If you’ve spent any time reading about the history of Northern Ireland, you know Patrick Radden Keefe’s book wasn’t just a bestseller; it was a gut punch. Adapting that kind of dense, emotionally fraught non-fiction into a limited series is a massive gamble. The weight of the story—stretching from the 1970s disappearance of Jean McConville to the hunger strikes and the eventual peace process—falls squarely on the shoulders of the actors. Honestly, the cast of Say Nothing is a mix of fresh faces and seasoned Irish talent that makes the whole thing feel hauntingly real rather than just another TV drama.
It’s not just about getting the accents right. It’s about the eyes. When you're playing people like Dolours and Marian Price, you aren't just playing "rebels." You're playing young women who were radicalized by their environment, who believed they were soldiers, and who eventually had to live with the ghosts of what they did.
The Price Sisters: The Heart of the Rebellion
At the center of everything are the Price sisters.
Lola Petticrew plays Dolours Price. You might recognize them from Dating Amber or Three Families, but this is a completely different beast. Petticrew has this incredible ability to look both fragile and terrifyingly determined at the same time. Dolours was the first female provisional IRA member to go on a hunger strike, and Petticrew captures that transition from a young student to a hardened operative. It’s a performance that doesn't shy away from the contradictions of Dolours’ life—the glamour she supposedly brought to the movement versus the grim reality of the "Disappeared."
Then there’s Hazel Doupe as Marian Price. Doupe was phenomenal in You Are Not My Mother, and here she brings a certain steeliness that complements Petticrew. The bond between the sisters is the emotional anchor of the show. They weren't just sisters; they were comrades. Seeing them navigate the hunger strikes in Brixton Prison is some of the most difficult television you'll watch this year. The physical transformation both actors underwent to depict the toll of the hunger strikes is visceral. It makes you realize how young these women actually were when they were making life-and-death decisions for themselves and others.
Supporting the Cause: The IRA Leadership
You can't talk about the cast of Say Nothing without mentioning the men who orchestrated the campaign. Anthony Boyle plays Brendan Hughes, known as "The Dark." Boyle is currently on a massive hot streak after Masters of the Air and Manhunt. He’s got that brooding, intense energy that Hughes was known for. Hughes was a legendary figure in the IRA, a man who felt a deep sense of betrayal toward the end of his life regarding how the movement evolved. Boyle plays him with a heavy weariness that suggests he knows the cost of every bullet fired.
And then, of course, there is Gerry Adams.
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Playing a figure as polarizing as Adams is a thankless task, but Josh Finan takes it on. Finan, who was brilliant in The Responder, doesn't go for a caricature. He avoids the "Sat Nav" voice jokes and focuses on the strategist. The show explores Adams’ role during the Troubles while acknowledging his lifelong denial of ever being in the IRA. It’s a delicate balancing act. Finan portrays him as the intellectual of the group, the man always thinking three steps ahead of everyone else, even if those steps led into a moral gray area that still haunts Irish politics today.
Why the casting of Jean McConville matters so much
The disappearance of Jean McConville is the mystery that weaves the whole narrative together. She was a widowed mother of ten, snatched from her home in the Divis Flats in 1972. Megan Cusack plays her. It's a role that requires a huge amount of empathy because, for a long time, Jean was just a name in a file or a grainy photo in a newspaper.
Cusack brings her to life as a woman just trying to survive in an impossible situation. The scenes in the Divis Flats are claustrophobic. You feel the walls closing in. The show doesn't treat her as a footnote; it treats her as the human cost of a war that claimed too many innocents. When you see the cast of Say Nothing interacting in these cramped Belfast apartments, the scale of the tragedy becomes personal. It’s not about maps and troop movements; it’s about children watching their mother being dragged away.
A cast that reflects the complexity of Belfast
What’s interesting is how many of these actors have personal or family connections to the history they are portraying. That adds a layer of authenticity you can't fake. Maxine Peake appears as the older Dolours Price, providing the retrospective voice that frames the series. Peake is a powerhouse, and her scenes—based on the real-life interviews Dolours gave for the Boston College tapes—are chilling. She delivers lines with a sort of detached trauma, the kind of "say nothing" attitude that defined a generation.
The production also filled the ranks with local talent. You'll see:
- Stuart Graham as a high-ranking official, bringing that veteran gravitas he’s known for in The Fall.
