Say Nothing (TV series) - Wikipedia
Say Nothing (TV series)
| Say Nothing | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Joshua Zetumer |
| Based on | Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original languages | English Irish |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | FX on Hulu (United States) Disney+ (Internationally) |
| Release | November 14, 2024 |
Say Nothing is a 2024 historical drama limited series created by Joshua Zetumer and produced by FX Productions. The series premiered on November 14, 2024, on FX on Hulu. It is an adaptation of the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe[1] and details four generations in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.[2] Say Nothing received generally positive reviews from critics.[3]
Synopsis
[edit]The series follows the lives of people growing up in Belfast in the 1970s, 80s and 90s during the Troubles, as well as their involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and inquiries into the Disappeared and particularly the murder of Jean McConville.[4] Interviews from the Belfast Project are woven into the narrative which also includes depictions of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing and the subsequent hunger strike by the Price sisters, Dolours and Marian.[5]
Cast
[edit]- Lola Petticrew as Dolours Price
- Maxine Peake as older Dolours
- Hazel Doupe as Marian Price
- Helen Behan as older Marian
- Anthony Boyle as Brendan Hughes
- Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as older Brendan
- Josh Finan as Gerry Adams
- Michael Colgan as older Gerry
- Seamus O'Hara as Mackers (Anthony McIntyre)
- Kerri Quinn as Crissie Price
- Stuart Graham as Albert Price
- Rory Kinnear as Frank Kitson
- Amy Molloy as Private Sarah Jane
- Frank Blake as Seamus Wright
- Emma Canning as Kathleen
- Adam Best as Joe Lynskey
- Martin McCann as Pat
- Emily Healy as Helen McConville
- Laura Donnelly as older Helen
- Isaac Heslip as Archie McConville
- Judith Roddy as Jean McConville
- Damien Molony as Stephen Rea
Episodes
[edit]| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Cause" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
| 2 | "Land of Password, Wink, and Nod" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
| 3 | "I'll Be Seeing You" | Mary Nighy | Clare Barron | November 14, 2024 |
| 4 | "Tout" | Mary Nighy | Joe Murtagh | November 14, 2024 |
| 5 | "Evil Little Maniacs" | Anthony Byrne | Story by : Joe Murtagh & Kirsten Sheridan & Joshua Zetumer Teleplay by : Joe Murtagh | November 14, 2024 |
| 6 | "Do No Harm" | Alice Seabright | Clare Barron | November 14, 2024 |
| 7 | "Theater People" | Anthony Byrne | Clare Barron & Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
| 8 | "I Lay Waiting" | Michael Lennox | Story by : Kirsten Sheridan Teleplay by : Kirsten Sheridan & Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
| 9 | "The People in the Dirt" | Michael Lennox | Joshua Zetumer | November 14, 2024 |
Production
[edit]The production is an adaptation of the Patrick Radden Keefe best-selling book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, which detailed the abduction and murder of widowed mother-of-ten Jean McConville.[6] Edward McDonnell, Monica Levinson, Joshua Zetumer and Michael Lennox are executive producers with Zetumer also serving as showrunner and Lennox directing the nine-part series. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson's Color Force are producing.[7]
In February 2024, Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan and Maxine Peake were confirmed as the lead cast.[8] The cast also includes Michael Colgan, Kerri Quinn, Stuart Graham, Laura Donnelly, Rory Kinnear, Amy Molloy, Helen Behan, Damien Molony and Judith Roddy.[9][10][11][5] Filming took place in the Walton area of Liverpool in May 2023. Filming locations also include Belfast, London, Sheffield,[12] and Shepton Mallet Prison, near Bath in Somerset in August and September 2023.[13]
Broadcast
[edit]The series was released internationally on 14 November, 2024, on Disney+ in the UK and elsewhere[14] and on Hulu in the United States.[15]
The series portrays Gerry Adams as being a senior IRA commander. Adams has always denied any involvement in the IRA. Each episode contains an endnote stating "Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence."[16] At the end of episodes 7 to 9 there is an additional disclaimer that "He further denies any involvement in the abduction of Jean McConville."
