Gerry Hutch documentary puts local actors in the dock
Actors Pauline Hayes and Paul Dunne (front and back left) from Carlow Little Theatre, in a reconstructed courtroom scene in the RTE documentary on the life of Gerry Hutch. Also pictured two actors from Baltinglass, John Channing and Avril O'Reilly (right)
A HIGHLY-anticipated documentary on the life of convicted criminal Gerry Hutch made by RTÉ features local actors in a reconstruction of his trial for the Regency murders.
is a major new two-part documentary series from RTÉ’s documentary team, which has been almost a year in the making. For decades, convicted criminal Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has attracted huge public and media attention wherever he goes.
The first episode of the two-part documentary which aired last night (Monday), looked at his childhood and early years, while next week’s episode will focus on his trial in the Special Criminal Court. A reconstruction of the trial was filmed in Baltinglass Courthouse featuring two members of Carlow Little Theatre and two other actors from Baltinglass.
Little Theatre members Paul Dunne plays barrister Brendan Grehan, who represented Gerry Hutch, while Pauline Hayes plays one of the three judges presiding over the trial. John Channing and Avril O’Reilly, who were both members of Baltinglass Amateur Dramatics also act as a barrister and a judge respectively. Filming took place over four days in October and proved to be an unforgettable experience for the local actors.
Paul had worked previously with RTÉ on a documentary about the Kerry Babies, so when he got a call from the producers to appear on the Gerry Hutch programme, he welcomed the opportunity to be involved. “They liked what I did in the Kerry Babies programme so I got a call to take part in this documentary," said Paul. “Through my own research, I found him to be an interesting, multi-faceted character. This is a flagship programme for RTÉ so it’ll be interesting to see it.”
Pauline said that although she hadn’t acted in front of TV cameras before, the RTÉ crew put everyone at ease from day one. “It was a brilliant experience, everyone was so welcoming and lovely. I wasn’t intimidated by the cameras at all, but that was all down to them. They knew how to put us at ease. I loved it, it was a brilliant experience,” said Pauline. The second episode of will be aired next Monday night at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. The first episode is available to watch on the Player.
