Hope Street is a Northern Irish crime serial drama television series filmed in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. The series, broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland, was created by Paul Marquess and Susanne Farrell and is based on life in the fictional 'Northern Ireland Police'. The series is also broadcast on BBC One once the episodes have been shown in the Northern Ireland region; as of the third series, full series have been released on BBC iPlayer ahead of broadcast.
Throughout the series each episode features a crime story, interwoven with the lives and loves of the officers who police the coastal town.
The first series sees the sudden arrival of DC Leila Hussain (Amara Karan) in the fictional Northern Irish town of Port Devine. The local residents question the reason behind her arrival; only Inspector Finn O'Hare knows why Leila has been transferred but he is keeping it to himself. On Leila's arrival in the town, Karan hinted: "The secret, the reason why she's been brought to Northern Ireland, is actually a matter of life and death." Each episode follows a self-contained crime story following the investigation of the local police department as well as the exploits of the town's residents.
In the second series a former colleague of Finn's, DC Al Quinn, is sent to the town as part of an undercover operation. Following the conclusion of the operation Al stays in town to fill the void left following Leila's departure. When his daughter is caught up in the theft of an ATM, Al crosses the line to protect the one he loves most, putting his career on the line in the process.
In the third series a new detective constable, Jo Lipton (Karen Hassan), arrives in Port Devine alongside new police constable Ryan Power (Finnian Garbutt).
In the fourth series a new inspector, Eve Dunlop (Tara Lynne O'Neill), arrives in Port Devine following the departure of Inspector Finn O'Hare (Ciaran McMenamin) at the end of the previous series, alongside her husband, new detective constable Luke Jackson (Marcus Onilude).
In the fifth series a new police constable, Donal Gallagher (Cameron Cuffe), arrives following the departure of Callum McCarthy (Niall Wright) at the end of the previous series.
Hope Street was created by Paul Marquess and Susanne Farrell. Marquess stated that his aim whilst creating the series was to make a long-running local drama. Having been born in Belfast he wanted to avoid the stereotypes that come with Northern Irish media portrayals, instead focusing on the "humour and warmth" of the area. The series was commissioned in March 2021 by BBC Daytime and BritBox North America in a joint collaboration, with Marquess' and Farell's production company, Long Story TV, co-producing the series with BritBox North America.
Series co-creator and co-executive producer Paul Marquess stated that his aim when creating the series was to make a long-running local drama. Due to being born in Belfast, he wanted to avoid the stereotypes that come with Northern Irish media portrayals, instead focusing on the "humour and warmth" of the area. Marquess and colleague Susan Farrell decided that the series should not focus on serial killers or the Troubles but instead on the resilience of the community in Northern Ireland. Another of Marquess' aims was to increase the number of television productions in Northern Ireland, specifically since he had moved from the country to pursue a career in production in his youth. He and Farrell created a cast and crew almost entirely formed of local talent from in and around Donaghadee, where the series is filmed. The 10-episode first series was funded by Northern Ireland Screen and it was confirmed that it would premiere on BBC One Northern Ireland in November 2021 as well as having a January 2022 broadcast on BBC One in the other regions of the United Kingdom.
The show stars an ensemble cast almost entirely collected from the local area, including Ciarán McMenamin, Kerri Quinn, Niall Wright, Des McAleer, BrÃÂd Brennan, Aaron McCusker and Niamh McGrady.
McMenamin was helped with his research about the police by two schoolfriends who are part of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). After reading the scripts for the series he was excited to be part of Hope Street owing to its modern-day portrayal of his community. He said that his experiences on set were the happiest moments of his professional life, owing to the locations they filmed in and the cast and crew. McMenamin explained: "The craic is a different level. When you live away, to come home and be surrounded by people just as sarcastic as you, makes getting out of bed in the morning a joy". Quinn opined that it was refreshing for Hope Street not to mention the Troubles and appreciated that the scripts focused on relationships and the small community of Port Devine. Wright echoed her comments, feeling that the serial drama was "a completely different take" from other dramas on television at the time of transmission. He added that the series would have plenty of twists and cliffhangers and hoped that it would be renewed for several further series. English cast member Karan said that whilst filming for the series the locals of Donaghadee were very proud of their town but "went out of their way to make [her] feel welcome". She added that she loved playing Leila even though she "sticks out in her new environment like a sore thumb".
In April 2022 the show was renewed for a second series, which premiered in November 2022, with Stephen Hagan taking on the role of new lead character, DC Al Quinn.
In April 2023 the show was renewed for a third series, which premiered in October 2023, with Karen Hassan taking on the role of new lead character DC Jo Lipton.
In April 2024 it was confirmed that the BBC had renewed Hope Street for a fourth series and would commence filming that month, with eight episodes being commissioned.
In June 2025 it was confirmed that the BBC had renewed Hope Street for a fifth series and would commence filming that month. The fifth series will contain the show's 50th episode.
Hope Street is filmed in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland, which acts as the fictional Port Devine. Locations within Donaghadee used as part of filming include Pier 36, a local restaurant that acted as The Commodore Pub, and a building on Shore Street used as Port Devine Police Station.
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Hope Street is initially broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland, before being shown on BBC One on daytimes for the remainder of the United Kingdom. As of the fourth series, the broadcast is a week apart from Northern Ireland and the remainder of the UK. Since the third series, full series have been released ahead of broadcast on BBC iPlayer. It is available in the US and Canada on Britbox streaming platform.
On the Northern Irish BBC iPlayer, Hope Street received 1.6million streams on the first five episodes of series one. Stephen Patterson, writing for the Metro, gave the series four stars out of a possible five. He wrote that within minutes of the first episode, the community-driven aspect is established "incredibly well". Patterson noted that the core cast are talented, praising McGrady specifically for "stealing every scene she's in". He also praised the standalone stories in each episode, feeling that they raise important issues in ways that he did not expect. He opined that Marquess had succeeded in his aim of portraying Northern Ireland accurately. He added that, despite serial dramas such as Red Rock, The Bill and Holby City losing popularity, Hope Street "suggests that there is still something of an appetite for this kind of programming", also hoping for more series of the programme.
Series 1 and Series 2 have been released by Dazzler Media.