SMALL TOWN, BIG STORY – Season One

Created, written, and directed by Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids), Small Town, Big Story is an uneven tale about finding your roots, small-town mythology, and the perils of being a TV producer. In the series, the fictional town of Drumbán, a quirky rural village on the border of Ireland, finds its community disrupted when a major Hollywood television production rolls into town. So their insular and old-fashioned world is forced to deal with Los Angeles’ less conventional ways.

Wendy Patterson (Christina Hendricks) is forced to return home after deciding to adapt a popular fantasy novel based on Irish mythology. Having left the microcosm of her hometown in her youth to become a TV producer in L.A., Wendy’s less than thrilled to return. Although she dreads meeting her estranged parents, she’s even more concerned about meeting her former flame, Séamus Proctor (Paddy Considine)—the local doctor, a respected pillar of the community, and now married to a local school teacher…

Also, as revealed in the opening scenes, Wendy and Séamus share a secret. During the millennium countdown in 1999, the teenage couple believed they witnessed evidence of extraterrestrial life. The pair never told anyone of their past, although it causes an irreparable rift in their relationship that still sits heavily between them.

Small Town, Big Story juggles multiple plots and struggles to blend them. At its heart, these six episodes are about a small Irish town and the day-to-day lives of the community as glamorous Hollywood takes over. Paddy Considine’s performance is as solid as expected, and Hendricks is immensely likeable, but neither character is especially well-written or layered. Over nearly six hours, you never feel like you truly learn who these people are or were in their youth.

The story drops hints of Wendy and Séamus’ past together and their internal lives but never divulges any interesting details. The series wants you to believe the pairing has chemistry, yet it’s never seen. Catherine Proctor (Eileen Walsh) is a standout as a sharp-tongued wheelchair-bound teacher who delivers some of the best lines. Séamus’ children, Sonny and Joanne (David Rawle, Leia Murphy), also shine in the limited scenes they’re in. The Proctors feel like a real family, written with an appropriate balance of sarcasm and warmth.

Paul McGann, Ruth McCabe, and David Wilmot all make small but memorable appearances too, helping to create a believable feeling of community. The show’s creator, O’Dowd, also appears midway through, playing the author of the adapted novel, but he’s a parody of a character who doesn’t fit in with the realism of Small Town, Big Story. His appearance in Drumbán sends the show down another narrative garden path that doesn’t add anything to the bigger picture.

Small Town, Big Story is at its best when exploring the private lives of a small village struggling to cope with its newfound fame as the filming of I Am Celt disrupts its safe little world. Hollywood likes to look down on this Irish town of misfits, but the production team is just as eccentric. The show arguably has too many interesting characters, so not all of them get enough time in the spotlight. Deirdre O’Kane’s hilarious casting director shines in the earlier episodes but soon disappears into the background. Ruth Codd also appears in the background as a production team member but never gets the time to unleash her true potential. There are side plots about dying parents, awkward romances, and an incident with an assistant that leaves him in a wheelchair. This world and its inhabitants are far more interesting than any nod to science fiction.

The cast is having a ball playing such misfits, however, even if they’re often relegated to giving reaction shots in the background. The filming of I Am Celt feels like a completely different TV show. It’s a genuinely funny satire of book adaptations, how Hollywood plays fast and loose with real history, and the tiny bubbles TV execs appear to exist in.

Sadly, the show struggles to balance all the tones, characters, and plots. All the parts work in isolation, but together they don’t create a cohesive narrative. It feels like Episodes (2011-17) meets Hot Fuzz (2007); an idea better executed on paper than on screen. It often feels that Small Town, Big Story is trying so hard to avoid well-worn tropes and clichés that it says nothing at all. If the series wanted to be about the culture clash between Ireland and America, it needed to push the fish-out-of-water comedy. If the show wanted to be about extraterrestrial sightings in a small Irish village, the Hollywood plot feels surplus.

Wendy sits in the middle of all these storylines, never strongly written enough to hold it all together. The show effectively captures the Irish humour Chris O’Dowd is known for, but don’t expect outrageous slapstick humour, but more relatable, gentle laughs and occasionally a touch of pathos. The series would have benefited from staying on Earth and avoiding the strange sci-fi tangents. Although the alien subplot may help the show stand out to international audiences, the best scenes are when the writing concentrates on the everyday lives of the people of Drumbán.

UK • USA | 2025 | 6 EPISODES | 16:9 HD | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

writer & director: Chris O’Dowd.
starring: Christina Hendricks, Paddy Considine, David Rawle, Eileen Walsh, Clarke Peters, Tim Heidecker, Leia Murphy, Patrick Martins, Ruth McCabe, David Wilmot, Michelle Forbes, Chris O’Dowd & Ian McElhinney.