Graham Norton’s Holding heads to ITV

Graham Norton’s BBC talkshow has aired since 2007

UK commercial broadcaster ITV has commissioned a four-part adaptation of novel a written by Irish talkshow host Graham Norton.

Holding, based on Norton’s 2016 debut novel, will be filmed on location in Ireland through this summer. The crime drama will be directed by Kathy Burke and written by Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Karen Cogan.

The show will be produced by Happy Prince, part of ITV Studios, and Martina Niland for Port Pictures, in association with Screen Ireland.

Conleth Hill (Game of Thrones, Dublin Murders, Vienna Blood) has been cast in the lead role of Sergeant PJ Collins, who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work.

When the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called upon to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career, forcing him to connect with the village he has tried hard to avoid.

ITV head of drama Polly Hill has commissioned the series for the channel and will oversee production from the broadcaster’s perspective. ITV Studios will handle international distribution.

Norton has been a fixture on UK screens since the 1990s. After a handful of acting roles in shows including Father Ted, he rose to prominence with chatshow So Graham Norton, which aired on Channel 4 from 1998 to 2002. Since 2007, he has hosted flagship BBC1 talkshow The Graham Norton Show, while he has also fronted the BBC’s Eurovision coverage since 2009.

As an author, Norton followed Holding with 2018’s A Keeper and 2020’s Home Stretch.