Episode 9 depicts Marian shooting Jean McConville. Marian Price has denied any involvement in the death of McConville.[16][17] The episode contains an endnote stating "Marian Price also denies any involvement in the murder of Jean McConville." In December 2024, she initiated legal action against the makers of the show for the depiction.[18]
Reception
[edit]Viewership
[edit]The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which tracks 20 million monthly viewing decisions across all streaming platforms in the U.S., calculated that Say Nothing was the seventh most-streamed series in the U.S. from November 14—20.[19][20] It moved to ninth place for the week ending November 27.[21][22]
Critical response
[edit]Say Nothing holds a 93% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from 45 critics and an average rating of 8.5/10 on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The critics consensus on the website states, "All the more powerful for its moral and political ambiguity, Say Nothing is a haunting depiction of The Troubles."[23] On Metacritic, the series has a "generally favorable" reception based on a weighted average score of 80 out of 100 from 23 critics.[24]
Benji Wilson of The Daily Telegraph gave Say Nothing a grade of five stars out of five, describing it as a powerful blend of history, tragedy, and thriller, effectively weaving together multiple narratives that span four decades of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He praised the series for its compelling portrayal of key figures like Gerry Adams, Jean McConville, Dolours Price, and Brendan Hughes, noting their strong performances and well-developed storylines. Wilson acknowledged the challenge of adapting Patrick Radden Keefe's 2018 book but commended the show for capturing its essence. He pointed out that the series initially romanticizes the IRA but later shifts to a more profound reflection on the past, with the inclusion of interviews from the Belfast Tapes. He highlighted the theme of the need for reconciliation and the tension between silence and truth, particularly through the character of Gerry Adams.[9] Lucy Mangan of The Guardian rated Say Nothing three stars out of five, saying it could have easily become chaotic, given its multiple narratives and time shifts, but it maintains clarity by firmly grounding its characters and their stories in history. She praised the series for its gripping portrayal of the Troubles, particularly focusing on the abduction of Jean McConville and the story of Dolours Price, an IRA volunteer. Mangan highlighted the performances, especially from Maxine Peake as Dolours in later years and Lola Petticrew as her younger self. She noted that while the series is emotionally engaging, it sometimes feels overly sympathetic to its main characters, particularly the Price sisters, Gerry Adams, and Brendan Hughes, and fails to fully address the consequences of their actions. Despite its darkening tone, Mangan felt that the show did not sufficiently reckon with the suffering caused by its protagonists.[25]
Reactions
[edit]McConville's son was critical of the adaption, saying that "[u]sing what happened to our mother for entertainment is sickening. To make money out of her murder and the pain that has been in our lives ever since is cruel and obscene. I doubt they even think of us as real people."[26] On 4 December 2024, Marian Price announced, through her solicitor, that she would be taking legal action against Disney+ over the series depicting her killing Jean McConville.[27][28][29]
References
[edit]- ^ O'Reilly, Séamas (12 November 2024). "'No Americans putting on bad Belfast accents!' How Disney drama Say Nothing brings the Troubles to life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ "Say Nothing premiere date and more to know about the upcoming FX series". Show Snob. 24 August 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ "Say Nothing: critics react to Disney Plus and Hulu series with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes". The Irish News. 18 November 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ "Liverpool street transformed". Liverpool Echo. 24 May 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ a b Herman, Alison (14 November 2024). "FX's 'Say Nothing' Is a Moving, Empathetic Assessment of the Troubles: TV Review". Variety. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Breslin, John (18 July 2023). "Disney begins filming 10-part drama on Jean McConville's abduction and murder". Irish News. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (1 February 2024). "Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan and Maxine Peake To Star In FX Limited Series 'Say Nothing'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ^ Reid, Kurtis (2 February 2024). "Cast revealed for TV adaptation of book about Troubles and Jean McConville disappearance". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ^ a b Wilson, Benji (7 November 2024). "Say Nothing, review: superb drama captures both the tragedy – and the thrills – of the Troubles". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ Fienberg, Daniel (13 November 2024). "'Say Nothing' Review: FX/Hulu's Tale of the Troubles Is Powerful, Ambitious and a Little Too Scattered". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (14 November 2024). "The Troubles Are Too Big For 'Say Nothing' To Contain". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Williams, Olivia (25 May 2023). "Beaumont: Troubles era Belfast drama films in Liverpool ahead of Disney Plus release". Belfast Live. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ Linham, Laura (29 August 2023). "All you need to know about 'Beaumont', the new drama filming at Shepton Mallet Prison". sheptonmallet.nub. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ Cumber, Robert (4 June 2023). "Beaumont TV series: New 10-part drama being filmed in Sheffield is set in Belfast during the Troubles". Thestar.co.uk.
