BBC adapting modern Irish classic ‘Death and Nightingales’ for TV

Set the late 19th century Ireland, Eugene McCabe’s Death and Nightingales is being adapted by the creator of The Fall.

Described as “a riveting story of love, betrayal, deception and revenge, set in the beautiful, haunting countryside of Fermanagh in 1885,” McCabe’s novel is coming to BBC Two as a new three-part mini-series.

Director and writer Allan Cubitt (The Fall) commented: “Death and Nightingales is a dark and powerful love story set across class and religious divides in 19th-century County Fermanagh.

“Eugene McCabe’s moving, poetic story has a strong and determined young woman struggling to control her own destiny at its core and I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity as writer/director to bring this modern classic of Irish Literature to the screen.”

Starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades), Cubitt’s acclaimed British-Irish psychological thriller series The Fall ran for three seasons on BBC Two between 2013 and 2016.

The official synopsis for Death and Nightingales reads: “Set over a desperately tense 24-hour period, it’s Beth Winters’ 25th birthday – the day she has decided to join the charming Liam Ward and escape from her limited life and difficult and complex relationship with her Protestant landowner stepfather Billy.

“As decades of pain and betrayal finally build to a devastating climax, this powerful and gripping drama illuminates tensions that tear both families and nations apart.”

Death and Nightingales is expected to air on BBC Two in 2019.