The Hanging Gale
1995 • 1 SeasonThe Hanging Gale is a four-episode television serial which first aired on RTÉ One and BBC1 in 1995. The series was a British–Irish co-production, made by Little Bird Films for BBC Northern Ireland in association with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, with support from the Irish Film Board.
The serial, set in 1846 at the beginning of Ireland's Great Famine, starred the four McGann brothers: Joe McGann, Paul McGann, Mark McGann and Stephen McGann, and was based on an original idea by Joe and Stephen McGann while researching their family's history.
The title of the series comes from the term 'hanging gale', the name for a widespread practice in Ireland at the time, where a landlord would allow new tenants a six-month grace period on payment of their rent, with the expectation that the rent owed would be paid when the land's crops were harvested and sold.
Top Series Cast
Joe McGann
as Sean Phelan
Mark McGann
as Conor Phelan
Paul McGann
as Liam Phelan
Stephen McGann
as Daniel Phelan
Michael Kitchen
as Capt. William Townsend
Fiona Victory
as Maeve Phelan
Tina Kellegher
as Mary Dolan
Sean McGinley
as Ferry
Gerard McSorley
as Coulter
Joe Pilkington
as James Phelan
Ciarán Fitzgerald
as Joseph Phelan
Ciara Marley
as Molly Phelan
Barry Barnes
as Michael Dolan
Birdy Sweeney
as Patrick Dolan
Maire Ni Ghrainne
as Sarah Dolan
Mal Whyte
as McBride
Dave Duffy
as McCafferty
Peter Caffrey
as Doctor Davis
Joe Savino
as Meagher
B.J. Hogg
as Harkin
Gerry Walsh
as Brady
Oliver Maguire
as Mr Denny
Eileen Colgan
as Mrs Denny
Alan Standford
as Henry Jenkins
Liam Carney
as Shanahan
Seamus Moran
as Constable Coyle
Albie Woodington
as Sergeant Major
George Shane
as Brewster
Frank O'Sullivan
as Kerryman
Ian Beattie
as Brian Sweeney
Stephen Kennedy
as Martin
Dylan O'Connell
as Baby Hannah
Full cast details coming soon!