McGinley revels in roles on either side of the law

Date Published: {J}

Given that half the Gardaí in the country appear to be from his native Donegal anyway, it probably isn’t a huge surprise that Druid veteran Sean McGinley is currently playing policemen on more than one channel.

Most prominently he features as the sort of self-serving former cop that you’d cross the road to avoid in the latest run of RTÉ’s Single Handed on Sunday nights – but you might also have come across him on Alibi, one of the infinite number of add-on channels if you shell out for Sky.

Made by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic of Doyle stars McGinley as Malachy Doyle – also known as Mal or Skipper – who runs a private investigation firm with his son Jake in Newfoundland.

It’s described as a comedy-drama series and the Donegal man – with a sort of half-Ballyshannon, half-Canada accent – is the middle-aged rogue, with the younger girlfriend and the wayward son who may or may not be divorcing his wife, the newly pregnant Nikki, as the series goes on.

Mal is a sort of old sea dog who’s seen it all before and who takes life at a pace he’s comfortable with; his domestic arrangements may be a little hectic – he also has his 16 year old hormonal niece under his roof – but it would take a tsunami to faze him.

As with all of these shows, there’s a murder or a fire or a disaster each episode and the father and son team crack it without ever looking like they’re auditioning for The Wire; the emphasis is as much on light entertainment as detection.

But a successful first series has already ensured a second run on Canadian television – and the current screening on Alibi won’t do them any harm either.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.