{"id":611494,"date":"2026-09-25T15:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611494\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T15:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T15:42:23","slug":"bbcs-rural-northern-irish-village-set-rom-com-gets-first-look-at-blue-lights-and-derry-girls-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/611494\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC’s rural Northern Irish village-set rom-com gets first look at Blue Lights and Derry Girls stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC’s upcoming new Northern Ireland-set series<\/a> Committed has been given a first look. The new rom-com features Blue Lights’ Diona Doherty as a woman named Julie Johnston, who attracts a recently-divorced Canadian accountant called Peter Hooley (Schitt’s Creek’s Dustin Milligan).<\/p>\n

Following “a whirlwind weekend in Toronto”, Peter “crosses the Atlantic to declare his love, only to discover he\u2019s landed in an old-fashioned and eccentric rural Northern Ireland village that\u2019s nothing like he imagined”.<\/p>\n

The first stills released by the BBC show the pair, as well as co-stars including Doherty’s fellow Derry Girls star Ian McElhinney as her on-screen dad William John.<\/p>\n

\"diona<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

\"chris<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

\"dustin<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

Also appearing are fellow Blue Lights star Patrick Buchanan as Rev Campbell Smiley, House of Guinness’ Seamus O\u2019Hara as John William, This Is Going to Hurt’s Muki Zubis as Julie\u2019s best friend Chimamanda, Belfast’s Chris McCurry as Mervyn, as well as Bloodlands’ Dan Gordon, The Handmaid\u2019s Tale’s Athena Karkanis and Gen V’s Georgie Murphy.<\/p>\n

The broadcaster previously teased that Committed “explores what it means to step outside your comfort zone – and how people who are very different from you can make life far more interesting than you planned”.<\/p>\n

Keith Martin, who co-created the series alongside Gerry Dee and Tim Loane, said: “We’re so excited to share our abrasive but loveable odd folk and their daft wee community with the world. Wait until you see our amazingly talented Canadian and beloved homegrown cast. A dream!”<\/p>\n

Jason Butler, BBC Northern Ireland Commissioning Editor, added: “Audiences are going to fall in love with this bold new comedy series. We\u2019ve a brilliant cast that viewers will be familiar with on both sides of the Atlantic \u2013 we\u2019re delighted to welcome Dustin to these shores starring alongside our own Diona Doherty.<\/p>\n

\"diona<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

\"dustin<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

“And it\u2019s fantastic for BBC Northern Ireland to link up with CBC on this innovative project helping to further develop and support the creative industry here and to bring a flavour of our Northern Ireland humour to comedy fans further afield.”<\/p>\n

Committed will air on BBC Northern Ireland in 2027.<\/p>\n

Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n

The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton’s life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies<\/a>, TV<\/a> and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME<\/a> and Screen International<\/a>. \u00a0Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings<\/a> to Love Is Blind<\/a>, and is equally in his element crossing every ‘t’ and dotting every ‘i’ as a sub-editor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC’s upcoming new Northern Ireland-set series Committed has been given a first look. The new rom-com features…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[219323,147144,2115,301230,2117,156,207184,2116,111,139,69,301229,251090,437],"class_list":["post-611494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-derry-girls","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-76ac04ab-0786-4b77-aaf7-c5e737f2b822","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-shorttitle-bbcs-northern-irish-village-set-rom-com-gets-first-look","tag-sponsored-false","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}