David Simon, creator of the acclaimed HBO crime drama The Wire, has written a musical based around the music of The Pogues.
Simon along with his wife, crime novelist Laura Lippman, and fellow thriller writer George Pelecanos are now in the "final script stage" of the project, according to Pogues band member Spider Stacy.
Stacy added that the project, which was first reported back in 2013, has "taken a while" to come to fruition.
Speaking to the Press Association, the musician and actor said: "David's had various TV projects which have obviously taken precedence because this is a long process.
"We're on the final script stage. It's been drafted and redrafted, drafted and redrafted countless times."
Galway-based theatre group, Druid, commissioned Simon to write the musical back in 2013.
According to Druid's Artistic Director, Garry Hynes, it will "be a departure for Druid to embark on a musical so it’s something we’re really excited about".
She added "We’re very much looking forward to taking the project to the next stage".
Stacy, who sings and plays the tin whistle in the band, previously starred in Simon's drama Treme, which was set in New Orleans after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.
He played 'Slim Jim' Lynch in two seasons of the HBO series which featured several Pogues songs in the soundtrack. Simon also used The Pogues' music in The Wire, most memorably during Jimmy McNulty's 'wake' after his forced retirement from the Baltimore Police Department.
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The Pogues musical is set in an Irish pub in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of 90s New York. It will explore the early stages of gentrification in the area and will feature a number of ghosts.
The band are synonymous with the American city, due in large part to their classic Christmas song Fairy Tale of New York.
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The Pogues' song White City featured in the Sean Penn and Gary Oldman-starring Irish mafia thriller State of Grace, which was also set in Hell's Kitchen.
According to Stacy, the musical would first appear on Broadway before hopefully crossing the Atlantic to Ireland and the UK.
The musician said that it would be "nice" if himself or Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan could appear in the production, but said there were no plans at this stage.
Stacy, who has been serving as a consultant on the project, added that the process is "a bit intimidating".
"This is the guy who created The Wire and kind of knows what he's talking about," he said.
