The Dry season 1 review, Irish family drama

The Dry is an Irish series about a family of drinkers. Roisin Gallagher stars as Shiv, who has been sober and dry for 6 months when she leaves London and goes home for a funeral. There are a couple of spoilers ahead.

I learned about The Dry because I mentioned that I wanted to see more of Roisin Gallagher’s work and a reader suggested the series. It claims to be a comedy, but it’s really a drama about a dysfunctional family, their losses, and their coping mechanisms.

Shiv (Roisin Gallagher) is an artist, but out of a job and broke. She hopes to bunk back at home for a while, but she’s not welcomed there. Bernie (Pom Boyd) is the mom. Tom (Ciarán Hinds) is the dad. Ant (Adam John Richardson) is the unemployed gay brother, and Caroline (Siobhán Cullen), a doctor, is the family success story. There was another son who killed himself at age 16 and whose death is affecting everyone in multiple unhealthy ways. They never talk about it.

Shiv runs into her old boyfriend, Jack (Moe Dunford). He’s an artist, too. He has a potential job for Shiv in a gallery. But he has some serious baggage that Shiv doesn’t learn about immediately. Shiv is still attracted to him. He is very bad for her efforts to stay sober.

The drama in the series is partly the antics of her messed up family and partly her not-so-smart relationship with Jack. There’s a lot going on with each person in the family, but the series mostly concentrates on Shiv.

It’s an excellent cast. So much emotional damage is in buried in these people. Having Shiv home disrupts the status quo. Lots of quirks, trauma, love, and drama come spilling out. I’m now a certified fan of Roisin Gallagher.

The series has two seasons, but Acorn TV is only streaming the first one currently. I found it well done and thought provoking. If Acorn TV gets series 2, I’ll definitely be watching.