O’Hanlon (Death in Paradise) as Paul, Cúán Hosty-Blaney (House of Guinness) as Carey, Ciarán Dowd (Bad Sisters) as Ben, Helen Behan (Malpractice) as Bridget, Molly McFadden as Sinead, Maria Doyle Kennedy (Recipes For Love And Murder) as Vivian, and Jeanne Ní Áinle (Hidden Assets) as Sabrina.

O’Donoghue praised her lead actors, saying Máiréad Tyers was always her top pick for the role of Rachel. Tyers and Ellis Howard have incredible chemistry, creating a dynamic duo that perfectly captures the excitement and anxiety of being in your early twenties – it’s both wonderful and terrifying.

She also highly praised the other actors, saying she was thrilled to be working with Sarah Greene and Daniel Ings as Deenie and Fred. She was incredibly excited about the entire cast, who brought a vibrant and energetic feel to the world of The Rachel Incident. This included actors she’d admired since childhood, like Ardal O’Hanlon and Maria Doyle Kennedy, and she couldn’t believe they were part of the project.

The Rachel Incident will be available to watch on Channel 4.

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2026-02-17 15:49