# Single-Handed (2007)

> A west of Ireland garda sergeant, Jack Driscoll, navigates crime, local loyalties and corruption in a small rural community.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/28325

## Facts

- Seasons: 4
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Network: RTÉ One
- Cast: Owen McDonnell, David Herlihy, Ruth McCabe, Brian Gleeson, Sean McGinley, Matthew McNulty, Simone Lahbib, Ian McElhinney
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0991266/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: mild
- Tone: grounded, melancholic, understated, tense, atmospheric

## Synopsis

Single-Handed (2007-2010) is an Irish television drama series created for RTÉ One, a compact crime show set and filmed in the rural west of Ireland. Its protagonist is Garda Sergeant Jack Driscoll, played by Owen McDonnell, a lone officer working in a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone and loyalties run deep. Garda Finbarr Colvin (David Herlihy) works alongside him, while Ruth McCabe plays Eithne Driscoll, whose home life gives the grind of police work its emotional weight. Driscoll wants to do the job honestly, but local relationships, old favours and the pressure of a force that closes ranks stand in his way. Each run is built from two-episode stories, with a later season adding a three-story arc across six episodes, so the drama moves through self-contained cases while building a wider picture of rural life. The series is partially inspired by real garda corruption in County Donegal, and its tone is sober, understated and atmospheric, with rain-soaked landscapes and a watchful, character-driven pace. Fans of Happy Valley and Hinterland will find resonance in its grounded regional crime, its attention to community texture, and its quiet moral unease. Across four seasons and twelve episodes, it offers a measured, adult alternative to glossier network procedurals.

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