- ^ Blackburn, Alix (14 November 2024). "Hulu's new drama thriller just dropped". Tom's Guide. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- ^ a b Emma Fraser (15 November 2024). "Say Nothing: Who Were the Real Dolours and Marian Price?". Elle.com. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ Morris, Allison (1 November 2018). "Marian Price denies murder of Jean McConville". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
- ^ "Marian Price suing Disney+ over 'Say Nothing' scene". RTÉ. 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ^ Al-Ghamdi, Abdullah (25 November 2024). "Historical Drama With 92% RT Score Becomes Streaming Hit". Screen Rant. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Meek, Andy (23 November 2024). "TV you can't skip: The 10 hottest shows right now on Paramount+, Apple TV+, Prime Video, HBO, Netflix and more". Boy Genius Report. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Al-Ghamdi, Abdullah (29 November 2024). "Taylor Sheridan's New Show Beats Yellowstone For Top Streaming Spot". Screen Rant. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Meek, Andy (30 November 2024). "Landman, Yellowstone, and the Rest of This Week's Biggest Streaming TV Hits". Boy Genius Report. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ "Say Nothing: Limited Series". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
- ^ "Say Nothing Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
- ^ Mangan, Lucy (14 November 2024). "Say Nothing review – a compelling but fatally flawed account of the Troubles". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
- ^ Moore, Paul (11 March 2019). "New TV show to document one of the most infamous murders during The Troubles". JOE. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
- ^ O'Neill, Julian (4 December 2024). "Say Nothing: Marian Price to sue Disney over murder scene". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ^ "Marian Price suing Disney+ over 'Say Nothing' scene". RTÉ News. 4 December 2024. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ^ McCurry, Cate (4 December 2024). "Veteran republican suing Disney over IRA murder scene". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
External links
[edit]- Say Nothing at IMDb
Say Nothing tells the dark true story of two young sisters and the lengths they went to for the IRA
Northern Irish actor Lola Petticrew plays IRA member Dolours Price in Say Nothing. (Supplied: Disney+)
It was after stumbling upon the obituary for Dolours Price in 2013 that New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe was compelled to write his bestselling book, Say Nothing.
Optioned into a TV show almost as soon as it was published in 2018, Keefe catalogued the stories of the Irish republican and IRA member, and the woman potentially "disappeared" by her, single mother-of-10 Jean McConville.
Say Nothing is deliberately truncated in its scope. Keefe never intended for the book, and now TV show, to be an exhaustive account of the period known as The Troubles – the decades-long violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland between Protestant unionists (otherwise known as 'loyalists' for their loyalty to the English crown) and Roman Catholic nationalists (otherwise known as 'republicans' for their desire to unify with the Republic of Ireland).
Countering the many informative yet dense books that exist on The Troubles, Keefe distilled the impacts of the conflict by focusing in on the lives of Dolours and her sister Marian, terrorists to some, freedom fighters to others; Jean McConville, whose family still live tarnished by unfounded allegations that she was an informant; and top IRA commanders Brendan 'The Dark' Hughes and Gerry Adams.
An astonishing feat of narrative non-fiction, Say Nothing reads more like a novel than a history book, and the TV adaptation is similar – treading rich and interesting ground by being a dramatisation of historical actors and key events that unfolded during The Troubles rather than a documentary. A steadfast allegiance to the truth characterises them both, largely informed by testimonies granted to the oral history undertaking, The Belfast Project.
