Vultures

What I am about to write is more than likely going to be seen as a shameless exercise in promoting a series I have a recurring role on, but I can assure you that I am writing this as an independent observer. I do the series for the love of it, and because I want my name to be associated with something of this quality, not because I have aspirations to be the new Simon Pegg.

I have just returned from an intense weekend in Kilkenny of what is possibly the final time I will ever play Matt McLoughlin, the boozehound, skirt-chasing lawyer who represents the gentlemen detective agency of Vultures, in the increasingly popular and very, very funny webcom that can be found at www.vulturespi.com. In what has taken over a year to accomplish, those responsible for the story, a Kilkenny-based production company called Mycrofilms, are bringing the series to a close. While my involvment with the show has been limited to showing up for a day or two in order to shoot whatever scene I have in the episode at hand, I still had the opportunity to observe the blood, sweat, tears and semen that has gone into making the thing. Many of the cast and crew have given so much of their time (not to mention themselves) to this project, it is hard not to be seduced by the passion that they have for it, and this passion certainly comes across in the finished product.

In an era of weak, weak Irish scripted comedy (Soupy Norman, Bachelor's Walk and Aprés Match are some of the excluded, obviously), it is easy to be underwhelmed at the thought of an Irish series by twentysomethings, but this is no "Love is the Drug". Instead, Mycrofilms have set out to give audiences something that is purely entertaining, accesible, meaty and inspiring. Working with a micro-budget, they have crafted something which is filled to the brim with vivid performances, superiour writing, meticulous and evocative costumes, superior camera work (the lads are all clearly big film buffs), and, of course, grade-A gags. Be it the minor characters, like an Italia 90-obsessed wheeler-dealer who aids the detectives in their investigations, or some truly barmy sight gags (psychotic informant Jack Street's "ad for the telly" is my favourite joke in the whole series so far), it is clear that the term "low-budget comedy" is a disservice. At once buddy tale (the three detectives are, of course, mismatched, but in delightfully original ways); character comedy (the gallery of supporting characters keep things fresh, and give a sense of an ongoing world the detectives inhabit); and genuinly exciting detective serial (the ongoing series arc fleshes out the story, and the gothic churches of Kilkenny and the "Scarlet Lady" sublot give it a distinct Sherlockian feel). For some of the shite cranked out by broadcasters nowadays, this crowd are a breath of fresh air. As obnoxious teen/top-notch detective Janine Drew might say, "It's class as ya like, boy!"

Awww yeah.....