7.6 /10 1 Votes
7.6/10 TV Original language(s) English No. of episodes 58 (list of episodes) Final episode date 15 April 2001 | 7.5/10 IMDb No. of series 6 First episode date 11 February 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Dervla KirwanStephen TompkinsonTony Doyle Executive producer(s) Conor HarringtonAlan Moloney Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama created by Kieran Prendiville and set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2001. It aired in Ireland on RTÉ One and in Australia on ABC TV from 1996 to 2001. Reruns have been aired on Drama in the United Kingdom and in the United States on some PBS affiliates.
Significant changes in the cast occurred at the end of series 3 following the departure of central characters Peter Clifford and Assumpta Fitzgerald.
The show faced a decline in ratings from a peak level of 10 million viewers to 4.8 million and was eventually cancelled in 2001.
The name of the fictional village in which the show was set is derived from Ballykissane, a townland near Killorglin in County Kerry, where the show's creator, Kieran Prendiville, holidayed with his family as a child. The village's name in Irish is shown as "Baile Coisc Aingeal", which means "The town of the fallen angel", on the sign outside the post office.
The show was filmed in Avoca and Enniskerry in County Wicklow.
Episodes
The programme ran for six series from 11 February 1996 to 15 April 2001. Almost all episodes were 50 minutes in duration.
All six series have been released in Region 1, 2 and 4. In 2010, four years after the release of series 5, series 6 was released on Region 2, along with a box set of series 1-6.
The ninth episode of series 3, "The Waiting Game", is omitted from the Region 2 series 3 DVD. This is not the case for Region 1 (North America) sets, which contain this episode.