- Helen Behan, who was so good in The Virtues, showing up in a pivotal role that highlights the civilian perspective.
- A host of younger actors playing the "D-Company" volunteers, many of whom are making their television debuts.
The set design and the casting work hand-in-hand. When you see the actors standing against the backdrop of the murals or the burnt-out buses, it doesn't look like a set. It looks like a memory.
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The challenge of playing real people who are still alive (or recently deceased)
This isn't like casting a biopic about a king from the 1600s. These are people whose families are still in Belfast. Some of the people portrayed are still active in politics. That creates a level of pressure on the cast of Say Nothing that is unique. They aren't just performing lines; they are representing a trauma that is still very much an open wound.
Josh Finan, in particular, had to find a way to play Gerry Adams that felt true to the 1970s version of the man, before the suits and the international diplomacy. It’s about the beard, the glasses, and the quiet authority. But it’s also about the ambiguity. The show doesn't take a side on the "was he or wasn't he" debate in a way that feels preachy. It just shows the man as he was seen by his contemporaries.
Addressing the "Boston College Tapes"
A huge part of the series revolves around the oral history project at Boston College. This is where the older versions of the characters come in. The transition between the young, idealistic volunteers and the older, disillusioned veterans is jarring in the best way possible.
The casting directors did a phenomenal job matching the younger actors with their older counterparts. You can see the echoes of Lola Petticrew’s performance in Maxine Peake’s. There’s a shared physical shorthand—a way of holding a cigarette, a specific tilt of the head. It makes the passage of time feel earned. You realize that the people who were setting bombs in London in their twenties are the same people sitting in quiet kitchens in their sixties, haunted by what they did.
What this show gets right about the Troubles
Most shows about the Troubles fall into one of two traps: they either romanticize the "rebels" or they treat the whole thing as a generic police procedural. Say Nothing avoids both. By focusing on the Price sisters and the McConville family, it keeps the stakes human.
The cast of Say Nothing had to handle incredibly sensitive material, including the forced feeding of the Price sisters. Those scenes are graphic and upsetting, but they are necessary to understand the level of conviction (and stubbornness) that drove the conflict. The actors don't play it for melodrama. They play it for the raw, ugly reality it was.
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Honestly, if you're coming to this show for a simple "good guys vs. bad guys" story, you're going to be disappointed. The cast portrays a world where everyone is compromised. Where a young woman can be a hero to her community and a murderer to another. Where a man can lead a movement for peace while carrying the secrets of a war.
Authenticity in the details
The accents are worth mentioning again. Usually, Hollywood versions of Belfast accents are... let's say "hit or miss." But because so much of the cast of Say Nothing is actually from Ireland or has spent significant time there, the dialogue flows naturally. It’s the slang, the rhythm, the "bouts" and the "ayes." It adds to that "Google Discover" quality where you feel like you're watching something that actually belongs to the place it's depicting.
Actionable insights for viewers and history buffs
If you're watching the show and want to get the most out of it, here are a few things to keep in mind regarding the real-life figures:
- Read the book first (or after): Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing provides the footnotes for everything you see on screen. It explains the "Green Book" (the IRA manual) and the structure of the units that the cast portrays.
- Look up the Disappeared: The show focuses on Jean McConville, but she was one of many. Understanding the context of the "Disappeared" helps explain why the characters in the show are so guarded.
- Follow the actors' other work: If you're impressed by Lola Petticrew or Anthony Boyle, check out their independent Irish films. There is a massive wave of Irish talent right now that is bringing a new perspective to these historical stories.
- Check the timeline: The show jumps around. It helps to have a basic grasp of when the hunger strikes happened (1981) compared to the early '70s "glory days" of the Provos.
The cast of Say Nothing doesn't just recreate history; they interrogate it. They ask why people do what they do in the name of a cause, and what happens when that cause moves on without them. It’s a brilliant, messy, heart-wrenching piece of television that stays with you long after the credits roll.
If you want to dive deeper into the real history, start by researching the Price sisters' later years. Their lives didn't end when the ceasefire began. Their stories continued in a way that was often just as dramatic and tragic as the war itself. Look for the interviews given by Dolours Price before her death in 2013; you'll see exactly where the actors found their inspiration for the more haunting moments of the series.