{"id":379868,"date":"2026-04-03T11:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:28:08","slug":"were-like-a-little-family-we-all-have-our-little-jokes-and-bits-of-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/379868\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We’re like a little family..we all have our little jokes and bits of fun’"},"content":{"rendered":"

With The Young Offenders set to return with their signature blend of comedy and heart for a fifth season, it is remarkable to think that a decade has passed since Conor and Jock first won over audiences as Cork\u2019s most endearing rogues.<\/p>\n

The film and the subsequent television series have turned the cast into stars, and reinforced what many already knew: nothing compares to the Cork sense of humour. <\/p>\n

While The Young Offenders revolves around Conor and Jock, it is equally about the delightfully eccentric Billy Murphy, brilliantly played by Shane Casey.<\/p>\n

Reflecting back on 2016, could Casey ever have imagined that The Young Offenders would still be thriving in 2026?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot a hope,\u201d he admits. \u201cIt was the best decision I made to join the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI passed the place where I did my first scene in Mayfield for the film, the other day [and I was thinking] it is the best thing I\u2019ve ever been involved in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s providing me with a bit of work and notoriety, and fun and friends.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI love the bones off the two lads; Alex (Murphy) and Chris (Walley) are great friends of mine, as are most of the cast. I\u2019ve gotten to know the crew as well.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people come and go, but there is a core that is still there, and it\u2019s great.\u201d <\/p>\n

Casey says that while the audience has changed over the years, one thing has remained constant: the love for the show. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a new audience every time. There were kids who watched the film who are adults now, and there are new kids ready to watch this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s great for them is that there\u2019s a whole back catalogue of stuff for them to watch, they have the film and four other seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is rewarding when I meet people who get a buzz out of the show. It takes a lot for a kid to put a phone away for 25 minutes. For a family to sit down and watch something is rare, and we\u2019ve had families watching it together for ten years, which is brilliant.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last season saw a change in the show, as Walley could not be involved to the same extent as in previous seasons. With less Jock, Murphy\u2019s character Conor turned to Billy Murphy as his new partner in mayhem.<\/p>\n

But with Walley firmly back in the fold, what can we expect from season five?<\/p>\n

Casey says Conor and Jock are back together, and that is the most important thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys are back in town, and it\u2019s back to crime. They are a little bit older, maybe not necessarily wiser, but the core of the two lads is there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly\u2019s a little bit jealous that Conor and Jock are doing their own things, but eventually he gets over himself, and they rope him into a little bit of crime, and he ropes them into something.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, they\u2019re like George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Ocean\u2019s 11, and maybe I\u2019m Matt Damon.\u201d <\/p>\n

Casey says the cast and crew have become more than just friends, and credits this in part to the show\u2019s creator, Peter Foott, who has one strict rule. <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe are like a little family. Peter had one rule from day one: no assholes on set, and it worked.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have our little jokes with each other and bits of fun because we have known each other for so long, but the two lads at the core of it are superb actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the two lads to have really good, happy, healthy careers. They started off on the right foot ten years ago and they are keeping it going.\u201d <\/p>\n

In recent years, Cork\u2019s filmmaking talent has flourished, and it appears that The Young Offenders sparked something special. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a few bright moments in Cork over the past 30 years, like War Of The Buttons and The Wind That Shakes The Barley,\u201d says Casey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Peter made this lovely little independent film with a crew of four or five people that has spawned this little television show that pops up every couple of years, and it\u2019s great to see other things since then happen, like Christy. Its success was amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u00c9anna Hardwicke is having a great moment, says Casey, and he praises Alison Oliver\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur own Chris Walley won an Olivier Award in his first professional play, and Alex was brilliant in Saipan,\u201d says Casey.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cTo see people going off doing their projects is fantastic, because they open the door for other people who might be able to get their foot in the door.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Casey says that The Young Offenders\u2019 success is due not only to the talent of its actors and the skills of its writers, but also to the unique character and beauty of Cork itself, which is a major draw. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re telling a story all the time when we go away and say, \u2018I\u2019m from Cork\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you are from Cork city or West Cork, there is a way of doing things.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has become a very small place over the last couple of years, but we have a uniqueness and such a beautiful landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope people make more of an effort to embrace the industry, because it brings money into the city, it brings tourists into the city, and it\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the gasps when I went to the London Film Festival when The Young Offenders was shown originally and people saw how beautiful Cork is.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n The Young Offenders season five begins on RT\u00c9 One TV on Saturday, April 4, and is available on the RT\u00c9 Player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With The Young Offenders set to return with their signature blend of comedy and heart for a fifth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282,72127],"class_list":["post-379868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv","tag-young-offenders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}