The disappearance of Jean
Throughout The Troubles, 17 people "disappeared" without a trace. Their loved ones never found out what happened to them, whether they were alive or dead, or where their bodies were. The TV show starts, as the book does, with the abduction of Jean McConville at gunpoint by eight men and women, situating its primary sympathies with The Troubles' many victims, known and otherwise.
The TV adaptation underlines how young the two sisters and their peers were during this time. (Supplied: Disney+)
If the book is focused, the TV show narrows the lens even more. Bit players in Dolours and Marian's lives and swathes of background information are foregone in favour of a pulsating narrative that forges ahead at a breakneck speed, as the two find themselves taken to the extremes of a cause they believe in deeply.
Lola Petticrew is effervescent as the plucky and intelligent Dolours, fashioning their red hair into different styles as she evolves into disparate versions of herself – from pacifist to bank robber to bomb-maker to hunger-striker. Hazel Doupe is excellent as her dourer and more militant younger sister Marian – willing to go wherever Dolours leads her, and further.
If there is to be one criticism of the show, it's that there's not enough backgrounding of the discrimination that faced Irish Catholics, who were routinely denied jobs, housing, education, the right to vote and access to political positions of power. The politicisation of young disenfranchised Irish Catholics and their belief in the fairness of their armed struggle makes particular sense in this context.
As teenagers elsewhere in the world fall in love and while their time away doing not much at all, Dolours and Marian are fundraising for the IRA (read: robbing banks dressed as nuns), agitating to carry Armalite guns instead of being relegated to making food – roles traditionally performed by women in the IRA until the sisters came onto the scene – and working for Gerry's mysterious Unknowns task force.
The more visually immediate medium of television underlines how incredibly young the two sisters and their peers were during this formative period – Dolours and Marian were 21 and 18, respectively, when they joined the IRA.
Through casual asides in conversations, the show's tightly honed script skilfully conveys the sense of fatality and foregone conclusions instilled in many Irish Republican children from a young age. They grow up fantasising how they'll die – whether by firing squad or being hung for treason – while many of their upbringings are cloaked in the honour of belonging to a long lineage of men and women imprisoned or killed for their republicanism.
But despite all this, 1970s West Belfast is resurrected through pops of colour, meticulously observed fashion, a rollicking punk rock soundtrack and sweeping vistas of the city that disguise the turmoil happening underneath.
(L-r) Josh Finan and Anthony Boyle play young versions of Gerry Adams and Brendan Hughes. (Supplied: Disney+)
Montages of Dolours and Marian plotting and scheming alongside the charismatic Brendan (a rapscallion Anthony Boyle, sporting a fetching moustache identical to the real-life Hughes) and the morally vacillating Gerry (a reedy, inscrutable Josh Finan) are imbued with a sense of heady fun and light-heartedness, despite the severity of what they're planning.
The show expertly evokes the halcyon days of youth and the romance of radical politics, though it's careful to never romanticise the actions of the quartet, which in many cases lead to the deaths and injury of civilians.
The long shadow of history
Slowing down in what is effectively the second act of the show, Say Nothing catapults a decade forward as the characters move from moral clarity to moral ambiguity in their middle-age. An increasingly embattled Dolours, Marian and Brendan find themselves left behind by Gerry's negotiations of a peace process as head of the Sinn Féin party, and his categorical denial of ever having been in the IRA.
Their conviction in the violent acts they perpetrated in their youth is robbed retrospectively of its political justification, leaving them feeling remorse and guilt. Unfolding alongside this shared existential crisis is Helen McConville's dogged search for her mother, her grief an enduring testament of the IRA's untold violence.
Say Nothing is careful to never romanticise the actions of the group. (Supplied: Disney+)
You can't spoil history, but one of the most compelling qualities of Say Nothing lies in its marriage of a cold case murder with broader commentary about the psychological toll of violent resistance. Towards the end of the book, Keefe discovers who Jean's murderer is – a twist that's handled as masterfully in the show as it is in the source material.
Say Nothing is about a collective culture of silence, and the paralysis in not being able to grieve, reconcile the past with the present, and move forward.
The echoes and ruptures of The Troubles still reverberate through Northern Ireland today. Every episode of the show is bookended by a statement that Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA. Families continue to search for their disappeared loved ones. Long-held prejudices simmer.
