C.U. Burn
Encyclopedia
C.U. Burn is a cult Irish language
television comedy broadcast on the Irish language television channel TG4
. It tells the tales of the County Donegal
undertaker
s Charlie and Vincie Burn who run a turf-fueled crematorium
. They are rivalled by another group of more professional undertakers led by Frank Doyle. The show revolves around the cunning Charlie Burn (the C.U. Burn of the title) whose ruthless pursuit of business often leads to much chaos while his long-suffering brother Vincie Burn simply requests a quiet life. Pádraig assists at the crematorium and Pádraig's sister Máiréad is the recurring love interest of Charlie.
C.U. Burn deals with a number of social issues common in Irish life such as drug dealing, dishonesty, ghosts, adultery, racism, drunken one-night stands, brain conditions, nicotine addiction, shipwreck, sexual repression, tax avoidance, thievery and the rare occurrence of accidental cremation. Irish pursuits such as fishing, golf and gaelic games
feature prominently. It was written and directed by Niall Mac Eamharcaigh and was first broadcast in 1996. The series was filmed entirely in the fictional locality of Gleann Dómhain in the Donegal Gaeltacht
area and was one of the first home-produced TV series to be broadcast on the fledgling TG4. Subtitles are available.
Vincent "Vincie" Burn is co-owner of C.U. Burn Crematorium Ltd. and the elder brother of Charlie.
Pádraig is Máiréad's brother and assists at the crematorium. He constructs coffins, burns bodies and becomes involved in many of Charlie's schemes. He takes on the role of a corpse on one occasion when Vincie accidentally burns the wrong body and has to lie overnight in a coffin sporting a fake beard and with only sandwiches provided by Charlie. When Charlie and Vincie become stranded overnight on Tory Island
, he is left alone at their house adjacent to the crematorium. He proceeds to read ghost stories and becomes frightened after hearing the wail of a banshee which turns out to have been emitted by Spot the cat. From that moment he becomes scared of ghosts and later in a separate incident, thinking he has seen the ghost of John Dubh, runs away in panic.
Máiréad is Pádraig's sister and the love interest of Charlie Burn. He makes regular visits to her house on the premise that these visits are related to Pádraig's involvement in his business. On one occasion she makes tea for him and tells him she is lonely. They later sneak out to spend some time together in the creamtorium under the cover of darkness. However they go no further than kissing and Máiréad insists that will be all until she is married.
Frank Doyle is a rival funeral director who conducts his business through the medium of the English language. This is a direct opposite to Charlie and Vincie who use the Irish language. Doyle is however heard to speak the Irish language with his associates throughout the show and seemingly uses the English language to attract extra business, i.e. in newspaper advertisements. Charlie is unhappy with this betrayal of his heritage as can be seen when he submits a false English language advertisement to the local newspaper in which it is claimed that Doyle will deal with foreign deaths. He then rings Doyle claiming to be from Belfast
and requests his services. Doyle rings back upon his arrival in Belfast and Vincie replies to the vexed undertaker who expresses his dissatisfaction at having been conned.
Spot is the crematorium cat who has a habit of getting in the way and disrupting the schemes of his masters. He is sometimes found inside the coffins. On one occasion he is discovered by the taxman in his car, having eaten the goldfish he purchased for his daughter's birthday.
The Priest is not given a name and is merely credited as such. He conducts funerals, expressing his ire on one occasion when the grave is only six inches and not the required six feet deep. He also publicly praises Charlie during a Mass
when he donates a large sum of money he has located to the church roof fund. However Charlie has secretly only donated half the sum and kept the other half for himself.
and further afield. It also won the "Spirit of the Festival" Award at the 1997 International Celtic Film and Television Festival. C.U. Burn has been rebroadcast five or six times on TG4 in the years since., most recently in May/June 2011.
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
television comedy broadcast on the Irish language television channel TG4
TG4
TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
. It tells the tales of the County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
undertaker
Funeral director
A funeral director , also known as a mortician or undertaker, is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as well as the planning and arrangement of the actual funeral ceremony...
s Charlie and Vincie Burn who run a turf-fueled crematorium
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
. They are rivalled by another group of more professional undertakers led by Frank Doyle. The show revolves around the cunning Charlie Burn (the C.U. Burn of the title) whose ruthless pursuit of business often leads to much chaos while his long-suffering brother Vincie Burn simply requests a quiet life. Pádraig assists at the crematorium and Pádraig's sister Máiréad is the recurring love interest of Charlie.
C.U. Burn deals with a number of social issues common in Irish life such as drug dealing, dishonesty, ghosts, adultery, racism, drunken one-night stands, brain conditions, nicotine addiction, shipwreck, sexual repression, tax avoidance, thievery and the rare occurrence of accidental cremation. Irish pursuits such as fishing, golf and gaelic games
Gaelic games
Gaelic games are sports played in Ireland under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The two main games are Gaelic football and hurling...
feature prominently. It was written and directed by Niall Mac Eamharcaigh and was first broadcast in 1996. The series was filmed entirely in the fictional locality of Gleann Dómhain in the Donegal Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
area and was one of the first home-produced TV series to be broadcast on the fledgling TG4. Subtitles are available.
