Waving not drowning

Date Published: 10-Apr-2009

The Drowning Man may be the title of the latest episode of RTÉ’s crime drama series, Single Handed, which will be broadcast over Easter weekend, but its lead actor, Galway man Owen McDonnell, is on the crest of a wave right now.

London based Owen stars as Garda Sergeant Jack O’Driscoll in the two-parter which was shot in Connemara last summer.

The troubled sergeant first appeared on RTÉ screens in 2007, when Single Handed premiered. From the off, it marked itself as a higher class of drama series than we were used to from RTÉ, with seriously good production values. Another episode was aired last year and there are plans for a fourth, but Owen says this depends on how Single Handed;The Drowning Man is received and – unsurprisingly in the current climate – money.

But the past pupil of Coláiste Iognáid (The Jes) is hopeful. The Drowning Man “is about normal people being put in extraordinary situations and it has the real feel of a thriller about it,” he says.

“Basically, a country cop stumbles across an operation that’s much bigger than he is. The Special Branch are down from Dublin in connection with a drugs drop and there are some big people involved.

“My character is under pressure to keep his nose out but a local boy has died and he won’t. The family of the boy who drowned are his friends.”

To complicate matters, in…