By casting Petticrew and Boyle – two Northern Irish actors who grew up in the long shadow of The Troubles – and deferring to their lived experience, this faithful adaptation honours the complexities, nuances and contradictions of a state in crisis.
Say Nothing is streaming now on Disney+.
The Devastating True Story Behind FX’s Say Nothing
16 minute read
By Shannon Carlin
November 14, 2024 12:13 PM EST
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the book and TV versions of Say Nothing
With his 2018 international bestseller, Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, journalist and author Patrick Radden Keefe offered a deep dive into the complicated history of the Troubles, the nearly 30-year conflict between Irish Catholics and U.K. Protestants in Northern Ireland. Now, the FX limited series of the same name brings the captivating and devastating true story of Ireland’s fight to unite its nation to the small screen.
Say Nothing, available to stream on Hulu, picks up in the 1960s in West Belfast as the violence between Protestant loyalists and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles, begins to escalate. The series recalls some of the most notable moments of the conflict, the origins of which can be traced back hundreds of years, through the eyes of several key members of the IRA, including high-ranking volunteer Dolours Price (played by Lola Petticrew), commanding officer Brendan “the Dark” Hughes (Anthony Boyle), and Gerry Adams (Josh Finan), the future president of the Irish political party Sinn Féin. (The now 76-year-old Adams has long denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence despite reports to the contrary.)
Across nine episodes, Say Nothing also investigates the high cost of the IRA’s quest for peace by any means necessary on its members and those it swore to be fighting for. A high profile example of the IRA’s controversial treatment of alleged informers was the 1972 murder of Jean McConville, a widow and mother of ten who was accused of being a traitor.
Read more about the true story behind Say Nothing below.
What happened to Jean McConville?
It’s the question at the center of Say Nothing — and where the FX series begins.
In December 1972 (the exact date is unconfirmed), Jean McConville was taken from her Belfast home by a group of four women and eight men. Many of them were masked, and at least one was carrying a gun, but McConville’s ten children, who ranged in age from 20 to six, quickly realized that their mother’s abductors were not strangers. They were their neighbors at Divis Flats, a labyrinthine public housing complex in West Belfast that was “almost entirely Catholic” in population and “a stronghold for armed resistance,” as Patrick Radden Keefe writes in Say Nothing.
The men and women who took the 38-year-old widow that day were also members of the Belfast Brigade, the city’s local chapter of the Provisional IRA. The “Provos” were not the county’s only republican paramilitary force, but they considered themselves the only legitimate successors to the original IRA, who fought from 1919 to 1921 in the Irish War of Independence. The guerilla war against the British occupation of Ireland, also known as the Anglo-Irish War, resulted in the partition of the country, with the U.K. government dividing Ireland into two self-governing countries known as Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. However, this division led to widespread discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland, where the government was controlled by Protestant Loyalists.
By 1969, the IRA was mostly defunct, and, Keefe writes, was advocating “peaceful resistance through politics.” The displeasure with this approach from Catholics, specifically those in Northern Ireland, led to the emergence of the Provos that same year. The new army’s mission was to end British rule in Northern Ireland and facilitate Irish reunification. Unlike their predecessor, which advocated for non-violent resistance through politics, the Provos believed that armed resistance was necessary to finally securing an independent and unoccupied Ireland. The Provos insisted that their destructive operations, like car bombings, were not directed at civilians. “The point was to destroy property, not to murder people,” Keefe writes in Say Nothing. But this distinction did not stop the IRA from being designated a terrorist group in the U.K. and the U.S. by the mid–1970s.
The Provos also believed in absolute loyalty. Before the kidnapping, McConville, who Keefe describes in Say Nothing as a small, pale woman who “had spent nearly half her life either pregnant or recovering from childbirth,” had been accused of being a “tout,” Irish slang for an informant. People who were considered traitors by the IRA were often killed and their bodies were left in the street as an example to anyone else who considered sharing secrets with the British.
