IARO PRODUCTIONS

She was a Sinn Fein activist at UCG where she received a Masters Degree in economics in 1922.

She established the Irish Mission in London as the best known diplomatic party house during the 1930s where she befriended the Prince of Wales and had a major altercation with the German foreign minister, an ardent member of the Nazi Party. She became the most famous person in Ireland in 1939 when her first three recordings were played on what was then called Radio Eireann.

Mellow the Moonlight, Three lovely lassies from Bannion and The Blackbird  established her as Ireland's  very own radio darling. Then for three years she toured the country with her traditional Irish songs in her own inimitable Mayo style. 

 

She then moved with her husband to Mussolini's Italy where her husband was appointed head of the Irish Legation to the Holy See. While in Italy she found herself at the centre of an undercover network, led by Irishman Hugh O Flaherty, which saved thousands of Jews and allied prisoners of war  from the jaws of the notorious SS. Her activities in Italy were truly heroic and led to her being nominated by the British and the Americans for a raft of awards for her bravery, all of which she had to refuse because of Irish neutrality. 

 

She was Delia Murphy, born in Claremorris and reared in Hollymount, the most famous and best loved Mayo woman who ever lived.

 

Delia was a  special personality and totally unique. Culturally rural Irish of the tenant farmer class, Delia was, in fact, an Irish rural princess. Her father John, himself a tenant farmer, travelled to the Yukon for the Klondyke gold rush in 1898. He returned with his fortune and bought the Jenning's Estate in  Hollymount where Delia spent her youth. As a resident of the manse Delia acquired a confidence and self assurance that at that time was solely the preserve of the gentry. With her rural Irish accent and Mayo charm she would go on to beguile some of the great world leaders of the 20th century. This is her story.

 

Delia, by Iaro Productions, takes up the story in early 1921, in the weeks before the truce, where Delia leads a protest against the presence of British soldiers on the campus of UCG. Her action led to the Battle of the Quad, a famous incident in the folklore of the Galway university. It follows her career to London in the thirties where she succeeded in making the Irish Embassy the most popular of all the diplomatic quarters in the city of London. The series then goes on to look at her popular musical career including her heroic performance at the Ulster Hall where she continued her set even as the adjacent dock lands was being bombed. The story then moves to Rome where , in secret, she conducted her espionage career which is only now being being revealed for the first time. Delia is an homage to one of the greatest Irishwoman ever to grace the international stage.   

 

Her story is dramatised for radio in 5 x 30 minute episodes, featuring her music and the pantheon of characters who shared her extraordinary journey.

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Cast List

Eilish McCarthy _ Delia
Neill Bairead - Tom
Seamus O'Donnell
Eric Martyn
Jonathan Hannon
Oisin Parslow
Davin McGowan
Brian May
Lynelle Colleran
Diana Rogerson
Pete Ryan
Gerry Conneely
Riona Hughes
Cathnia Haverty
Ciosa McGinley
Claudia Glavey
Mattie Lohan
Kevin Murphy