This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine . Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is known for the Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd and the hit American romcom Bridesmaids, but it was the experience of shooting his 2012 coming-of-age Sky comedy Moone Boy, filmed in Boyle, where he grew up, that inspired him to write and direct his new show, Small Town, Big Story . Set in the fictional rural town of Drumbán, it follows a community that’s taken over by a huge Hollywood production.
And for O’Dowd — who recently moved from Los Angeles to London with his wife, writer Dawn O’Porter, and their two sons, aged 10 and seven — it was a chance to return to his roots. Small Town, Big Story took you back home to Boyle. What made you want to film there again? I’d been looking for a reason to go back and film close to home.
I was stuck in Los Angeles during lockdown in 2021 and we were living by a ravine. I’d walk the dog near it for two hours a day and it was the closest I had felt to home – the scenery reminded me of the forests where I grew up. It gave me a feeling of being far away.
And this show is how that feeling manifested itself. How did the experience of making Moone Boy a decade ago inspire your new story about a small town swallowed up by Hollywood? It’s not a coincidence! The locals love you at first and then eventually it’s like: "Oh my God, my driveway is blocked again!" You get into the practicalities of life and the novelty wears off. It’s interesting how.