McConville’s children have always denied the allegations that their mother was an informant. They claim that she was “a Protestant widow in a nationalist Catholic neighborhood at the apex of sectarian tension” who was a “victim of bigoted animus.” They would often retell a story, one that is reenacted in the series, about how, shortly before she disappeared, their mother tended to a wounded British soldier in Divis Flats only to wake up the next morning to find the words “Brit Lover” painted on their door. Days later, McConville, who struggled with mental illness following the passing of her husband, would disappear, never to be seen again.
It would take more than three decades before the McConville family learned what happened to Jean, thanks, in part, to an unexpected admission from a noteworthy IRA member named Dolours Price.
Lola Petticrew as Dolours Price in Say Nothing Rob Youngson/FXWho is Dolours Price?
Dolours Price grew up in a family that had been fighting for the Irish republican cause for multiple generations. Sometimes to their detriment; Price’s aunt Birdie, one of her mother’s sisters, lost both of her hands and her sight in 1938 while helping the IRA move a cache of explosives that suddenly detonated.
In her teens, Price followed in her family’s footsteps, but looked to do so through non-violence, taking a page from the U.S. Civil Rights movement. But the 1969 incident at the Burntollet Bridge, in which 100 peaceful protestors were injured after they were ambushed by nearly 300 Protestant loyalists, radicalized the teenager. Fighting back began to seem to her like the only way to free her countrymen and women.
In 1971, Price, along with her younger sister, Marian, asked to join the IRA. Up until then, women were only allowed to be a part of Cumann na mBan, the female auxiliary wing of the IRA, but “I wanted to fight, not make tea or roll bandages,” Price said, according to Say Nothing. “Army or nothing.” The two teenagers would become the first full time female members of the IRA in the organization’s history.
Almost immediately, the Price sisters became invaluable members of the IRA, which FX’s Say Nothing shows in thrilling detail in its early episodes. The two started out as couriers, ferrying money and munitions north across the border at their own risk, before they became gun-toting rebels who robbed banks dressed as nuns and wore platinum blonde wigs to spring fellow members out of captivity.
Dolours, like many others in the IRA, was galvanized by Bloody Sunday, the 1972 massacre in which British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march. The IRA ramped up their tactics, introducing weapons like car bombs and other powerful homemade explosives, which resulted in 1972 becoming the organization’s most violent year. Nearly 500 people lost their lives, nearly half were civilians.
Dolours’ unwavering commitment to the cause would be rewarded by Gerry Adams, an ex-bartender turned activist, who she described as a “gawky fella with big black-rimmed glasses.” She, as well as others, claim he was the “the key strategist” for the Belfast Brigade back in those days. Adams denies any connection to the IRA, and each episode of Say Nothing ends with a disclaimer about his being a member or participating in “any IRA-related violence.” Through his attorneys, Adams reiterated that he “had no involvement in the killing or burial of any of those secretly buried by the IRA” in a statement to the Irish Times on Nov. 13.
The book and show paint a different picture. Adams allegedly recruited Dolours and her younger sister for the “Unknowns,” a black-ops squad established within the Provos that was tasked with helping rule out dissent and reported directly to him. She also claimed that Adams helped her and her sister plan the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, which left nearly 250 people injured after two car bombs detonated in the heart of London.
Josh Finan as Gerry AdamsCourtesy of FXWhat happened to Dolours Price after the Old Bailey bombing?
After the London bombing, Dolours and Marian were convicted of conspiring to cause “an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life” and sentenced to 20 years in Brixton Prison, a high-security all-male facility that rarely housed women. But due to the long history of IRA jail breaks, the British weren’t taking any chances with the young women now known as the “Sisters of Terror.” After Dolours and Marian’s request to serve out their sentences as political prisoners and be moved to a Northern Island prison was denied, the sisters went on a hunger strike. Their horrifying saga becomes the focus of Say Nothing’s engrossing but often hard to watch sixth episode.
In 1981, after 208 days of refusing to eat and being force fed by the prison for 167 of them, Dolours and Marian were sent back to Northern Ireland, where they served their remaining time in a women’s prison an hour outside of Belfast. Dolours was released in 1981 for health reasons, nearly a year after Marian, and vowed that once she was out she would dedicate herself to “urging her fellow Catholics to refrain from violence.”
