The Galway Bay Murders: ITV announces Irish crime thriller from makers of Blue Lights
Its cast features stars from Orange Is the New Black, Under Salt Marsh and Star TrekITV has snapped up The Galway Bay Murders, a brand new crime thriller from the makers of BAFTA-winning BBC drama Blue Lights. This time, they’re swapping Belfast for the wild west coast of Ireland.
Orange Is the New Black’s Kate Mulgrew stars as a New York detective hoping for a quiet life in Connemara. Colm Meaney, star of The Commitments, The Damned United and Gangs of London, joins her.
Here’s everything you need to know about The Galway Bay Murders, including the plot, cast, start date and where it’s set.
What is The Galway Bay Murders about?
Kate Mulgrew plays Lieutenant Nora Savage, a seasoned NYPD detective who heads to the west of Ireland to leave a traumatic past behind her. She’s after peace and quiet. No such luck…
When the body of a young woman is found in a bog, Nora is drawn into a complex murder investigation alongside the local Garda team.
The trail leads to Free Farm, an organisation where young people live and work together on sustainable farming and scientific research. It sounds idyllic. Of course, it isn’t. Behind the scenes there’s a tangle of secrets, divided loyalties and hidden motives.
The six-part drama promises dark humour alongside the mystery, and asks how far people will go to protect their secrets.
Who’s in the cast?
Kate Mulgrew leads the cast as Nora Savage. She’s best known to UK viewers as Galina “Red” Reznikov, the formidable prison cook in Orange Is the New Black.
Colm Meaney also stars. The Dublin-born actor played Jimmy Rabbitte’s dad in The Commitments, Leeds manager Don Revie in The Damned United, and crime boss Finn Wallace in Gangs of London.
Star Trek fans will recognise both of them, too. Kate played Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager, while Colm was Chief Miles O’Brien in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
Also joining the ensemble cast are:
- John Connors (The Gentlemen, Irish Blood)
- India Mullen (Under Salt Marsh, Normal People)
- Cillian O’Sullivan (Daredevil: Born Again, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
- Jack Rowan (Born to Kill, A Town Called Malice, Wreck)
Who wrote The Galway Bay Murders?
The series was created and written by Eithne Verling, and there’s a lovely story behind it.
Eithne is a former archaeologist and museum curator with a deep personal connection to the region.
The Galway Bay Murders is her first TV drama, and she wrote all six episodes specifically for Kate Mulgrew after a chance meeting between the pair in Galway turned into a close friendship.
Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, whose work includes Baltimore and Kin, direct.
Completely magnetic crime thriller
Darren Nartey, Head of Content Acquisitions at ITV, said: “Eithne Verling has crafted a completely magnetic crime thriller, with an outstanding cast led by Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney, a compelling central mystery and the stunning backdrop of Ireland’s west coast.”
Stephen Wright, of Blue Lights producers Two Cities Television, said the team was proud to champion “Eithne Verling’s vision and Kate Mulgrew’s passion for Galway and Connemara”.
Is The Galway Bay Murders the same as The Yank?
Yes. When Irish broadcaster RTÉ first announced the drama in April 2026, it went by the title The Yank, a nod to Nora’s New York roots. It now has a new name for its ITV run.
How many episodes is it?
The Galway Bay Murders is six episodes long, and each episode is an hour.
Where is The Galway Bay Murders filmed?
The drama is set and filmed in Connemara, County Galway, on Ireland’s rugged west coast. Filming got under way there in spring 2026, and the scenery looks set to be one of the stars of the show.
When’s the start date?
ITV hasn’t announced a start date yet, so we’ll have a wait. The series was made for RTÉ, which commissioned it, so viewers in Ireland will see it there too.
Watch this space.
The Galway Bay Murders will air on ITV1 and stream on ITVX.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI technology to synthesise source reporting and structured data. It has been reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by our human editorial team before publication.
