Marian Keyes’ Walsh family series to be adapted for TV
By Naomi Clarke, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter
Marian Keyes’ novel series which follows the “dysfunctional but deeply loveable” Walsh family will be adapted for the small screen.
The six-part drama series, inspired by five novels by the acclaimed Irish author, has been commissioned by RTÉ and will air on the BBC in the UK.
Head of drama at RTÉ, David Crean, said the series going in to production is “beyond exciting”, and that writers Stefanie Preissner and Kefi Chadwick have “brilliantly captured and re-imagined” Keyes’ world.
The series will be directed by Ian FitzGibbon and produced by award-winning production companies Cuba Pictures and Metropolitan Films International, in association with the Screen Ireland and the BBC.
Keyes and Preissner will executive produce the project alongside a host of others including Crean.
The Walsh Sisters will feature the “chaotic, dysfunctional but deeply loveable Walsh family of five sisters, a devout mother and a bemused father”, the BBC has said.
Keyes said: “This is so exciting, I’m beside myself. I love the scripts, they’ve really kept the spirit of the books.
“It’s been almost impossible to keep this a secret and it’s a great feeling that the news is now out in the world.”
Irish writer Stefanie Preissner, known for creating comedy Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, has adapted the series, writing four episodes, while Kefi Chadwick, who has worked on drama Rivals and crime series Death In Paradise, has written the other two episodes.
Filming for the series will begin in early 2025 and launch on RTÉ, followed by BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
Set in their Dublin hometown, The Walsh Sisters follows the lives of Anna, Rachel, Maggie, Claire and Helen as they navigate their late 20s and 30s.
Their relationship is described as a “sisterhood full of in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and more than a few old wounds," but their “DNA, history and shared love of power ballads keep the Walsh sisters together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood," the BBC said.
Head of BBC programme acquisition, Sue Deeks, said: “The Walsh Sisters novels have given so much pleasure to so many readers over the years, and we are truly delighted that such a wonderful team will be bringing these witty, warm and oh-so-relatable characters to life.”
Since publishing her first novel in 1995, Keyes has sold more than 30 million copies of her books and they have been translated into 36 languages.
Her other bestsellers include Rachel’s Holiday and Grown Ups; she has won a number of Irish Book Awards and was named author of the year at the British Book Awards in 2022.