After spending eight years in jail, Dolours began to question the IRA’s “culture of self-sacrifice” and how that led her to take part in acts of violence that she no longer felt she could defend. At 30 years old, she had spent the majority of her twenties in jail and was looking to settle down. In 1983, she married Irish actor Stephen Rea, had two kids, and began working as a journalist. But Dolours lived with the trauma and guilt of her past, struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, and PTSD up until her 2013 death from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 61. (It was Dolours’ obit in the New York Times that inspired Keefe to write Say Nothing.)
Before Dolours passed away, she and other former members of the IRA sat down with the Belfast Project to talk about her experience as a member of the Provos. What they revealed helped multiple families understand what happened to their long-lost loved ones, including the McConvilles.Lola Petticrew as Dolours PriceCourtesy of FX
What is the Belfast Project?
The Belfast Project is an oral history of the Troubles led by Irish journalist and writer Ed Moloney. The goal of the project, which was created by Boston College, was to interview former members of the IRA and Provisional IRA in hopes of putting together a study for future generations of “the phenomenology of sectarian violence.”
With help from Anthony “Mackers” McIntyre, a South Belfast native and Provos volunteer who had served 17 years in prison for the murder of a loyalist paramilitary officer, frontline members of the paramilitary armies gave interviews to the Belfast Project about the crimes that they and others had committed. The only catch was their interviews were anonymous and could not be released until after their death. There was no legal immunity for coming forward: The IRA remained an unlawful organization until 2005 when it formally announced an end to its armed campaign and the former members’ unfettered honesty could have landed them in jail.
McIntyre began conducting interviews in 2001, seeking out those Provos who had a falling out with Gerry Adams, who, since becoming a politician in 1983, had denied that he had any involvement with the group. McIntryre and Moloney spoke to more than 40 ex-paramilitary members. The Belfast Project’s work deeply informs the FX series, which focuses on the testimonials of alleged Adams acolytes Dolours Price and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes.Anthony Boyle as Brendan HughesCourtesy of FX
Who is Brendan Hughes?
==
Say Nothing (book)
.png) Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Patrick Radden Keefe |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Matthew Blaney[1] |
| Cover artist | Stefano Archetti (photo) |
| Language | English |
| Subject | The Troubles |
| Publisher | William Collins |
Publication date | 1 November 2018 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 513 |
| Awards | 2019 Orwell Prize for Political Writing |
| ISBN | 9780008159252 |
| OCLC | 1063745342 |
| 941.670824092 | |
| LC Class | DA995.B5 K44 2018 |
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland is a 2018 book by writer and journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. It focuses on the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It spent six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list and received widespread critical acclaim. It was adapted into a 2024 limited series for Hulu and Disney+.
Summary
[edit]Say Nothing's subject is The Troubles in Northern Ireland, with the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville as a central focus. The book describes the lives of Dolours Price, Brendan Hughes, Gerry Adams, and Jean McConville's children. Through these figures, it offers a history of the Troubles as a whole: the civil rights movement and the turn to violence at the end of the 1960s, the Provisional IRA's bombing campaign, the 1981 hunger strike, the peace process and the opposition it faced within the republican movement, and the post-conflict struggle to understand crimes like McConville's murder. The book also details the efforts of the Belfast Project to research and investigate the events of the conflict. Keefe began researching and writing the book after reading an obituary for Dolours Price in 2013.[2]
Title
[edit]The book's title is taken from the poem "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney from his collection North (1975).[2]
Publication
[edit]Say Nothing was first published by the William Collins imprint of HarperCollins on 1 November 2018. It was later published in the US by Doubleday on 26 February 2019.[3]
The book debuted at number five on The New York Times Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction best-sellers list on 17 March 2019.[4] It spent six weeks on the list.[5] Say Nothing also debuted at number seven on The New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction best-sellers list on 17 March 2019,[6] and spent six weeks on the list.[7]
Reception
[edit]According to Book Marks, the book received "rave" reviews based on twenty-two critic reviews, with 11 being "rave" and 11 being "positive".[8] In Books in the Media, a site that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received an average rating of 4.54 out of 5 from the site which was based on four critic reviews.[9] In the May/June 2019 issue of Bookmarks, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received an average rating of 4 out of 5 based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "All in all, Say Nothing is a "riveting account" (Minneapolis Star Tribune) sure to interest amateur historians".[10][11]
Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times wrote, "Keefe's narrative is an architectural feat, expertly constructed out of complex and contentious material, arranged and balanced just so."[12]
Maureen Corrigan of NPR enthusiastically wrote, "Keefe is a storyteller who captures the complexities of a historical moment by digging deep into the lives of people on all sides of the conflict."[13] Corrigan concludes, "At the end of his panoramic book, which gathers together history, politics and biography, Keefe tightens the focus back to the mystery of McConville's abduction and murder. And, as in the most ingenious crime stories, Keefe unveils a revelation — lying, so to speak, in plain sight — that only further complicates the moral dimensions of his tale."[13]
Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post described how Say Nothing is "a cautionary tale, [that] speaks volumes — about the zealotry of youth, the long-term consequences of violence and the politics of forgetting."[14]
The Economist noted, "The discerning skill with which Mr. Radden Keefe gets inside these characters' minds may unsettle some readers, but it is also his book's strength. He shows how people who in peacetime might just have been strong-willed or colourful types came to condone or perpetrate the unspeakable."[15]
Stephen Phillips of the Los Angeles Times praised the book saying, "'Say Nothing' powerfully documents a society benumbed by trauma attempting to reckon with the abyss that engulfed it."[16]
The book was named one of the top ten books of 2019 by both The New York Times Book Review[17] and The Washington Post.[18] It won the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.[19] In 2024, the New York Times named Say Nothing the 19th best book of the 21st century.[20]
Criticism
[edit]In May 2019, Irish journalist Ed Moloney, who was the director of the Belfast Project, published a piece in CounterPunch in which he alleged several inaccuracies in Keefe's book. He also criticised Keefe's citation style: "The writing thus flows uninterrupted, appearing to the untutored reader – or reviewer – as being the work of the author when it may not be. It takes hard work and determination to discover how much of this book is truly original reporting and how much is taken from other people's work. A 'more commercial narrative' indeed."[21]
Television adaptation
[edit]In February 2024, FX announced that they would be adapting the book into a limited series.[22] The series premiered on 14 November 2024.[23]
References
[edit]- ^ "Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ a b Kroll, Andy (26 February 2019). "Terrorism, Torture and 3,600 Lives Lost: Revisiting 'the Troubles' in Northern Ireland". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- ^ "Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
- ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 21 April 2019. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 17 March 2019. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers". The New York Times. 21 April 2019. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland". Book Marks. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ "Say Nothing Reviews". Books in the Media. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
- ^ "Say Nothing" (PDF). Bookmarks. p. 27. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ Szalai, Jennifer (20 February 2019). "'Say Nothing' Unearths Buried Secrets in Northern Ireland". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ a b "'Say Nothing': Murder, Memory And A Masterful History Of The Troubles". NPR. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Barrett, Devlin (8 May 2019). "Tale of a woman who died and a woman who killed in the Northern Ireland conflict". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ "A searing reflection on the Troubles and their aftermath". The Economist. 12 January 2019. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ Phillips, Stephen (6 March 2019). "Review: 'Say Nothing' reexamines a mother's murder in Northern Ireland's most violent years". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
- ^ "The 10 Best Books of 2019". The New York Times. 22 November 2019. Archived from the original on 24 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ "Best Books of 2019". The Washington Post. 21 November 2019. Archived from the original on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ Beth Parker (12 March 2020). "Announcing the 2019 Award Winners". bookcritics.org. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
- ^ "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". The New York Times. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
- ^ Moloney, Ed (2 May 2019). "An American Reporter in Belfast: How a New Yorker Writer Got So Much Wrong in His Bestselling Book On The Troubles". CounterPunch. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (1 February 2024). "Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan and Maxine Peake To Star In FX Limited Series 'Say Nothing'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ^ Petski, Denise (22 August 2024). "FX Limited Serie
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