ITV’s Holding Adds Brenda Fricker to Cast

Academy Award winner Brenda Fricker is set to join Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill in the forthcoming four-part ITV drama Holding.

Siobhán McSweeney (Derry Girls), Charlene McKenna (Peaky Blinders), Helen Behan (Elizabeth is Missing) and Pauline McLynn (GameFace) have also been cast in the adaptation of Graham Norton’s best-selling novel of the same name. Holding is directed by Kathy Burke and written by Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Karen Cogan.

In the series, Hill plays local police officer Sergeant PJ Collins, a gentle man who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work. When the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career. While unearthing long-buried secrets, he finally connects with the village he has tried so hard to avoid.

Holding is being filmed on location in West Cork, Ireland. The series is produced by Happy Prince and Port Pictures in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, with Virgin Media Television co-producing. It is distributed internationally by ITV Studios.

Completing the cast are Clinton Liberty (Handsome Devil, Normal People), Amy Conroy (The South Westerlies), Olwen Fouéré (Beast), Eleanor Tiernan (Bridget and Eamon), Gary Shelford (Belgravia), Lochlann Ó’Meárain (Smother), Sky Yang (Halo), Demi Issac Oviawe (The Young Offenders), Norma Sheahan (Bridget and Eamon) and Anne Kent (Fair City), along with Calum Rea, Jane Spollen, Jim O’Donnell, Pat Kinevane, Karl Quinn, Michael Fry, Maria Connolly, Ian Brooker, Abhainn Harrington, Christopher Logan, Molly Logan, Terhas Gleeson, Ivet Corvea, Gary Murphy and Felix Brown.

Fricker said: “I am ecstatic to be part of this wonderful production, in beautiful Skibbereen, and finally not to be playing a mother! Mrs. Meany is a bit of a dark horse. She has had a dreadful life but has retained her values, her friendships, and most of all, her sense of humor. Keep a sharp eye on her.”

McSweeney said: “I cannot think of a better script in a better place with a better cast and crew. I’m in heaven being back in Cork.”