Mr. Byrne’s role as Pat Barry in the early 1980’s Irish soap opera Bracken is the role for which many Irish fans remember him.
Those of us who missed out on that show have never had the chance to see him at this early stage of his career. Now that can be remedied.
Thanks to our great friend Elf, a long-time Byrneholic who lives in Germany, we have added six episodes of Bracken to our small but ever-growing archive of early Gabriel Byrne performances.
The Bracken Mega TV Page provides all six episodes with cast information and some history about the series episode order and dates, kindly provided by Paul English.
These episodes were originally videotaped from television some years ago. They have made the transition to digital fairly intact (including commercials, in some cases, so be warned!). The picture might be a bit blurry but the sound seems to be quite good in all cases.
Enjoy seeing Gabriel Byrne in his first starring role on television, a medium to which he has returned in the past few years with great success!
Gabriel Byrne as Pat Barry
Thanks for sharing this.
I just saw the December episode. It is so nice to see Gabriel as an young actor in this environment. Irish nature, lot of sheep and special Irish people. Love it!
Hi Nora…..
…..and all other fans of Gabriel Byrne,
It`s so nice for me to be able to share my rare Byrne-ing programmes that I got from Ireland long time ago with you.
Byrne-ing love,
Elf (from Germany)
You’ve played a therapist to great acclaim in the US series In Treatment and have said that you could see yourself becoming a therapist. Now that you’ve played a politician, could you see yourself going down that route?
Only a word: GREAT!
Thank you a lot, Elf and Stella
You are welcome! There is more cool stuff coming soon, thanks to Elf. Stay tuned!
;-)
As far as I recall the episodes are in the following order
Series 1 (broadcast on RTE1 during January / February 1980)
1.1 – June
1.2 – July
1.3 – August
1.4 – September
1.5 – October
1.6 – All Saints Day
Series 2 (broadcast on RTE1 during January / February 1982)
2.1 – December
2.2 – January
2.3 – February
2.4 – March
2.5 – April
2.6 – May
Paul, thanks so much for providing this information!
If you are right, I need to reorganize the videos. I’ve got June coming after May–which in real life would be appropriate, but in this case, May and June are two years apart! :-)
And this is what happens when one posts material that one has not actually viewed yet…
Thanks, Paul. You have been very helpful!
Stella
How can i get to see All episodes of Bracken
Kealan, as far as I know, these episodes are the only ones available at this time. The series has never been released on DVD. Perhaps it will be one day.
The sequence is June through May. I have all the episodes, although they are a bit worse than the episodes you’ve got. They are taped off the tv (‘Tara’ and ‘TG4’) I can pass them on to you. They are big files though, even though the quality is not great (800 mb each)
I always thought this was a fine series and would have liked more of it. Kind of amazing to see Louise’s sheer blouses!
Are there any notes for these episodes of Bracken? Like plot synopsis since we cannot understand all the dialogue. I am happy to see these posted here. I am a new fan thanks to Quirke on Amazon Prime video.