Tall Tales and Murder Packs Six Episodes With Tangents — SkimNews
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- Tall Tales and Murder adapts Caimh McDonnell's first Dublin Trilogy novel for television; Stuart Carolan wrote the six-episode adaptation, which Chris Addison co-created.
- John Doe wakes from a coma at the care home, reigniting an underworld feud over a cache of Celtic gold and drawing Bridget and night staff member Paul into a treasure hunt.
- Ella Lily Hyland draws praise for her chemistry with Casey Walsh as the care-home workers become treasure hunters, with Bridget battling pill addiction and Paul battling alcohol addiction; Paul's childhood abuse is described as carefully handled.
- Aidan Gillen was in The Wire, yet the review finds Tall Tales and Murder's attempts at gangland violence by-the-numbers rather than distinctive.
- Sheila Flitton, 93, is praised as masterly in her role as Rose, a dementia patient who believes she is only seven.
- Philippa Dunne is described as “super scary” in leopard-print-clad, eye-rolling gangster Ma Baker, although the reviewer says the character receives too little screen time.
- Tall Tales and Murder quickly sidelines the care-home residents who seemed central, leaves an early crucial plot unresolved and makes the deaths of two characters feel like padding rather than substantive story.
Why it matters: Viewers gain a brisk, often compelling ensemble crime caper across six episodes, but lose narrative closure when the care-home threads are sidelined, the Celtic-gold plot turns overwrought and an early storyline involving two deaths goes unresolved. The result is more confusing than satisfying, despite the Irish-‘Wire’ comparison.
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