With the first episode of the second series of popular Northern Ireland-based drama ‘Hope Street’ airing earlier this week, The Impartial Reporter spoke to Enniskillen actor Ciarán McMenamin about reprising his role as Inspector Finn O’Hare and what audiences can expect from the new series.

Commenting that he had a ball filming the first series of Hope Street, and therefore was delighted to reprise the leading role for Series Two, Ciarán told this newspaper that the show initially took him by surprise.

“When they offered [the role] to me, it came in out of the blue, I hadn’t heard about it in advance.

“I hadn’t auditioned for it; I just got sent the script, saying, ‘Would you like to do this?’ which doesn’t happen that often, no matter how well you do, so that’s a real pleasure for an actor,” Ciarán explained.

“Then I read the script and I was really charmed with it. I just went, ‘Ah, this is exactly the kind of thing I’d like to be in at home’, because it’s not really heavy and dark.

“You know, it’s got a bit of tongue in cheek; it shows our humour; and it’s just nice to see Northern Irish people in sort of an everyday context,” he said, noting that the series reminded him of shows such as ‘Doc Martin’ or ‘Monarch of the Glen’.

“So to come back to it this year was brilliant,” he added.

Talking about the success of the first series of Hope Street, Ciarán said: “It was a big success on iPlayer. A lot of people in England watched it, and it’s on BritBox in America – the yanks are lapping it up, so it’s been a wee success story.

“I think people have really responded to something set at home that isn’t all doom and gloom. It’s something easy to watch when you’re eating your tea,” he added with a laugh.

Explaining that with the second series audiences can expect strong storylines, Ciarán said: “The storylines have really come on. The overall storylines for the main characters are really great this time.

“You’ve still got a crime per week, but there’s a really incredible storyline this year that plays out over the 10 episodes.

“From something that was quite fluffy and fun the first year, it was a real acting challenge [for me] this year, which was great,” he explained.

Along with having the opportunity of delving deeper into his character of Inspector O’Hare for the second series, Ciarán – who lives between London and Co. Sligo – also enjoyed working with his Hope Street co-stars and crew again, the majority of whom are also natives of Northern Ireland.

“Everybody knows each other and we had such a laugh. “During the first series it was kind of weird because it was a bunch of people thrown together who’d all been in lockdown for two years.

“Like everybody else in the world, we’d all been stuck at home, and then we were all stuck on a film set, and there were all these weird rules and regulations so it was a real kind of bubble we were in, but we all got to know each other really well and formed a really good bond.

“There’s a Hope Street WhatsApp group and we all kind of live on it which is great,” he said, adding: “It was like going back to school with your mates in September!

“It’s a real proper, sarcastic Northern Ireland bunch of about 40 people every day. I absolutely loved it, I have to say,” he said, noting that it was also great to be able to go home to Fermanagh at the weekends when he was filming in Donaghadee and Strangford Lough.

“Honestly, it’s a dream job, I really love it. Long may it continue,” he told this newspaper.

Hope Street started on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer on Monday, November 7, with episode two airing at 7pm on Monday, November 14. Series one is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.

The series will be available on BBC Daytime in the new year.