A comedy based during Ireland’s Great Famine has proved controversial on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The show is being developed by Britain’s Channel 4, which has defended the move. The potato blight of the 1840s killed millions and forced many more to emigrate.
There has been particular opposition to the show from Niall O’Dowd, the founder of Irish Central, a news website catering to Irish-Americans. Mr O’Dowd has started a petition to stop the show going ahead.
Channel 4 has compared the prospective series to classic comedies like Blackadder Goes Forth and M*A*S*H, highly successful sitcoms that were set during the First World War and Korean War respectively.
Dublin-based writer Hugh Travers is on board to script the potentially controversial series, while Channel 4 has had previous success with Irish audiences by producing Father Ted.Â