Quirke is a British-Irish period crime drama television miniseries from writers Andrew Davies and Conor McPherson, adapted from the books by the novelist John Banville, and follows the chief pathologist in the Dublin city morgue – a charismatic loner whose job takes him into unexpected places as he uncovers the secrets of sudden death in 1950s Dublin.
Set against a rich and smouldering backdrop of whiskey-soaked bars and elegant Dublin houses brimming with sexual tension, Quirke is a bold, mesmerising drama full of mystery, secrets and intrigue, starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon.
A consultant pathologist in the Dublin city morgue in the 1950s, Quirke is a powerful character more at ease among the cold silent slabs than the company of his fellow men. But in truth, his profession provides his greatest pleasure: inquisitive by nature, he is fascinated with unlocking the secret to these cadavers' deaths.
After a body vanishes from his mortuary one night Quirke's curiosity is piqued by the lengths his brother is prepared to go to cover up the cause of one young woman's death in childbirth.
As Quirke turns accidental detective, he delves deep into the secrets of Dublin, and discovers his investigations are more closely linked to his own life than he could ever have imagined. Little by little he is forced to confront the sins of his past as he peels back the layers of his own tangled family history.
The three feature-length episodes each take their stories from different books in the series, Christine Falls and The Silver Swan by Andrew Davies and Elegy for April by Conor McPherson.
The series is a co-production between BBC Drama Production and Dublin-based companies Element Pictures and Tyrone Productions. The executive producers are Jessica Pope for the BBC, Ed Guiney for Element Pictures and Joan Egan for Tyrone Productions.