Acclaimed filmmaker Paddy Breathnach has directed every single episode of RTÉ's acclaimed dramedy The Dry - as the final series arrives on RTÉ One, he tells us why it's the perfect time to draw the curtain on the trials and tribulations of the Sheridan family.
My father was a librarian. When he worked at Bray Public Library in the 1960s, a boy came in every week to borrow a book for his father. The request never changed: westerns only, and only those where the hero rides off into the sunset on the final page. Hearing such a specific demand, delivered by his child, conjured a comic image of a western-obsessed father. But in truth, I understood where he was coming from - a good ending is precious. That last breath, a full stop, the final word, a parting line.
When we began work on the third series of The Dry, we made a clear decision: this would be the end. Too often, TV finales hedge their bets - they wrap things up while quietly leaving the door open for more. It's an ending, but not quite. Knowing we were finishing allowed the show’s creator, Nancy Harris, to lean fully into what drives the show. The new series carries more turns, more surprises, and more laughs, simply because she didn’t have to hold anything back for later. That freedom was the sweet part. It meant we could build toward an ending with real impact - something that lands with the same satisfaction as finally solving an intricate equation.
When we began work on the third series of The Dry, we made a clear decision: this would be the end.
To me, the new series is the strongest of the three. The first had a simplicity I still love. The second widened the scope and grew the universe. But this final run brings in the full orchestra. It moves faster. It cuts deeper. It’s sharper, and often funnier. Knowing it was the last also gives it a certain confidence. Even the closing song resolves something: Sorcha Richardson and Niamh Regan, whose voices have threaded through the show like a narrative guide, come together for the first time to duet as the end credits roll.
Still, a good ending always carries a contradiction. You want it to finish so you can finally know - but at the same time, you don’t want to let it go. The moment you reach the end, you understand exactly what you’ll miss. And that’s the bitter part. I’ll miss Nancy’s vividly drawn characters, each one built around an indivisible core - that emotional charge that keeps delivering. I’ll miss the wild shifts between comedy and heartbreak, the chaotic, unpredictable energy of the Sheridans, and stories that reward you the deeper you dig.
As much as I’ll pine for the substance of The Dry, there’s another ending behind the scenes too. I’ll miss the cast, whose talent constantly pushed me to raise my own game. Making the show was characterised by a spirit of collaboration, rigour, and joy. Nancy and I revelled in that, but at the heart of it was executive producer Emma Norton. Perhaps the bittersweetness of an ending comes from how it expresses and satisfies a more fundamental truth we’ve always known and felt: Dhá fhada é an lá, tiocfaidh an tráthnóna - however long the day, the evening will come.
The first episode of the third and final series of The Dry airs on RTÉ One on Thursday April 23 at 10:15pm. All eight episodes will drop on RTÉ Player on the same night.
