One of the biggest disasters in Irish history is now set to become a TV show as Channel 4 have reportedly giving the green light to a comedy sitcom about the Irish famine.
Yes, you did read that right. A comedy. About the famine.
According to reports, the network has given the idea the go-ahead.
Screenwriter Hugh Travers told the Irish Times that he is putting pen to paper to write Hungry which he states will be like “Shameless in famine Ireland.”
Hmmm.
This is the famine that saw, during the years of 1845 and 1852, approximately one million people die of starvation in Ireland with yet a further 1.5 million people emigrating.
“Well, they say ‘comedy equals tragedy plus time’,” Travers said. “I don’t want to do anything that denies the suffering that people went through, but Ireland has always been good at black humour.”
A step too far maybe?
A lot of people seem to think so, to the point that an online petition has been started to stop the show from airing.
