BritBox UK Original 'The Dry' Coming In May

BritBox only just started producing original content in mid-2020, but its shows are already making waves. From the initial four titles, including AMC's The Beast Must Die and PBS' upcoming Magpie Murders, these series star A-list British talent or are fan-driven favorites like the 2021 renewal of Sanditon. Not long after the Sanditon announcement, BritBox UK announced another project, this one in conjunction with Element and RTÉ One, in 2020. Titled The Dry, the series focusing on alcohol recovery and sobriety was funded partially via the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Along with BritBox UK's involvement came another stack of A-list cast, with Roisin Gallagher (The Fall) and Ciarán Hinds (Belfast) as the lead characters Shiv and Tom Sheridan. The series was created by playwright and screenwriter Nancy Harris (Secret Diary of a Call Girl). She said she realized the only depictions of alcoholism she'd seen on screen always characterized the disease in the most dramatic way possible. "Like a lot of people, addiction has touched my life in different ways," she explained to the RadioTimes. "I was interested in exploring the ordinary reality of being sober. That ordinary reality of going about life - dealing with family, parties, exes - and just not being able to have a drink."

That may sound like a multi-tissue box cryfest waiting to happen, but The Dry is billed as a dramedy. The trailer for it certainly captures a bitterly funny and irreverent tone.