The Riordans - Characters

Characters

The show, which was created by James Douglas was to be called The Riordans after the name of the family, and to feature two middle-aged parents, Tom Riordan and his wife Mary Riordan, with their oldest son, Benjy and other siblings, including brother Michael and sister Jude, all of whom except Benjy had left farming for other careers and had more adverturous personal lives. Other leading characters included the family doctor, his Protestant gentry-born wife, the (radical Vatican II-oriented) Catholic priest, the conservative Church of Ireland rector, the local pub owner, some nomadic Irish Travellers and others.

Part of the success of the series was because many of the leading actors were themselves from the background they represented. John Cowley, who played the patriarch of the family, Tom Riordan was from real farming stock in Ardbraccan in County Meath and many of the issues his character had to deal with reflected his own life experiences in rural Ireland. Actor Tom Hickey, who played Benjy was from County Kildare in the midlands and also had personal experience of life in the part of the country in which the programme was set.