Digging up the past
Conleth Hill plays an Irish sergeant investigating a death from 20 years ago...
Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill swaps Westeros for West Cork when he plays a sergeant investigating a murder in Holding,a four-part series adapted from a novel by chat-show host Graham Norton.
Hill plays PJ Collins, a police officer in the small community of Duneen, who fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work, until the bones of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke are discovered.
‘PJ isn’t a native to Duneen and the locals call him a “blow in”, even though he’s lived there for many years,’ says Conleth, who played Lord Varys in Game of Thrones.
‘He knows he’ll always be an outsider and everything’s a bit mundane for him until these bones are found and he sees a chance to prove himself.’ The discovery brings back bad memories for Bríd Riordan (Siobhán Mcsweeney, Derry Girls), who was due to marry Tommy until he vanished on the morning of their wedding, and Evelyn Ross (Charlene Mckenna, Peaky Blinders), who was also rumoured to be romantically involved with him… Yet PJ’S dreams of solving the big murder case seem to be dashed when young Detective Linus Dunne (Clinton Liberty) is sent from Cork to take charge of things…
‘PJ might be an outsider,’ explains Conleth. ‘But he understands the community and knows how to handle the people more diplomatically than Dunne, who’s his senior officer despite actually being much younger than him.’
With a cast that also includes former Father Ted star Pauline Mclynn, Conleth couldn’t wait to play PJ.
‘I loved the book,’ he says. ‘And I can identify with PJ as he waits his whole life and his big break comes when he’s a bit older, which is what happened to me with
Game of Thrones!’