• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, November 12, 2024

A new Hulu series about the civil war in Northern Island hits just the right buttons to emerge as one of the best shows sampled by the TV Blog all year.

The show, “Say Nothing,” is a dramatization of what is often referred to as “the troubles,” which sometimes feels like a glossing over of what happened during the period, which stretched roughly from 1968 to 1998.

The co-called “troubles” consisted of extreme violence in the name of independence from British rule for Irish Catholics, who lived as second-class citizens to the region’s Protestant population.

When the Catholics rose up, claiming discrimination in housing and employment (among other things), they clashed with the Protestants and eventually with military forces deployed by the British government in support of the Protestant population in and around the Northern city of Belfast.

In that era, the Northern Irish Catholics organized themselves into the self-styled revolutionary force known as the Irish Republican Army, the IRA.

In “Say Nothing,” the story of the IRA from its formation onward is told through the eyes of Dolours Price, who was a teen when she and her sister, Marian Price (Hazel Doupe), were radicalized and joined the IRA as two of its first women warriors.

The young Dolours is played by Irish actress Lola Petticrew, 28, who just happens to be a Belfast native. That’s the actress in the above photo, but Dolours is no nun.

The story of young Dolours is told in flashbacks as the middle-aged Dolours (played by Maxine Peake) is recording an oral history of her experiences in the war approximately 30 years later.

“Say Nothing” is a dramatization of history. But it evades the trap of piling on background and exposition at the outset in awkward conversations and unnecessary history lessons.

Instead, we learn about everything before the first hour is over simply by taking it all in. It helps that this is a TV show that is very easy to pay attention to.

From the beginning, the show is all suspense and action. Evidently, the producers and writers of this show did not forget that their show has to appeal to an audience, which are people who look to their TV shows for entertainment. This concept is often forgotten in TV today.

“Say Nothing” is based on a book, “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland” by Patrick Radden Keefe, published in 2018.

The title of the show, “Say Nothing,” reflects a two-word motto used by IRA members in the show. 

It means what is says: No matter what happens, say nothing about oneself, the cause, or the revolutionary army.

In the TV show, the title is tinged with irony. “Say Nothing” is the mantra of the IRA, but the older Dolours is telling everything.

The real Dolours Price lived from 1950 to 2013, when she passed away at the age of 62, according to Wikipedia. 

She joined the IRA in 1971 and eventually served eight years in prison. In 1983, she married the actor Stephen Rea. They were divorced in 2003.

“Say Nothing” starts streaming on Hulu on Thursday, November 14.