colin farrell - Ballykissangel (1996) Discussion

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] gerwynfan 20 years ago

"ColinGirl" mentioned that Colin Farrell came back for "the reunion." Does that mean there was a reunion show after the official 6 seasons / series?

In the US, the last 2 years of the show were really messed up in their viewing order plus each season would be repeated so many times, *then* my PBS station would list that BallyK would be on or a new ep would be on then they'd pre-empt BallyK entirely or show an old show instead of the promised new one. So it was hard to keep track. The last new show that I got to see was when a new priest arrives from Australia and walks into the pub, just as the locals are denigrating an Australian TV show they're watching and Australian mores in general. What season / series was this???

So was there a reunion show? And when did it air in the UK? And did it ever air in the US???

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[–] Intelligent 21 years ago

Yeah. I was flipping through the channels and MPT came along and I never watch it because all it has is silent films and such. And I was so surprised to see Colin Farell. I looked it up and it was actually him.

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[–] zoe_chelsea 21 years ago

I remember watching ballyk when it was orignally on the tv not the reruns. colin's character went out with the girl who has just left hollyoaks. anyway i remember when he left and he was on this morning or some chat show saying how he was going off to hollywood and he had got a part in a big hollywood film. its so weird to think that he used to be on this small show and now hes an established actor in the US!

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[–] aalguire 21 years ago

Hi everyone,

Ballykissangel ran a total of 6 series. Colin showed up around the middle of series four and stayed until the end of series 5. He was a fairly big part of the cast. This is the first thing I saw him in before he made it big over here. I would really love to see him do something where he uses his real accent again that isn't a big action movie....we'll see.

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[–] sjerose 21 years ago

My family and I would all sit down together on Sunday nights and watch BallykissA. I thought Colin was the cutest actor ever! We all agreed that he would probably be one of those actors to become famous. He just had... "IT," you know? I couldn't believe it when I saw him in popular movies! I just kept thinking to myself... "It can't be, it just can't be that same guy..." But it is! I haven't seen the show in such a long time, but it's kinda cool to know we predicted it right for once.

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[–] balkaster 21 years ago

It was actually a supporting character, but he was credited as a regular and appeared in every episode. I think he was added mid-series 4, and left at the end of series 5. There weren't many plots that revolved around him specifically (the only one I remember is when he steals a horse that his uncle had sold to Emma's father), and I got the impression that he was only there as plot complication/love interest for Emma. But the writers didn't do much with that. I think after the departure of Tompkinson and Kirwan, the writers were willing to try any potentially viable plot device they could think of.

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[–] chalice1999 18 years ago

I know that he and Emma do become an item before their characters leave the show. They get closer on a few episodes and he seems to admire her character a lot and they even have an episode where it is raining and they stay overnight in an abandoned bungalow or something. A few episodes later Emma says they are friends and they kiss and Danny (Colin) says they are good friends and they kiss some more. I don't think there was anything after that. They sort have slipped out into the shadows.

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[–] linda303 16 years ago

It's as if the writers did not know what to do with Danny (or Emma). Initially they were emerging as main characters, but soon they had "walk on" bit parts until they simply disappeared without an explanation (as so many BallyK characters did!)

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[–] gerwynfan 20 years ago

Since he plays the nephew of Eamonn Byrne (played by the late Birdie Sweeney), I got the impression that he was brought on to continue the Byrne family participation in BallyK in case something happened to Birdie as Birdie Sweeney seemed so ancient from the start of the series. And sure enough, Birdie died shortly after Colin Farrell came on board. I say Birdie seemed ancient, but I just looked him up and he was just shy of 68 when he died, but he looked closer to 90! Great comic wit and great part in BallyK, especially his love for his pigs <lol>. Others have posted here with more knowledge of Colin's length of stay on the show. (It's harder for me in the US to figure that out as the shows were on PBS here and each season would repeat endlessly before moving on and the start of a new "series" wouldn't be obvious, at least to me.) I'd have to agree that Colin was always a presence on the show but he seemed to me more of a background character to the more established cast members and storylines.

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[–] chica_de_muerte 19 years ago

Hey, I was wondering if someone could help me. I've seen the same episode of Ballykissangel twice, and I think I'm still missing something. The episode where Danny (Colin Farrell) steals the horse from Emma's father, why is he clutching at his side for most of the episode? What happened to him?

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[–] Elf_Addict 19 years ago

He was holding his side because in the previous episode he'd been beaten up.

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[–] ReginaFilangie 19 years ago

THe man who Ambrose had arrested had gotten out on parole and he went around the town terrorizing Ambrose and vandalizing, he also stole Brian's golf club partner's clubs, and Colin Farrell had managed to make that guy mad in a previous episode so the guy thought colin farrell had stolen the club so he beat him up really bad and fractured one of his ribs.

WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!!!

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[–] Elf_Addict 19 years ago

I don't think he was brought on for the reason to continue the family line. I think he was brought on to be a love interest for the girl. In fact, when Birdie Sweeney died, Colin's role was immediately written out. There wasn't even a farewell episode... he just didn't appear any more. I was really bummed. I had been watching the show here in the US early on, and Colin hadn't begun his movie career yet. I really liked him on BallyK, and was disappointed when he disappeared from the show. I thought, man, here's this great Irish actor, cute, and I live in the US and probably won't ever see him again. The first thing I did see him in was Daredevil, and then Phone Booth. And, I didn't even recognize him! Then I saw him on a talk show and they started talking about BallyK... and I nearly fell out of my chair! I was so excited that I had found my favorite actor from BallyK again.

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[–] lawson14 11 years ago

They showed him at least once after Birdie Sweeney passed. He was required to paint the barn by the vet and then kissed Emma under a tree. Is kissing a signal for a UFO to come down and remove the characters?

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[–] dwarol 11 years ago

He wasn't a main character, but his storyline was in and out of the main series plotline. It wasn't a very demanding role compared to what was to come later but it was Farrell's first acting job as a regular. He mentioned it briefly during a late night TV interview once with a certain fondness. Apparently it convinced his father that he could make it in acting.

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