Bridget & Eamon is an Irish sitcom that first aired on RTÉ Two on 1 February 2016, having previously aired as a RTÉ Player-exclusive series. It is based on the Bridget & Eamon sketches written by Shane Mulvey that featured on the Republic of Telly comedy review show.[1] The show centres on 1980s husband and wife played by Bernard O'Shea and Jennifer Zamparelli.[2][3]
The show won the IFTA for Best Comedy at the IFTA GALA Television 2016 awards. The show's director Jason Butler also won the IFTA for Best Director Soap / Comedy.[4]
It was the first comedy funded entirely by the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ to screen in Britain.[5]
It is produced with the support of investment incentives for the Irish Film Industry provided by the Government of Ireland, and filmed on location in Ireland.[6]
Plot
Bridget and Eamon are an unhappily married 1980s Irish couple. They live in the Irish Midlands with their 6 to 8 children.
Eamon always spends the money from the Trócaire box so Fr. Gabriel is keeping an eye on him this year. Bridget hosts a Tupperware party that goes disastrously wrong when illegal condoms are delivered instead. She and Eamon become successful at selling them, and travel to Northern Ireland to buy more. They make over £37,000, which they store in Trócaire boxes. Fr. Gabriel takes the boxes of cash.
The couple are chosen to be on the poster for the no campaign for the forthcoming divorce referendum, but Feilim returns home from the United States to tell them that he is divorced.
Winning the National Lottery would be the answer to the couple's financial troubles. However, Bridget is unhappy when the syndicate they form with their neighbours wins, because she did not buy the ticket.
Eamon runs for the local election helped by Billy the builder, but when Bridget runs against Eamon, the battle between husband and wife becomes personal.
Eamon cuts Bridget's hair and she is very pleased with the result. She sets up a salon in the Good Room. Her friends visit to have their hair cut by Eamon, ignoring Bridget.
The couple start a lucrative business when the holy statue in their front room begins to move every hour, but Father Gabriel doubts that it is a genuine miracle.
2016 Christmas Special. On St. Stephen's Day, Eamon's mother arrives to make her daughter-in-law's life even more miserable. Bridget accidentally cuts her neck with an electric carving knife, then deliberately cuts her neck with it a few more times, killing her. She becomes a zombie.
Bridget's mother has a new Turkish boyfriend who is 32 years younger than she. She tells Bridget that she is rewriting her will in favour of her boyfriend, so Eamon makes him leave by using a turd on a stick.
Eamon reveals to Bridget and her mother that he has been in love with her mother since before he married Bridget.
Eamon has got a VHSvideo cassette recorder. The whole town want to rent it off him, but he and Bridget try to satisfy the demand for films by opening a video shop. There is a lot of demand for blue movies, so the couple decide to make one, despite not knowing what they are.
Bridget's job with the census gives her information to blackmail half the town, but Eamon has bigger ideas. Some of the neighbours find out that the couple are second cousins, but they say that is common knowledge, and they were granted dispensation to marry in a Catholic church.
There are two free seats on the bus to Lourdes, but how far will Bridget go to make sure she gets to go this year? All she is missing is someone who needs to be cured. Bridget beats Eamon up, making him eligible.
2018 Christmas Special. Held at gun point by paramilitaries Jimmy and Martin, and with their TV broken and house surrounded Bridget, Eamon and their neighbours must act out popular TV shows to keep the IRA entertained and stay alive. They might just get away with it as long as Jimmy doesn't ask them to perform "Dirty Dancing"...
To prove he's not "no craic" Eamon gets his 70s rock band back together for a gig. Bridget accuses Eamon on being no craic in front of everyone – the single worst thing you can say about any Irish person. So when Maurice Mallumphy the lead singer of Eamon's celtic beat poetry rock band from the 70s shows up in town, Eamon gets the band back together to prove he's is still craic after all. But Bridget and Maurice seem to have history and the oldest kid has more than a passing resemblance to Maurice. On the day of the big gig will Eamon finally figure out what's right in front of his eyes?..
When Eamon and by association Bridget are barred from the pub, Eamon decides to cook up his own home brewpoitín based on an old family recipe. The recipe seems to be nothing more than white spirits and rat poison so when all the neighbours sample it they’re snapped out of the drunken stupor by the fact the dog is dead. The dog drank some of the home brew 12 hours before them. So they’ve only got 12 hours left to live. What are they going to do with the little time they have left? Apart from a very disappointing orgy or three, nobody can think of anything or wants to do anything. Until Eamon convinces them not to leave any money for their kids and instead blow their collective savings on getting Foster & Allen to play in the front room.
Frank is Eamon’s only friend but from Eamon’s perspective Frank won’t leave him alone. The ad for a Dating Agency in the Parish Newsletter gives them the opportunity to hopefully get Frank married so he can stop bothering Eamon. Although Fr Gabriel’s Dating Agency initially pairs Frank up with Eamon. In truth they are a perfect match. After a complaint he’s eventually paired up for a blind date with Alexis. Bridget and Eamon train Frank for his first date and though it appears there’ll be no hope for Frank, he comes back from the first date engaged and asking Eamon to be his best man. Shite! Eamon doesn’t want to be anyone’s best man and jealous of Frank’s happiness, and his beautiful and caring financé, Bridget and Eamon plan to break them up. With the help of an obliging auld dear and some cabbage soup and old people urine they tempt Frank into destroying his own nuptials. Success! Except Frank’s on his own again and back wanting to hang out with Eamon.
When Bridget and Eamon witness the same vase as they have in their house be valued for £1 million on Antique Roadshow it sparks off a bitter fight between them, Bridget’s Mother and Fr Gabriel for who actually owns The Vase. Each of them tells their version of the story of how they came to own it, coincidentally on the same night as Bridget’s debs when Eamon proposed to her back in the 1970s. Guest star: Deirdre O’Kane as Bridget’s Mother
Bridget is practically invisible to everyone especially Eamon so it’s not surprising that when Bridget is in hospital Eamon mistakes the little woman Betty at the front door as his wife. Bridget must make her way back home in an epic journey and then prove to everyone that Betty is the imposter and she’s the real Bridget via a recreation of a popular TV game show. But when it comes down to a matter of life or death for Eamon will he finally acknowledge Bridget? Guest stars: Mary Murray as Betty and Jason Byrne as the Bus Driver
Bridget’s inability to keep a secret has just cost Eamon £13.50 a week in false claims but when a strange woman Veronica moves in as a lodger the hole in the household finances is filled. Veronica, though, is acting suspiciously like one of the Visitors in the TV Sci-fi mini series Bridget and Eamon are obsessed with. They confront Veronica who reveals she is an alien… an illegal alien from Russia. To keep the £13.50 a week rent Eamon will have to make Bridget keep her mouth shut for once. Featuring: Amy De Bhrún as Veronica