Remind you of another series?

I don't know if BallyK was "inspired by" Northern Exposure, but I agree about the similarity. I felt the same thing after watching the first few episodes. Later, though, I think BallyK goes its own way, and the similarities become fewer and fewer.

I've never seen Northern Exposure, but from what I ever heard of the Ballykissangel creator's (Keiran Prendiville) inspiration, it was a concept he came up with from hearing stories. To quote from an interview on this awesome website for all things Ballykissangel:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/ballykissangel/interview_kieran01.shtml

""G Ashcroft from Essex wrote to ask:

"What gave you the idea for Ballykissangel?"

Kieran replies:
A few years ago I spent several weeks on an oil rig researching a drama series called Roughnecks. After a while I went stir crazy and started fantasising about a place where you didn’t hear the thud and clatter of heavy machinery twenty four hours a day ... and where it didn’t smell of diesel oil.

Then I remembered the holidays in Ireland I took when I was kid, when my father took all eight of us back to this tiny village in County Kerry where he was from ... and then I remembered some of the characters ...and then I was off and running.

I had to put it aside for a few years while I wrote Roughnecks; I didn’t honestly think anyone would be interested but there you are.

By the way, the village - it’s a town now - was called Killorglin. Just up the road there’s a real place called Ballykissane. ""

The BBC and other British companies have been making these kinds of shows for decades. Small town with quirky characters and an outsider is not a new concept.

The British show Doc Martin seems more like Northern Exposure to me.