POPULAR Irish sitcom The Young Offenders returns with its much-anticipated fourth series next month.
Created and written by Peter Foott, the show follows lovable Cork teens Conor MacSweeney and Jock O’Keefe, played by Alex Murphy and Chris Walley respectively.
Based on the hit 2016 film of the same name, the fourth instalment of the IFTA-winning show returns to BBC One on Friday, May 10 at 9.30pm, the British broadcaster has confirmed.
However, the latest series of the hit coming-of-age drama, which first aired on RTÉ in 2018, will not hit Irish screens until 2025.
In a statement made in November 2023, the Irish broadcaster confirmed cost-cutting at the organisation meant a number of series would have to be reduced or postponed.
Last year RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst announced that there would be €10m worth of cuts and Adrian Lynch, the station’s Deputy Director General, confirmed in November how these savings would be made.
Among the measures taken, the Irish soap Fair City was cut from four to three episodes a week as of January 2024 and “the transmission of Young Offenders will be deferred until 2025” he confirmed.
The Young Offenders last aired on RTÉ back in August 2020.
Last year RTÉ and the BBC excitedly announced the fourth series of The Young Offenders had been commissioned, following its successful first three runs and a 2018 Christmas special.
Ben Caudell, Commissioning Editor for BBC Comedy said at the time: “We’re so happy to have The Young Offenders back on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, so that viewers once again enjoy the adventures, and misadventures, of all these brilliant comic characters – they may not be quite so young, but they’re still very much offenders.”
Series creator Foott added that he was “over the moon to have been commissioned for Series 4 of the show on BBC One, and of course always grateful for the ongoing support of RTÉ”.
“Audiences have been asking for more of the journeys of these characters and we’re very excited to take the show in new directions for Series 4 and can’t wait to bring it back to TV screens,” he said as the commission was announced.