Cast
The following are the main and recurring cast and characters who appear in more than one episode.| Character | Actor |
| Charlie Burn | Aodh Óg Ó Duibheannaigh |
| Vincie Burn | Seán Mac Fionnghaile |
| Pádraig | Seán Ó Maolagáin |
| Mairéad | Mairéad Dinny Ní Ghallchóir |
| Frank Doyle | Pól mc Cool |
| Spot | Herself |
| Priest | Seán Ó Ghallchóir |
Main characters
Charles "Charlie" Burn is co-owner of C.U. Burn Crematorium Ltd. and the younger brother of Vincie.Vincent "Vincie" Burn is co-owner of C.U. Burn Crematorium Ltd. and the elder brother of Charlie.
Pádraig is Máiréad's brother and assists at the crematorium. He constructs coffins, burns bodies and becomes involved in many of Charlie's schemes. He takes on the role of a corpse on one occasion when Vincie accidentally burns the wrong body and has to lie overnight in a coffin sporting a fake beard and with only sandwiches provided by Charlie. When Charlie and Vincie become stranded overnight on Tory Island
Tory Island
Toraigh is an inhabited island 14.5 km off the northwest coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It is also known in Irish as Oileán Thoraigh, Oileán Thoraí or Oileán Thúr Rí.-Language:The main spoken language on the island is Irish, but English is also understood...
, he is left alone at their house adjacent to the crematorium. He proceeds to read ghost stories and becomes frightened after hearing the wail of a banshee which turns out to have been emitted by Spot the cat. From that moment he becomes scared of ghosts and later in a separate incident, thinking he has seen the ghost of John Dubh, runs away in panic.
Máiréad is Pádraig's sister and the love interest of Charlie Burn. He makes regular visits to her house on the premise that these visits are related to Pádraig's involvement in his business. On one occasion she makes tea for him and tells him she is lonely. They later sneak out to spend some time together in the creamtorium under the cover of darkness. However they go no further than kissing and Máiréad insists that will be all until she is married.
Frank Doyle is a rival funeral director who conducts his business through the medium of the English language. This is a direct opposite to Charlie and Vincie who use the Irish language. Doyle is however heard to speak the Irish language with his associates throughout the show and seemingly uses the English language to attract extra business, i.e. in newspaper advertisements. Charlie is unhappy with this betrayal of his heritage as can be seen when he submits a false English language advertisement to the local newspaper in which it is claimed that Doyle will deal with foreign deaths. He then rings Doyle claiming to be from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and requests his services. Doyle rings back upon his arrival in Belfast and Vincie replies to the vexed undertaker who expresses his dissatisfaction at having been conned.
Spot is the crematorium cat who has a habit of getting in the way and disrupting the schemes of his masters. He is sometimes found inside the coffins. On one occasion he is discovered by the taxman in his car, having eaten the goldfish he purchased for his daughter's birthday.
The Priest is not given a name and is merely credited as such. He conducts funerals, expressing his ire on one occasion when the grave is only six inches and not the required six feet deep. He also publicly praises Charlie during a Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
when he donates a large sum of money he has located to the church roof fund. However Charlie has secretly only donated half the sum and kept the other half for himself.
Minor characters
A number of characters had minor background roles which involved appearances in one episode.- Antaine, a garda involved in the search for a drugs haul in "Toit". He is more reserved than his red-haired colleague (played by Bernard McHugh) who seizes a reporter for The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and interrogates him in his underpants. - Bríd (played by Fiona Mac Giolla Brighide), married to Peadar whom she met at the Mary from Dungloe festival. She is a golf fanatic who uses her time on the course to commit adultery with her secret lover Mark. They discuss her various attempts to remove Peadar from her life by making his as difficult as possible. Her efforts to poison him with arsenic serve only to increase his blackouts. After she discovers Peadar went to the Mary from Dungloe against her wishes she hatches a plan to kill him by striking him with a golf club upon his re-entry, after which she hopes to offer the excuse that she thought he was a burglar. A faulty and unfixed electric socket leads to her fatal electrocution as Charlie hands Peadar his business card.
- Daniel O'Donnell, a popular country and western singer who greets his fans upon their arrival at Donegal AirportDonegal AirportDonegal Airport is located south-west of An Bun Beag , being located at Carrickfinn, a townland in The Rosses, a district in north-west County Donegal, Ireland. The small airport is located right on the county's north-west coast. It is about a 15 minute drive from Dungloe and Gweedore and 45...
in "Toit". One of the drug dealers skips the queue of mainly elderly ladies and asks him to sign his guitar case. - Donncha Eoghain, brother of the corpse Tomás Eoghain in "Thar Sáile". A fisherman, he waits on Oileán Ealla for Charlie and Vincie to deposit their load ashore when he hopes to be brought to the mainland himself to witness the funeral. When the brothers are washed up on Tory IslandTory IslandToraigh is an inhabited island 14.5 km off the northwest coast of County Donegal, Ireland. It is also known in Irish as Oileán Thoraigh, Oileán Thoraí or Oileán Thúr Rí.-Language:The main spoken language on the island is Irish, but English is also understood...
he rings their house to enquire as to their whereabouts, terrifying Pádraig in the process. Later, through his binoculars, he witnesses Charlie, Vincie and Genevieve rowing by in his brother's coffin with his brother trailing behind (on the lid) after their boat springs a leak. - Eamonn, a taxi-driver hired by Micí Dubh. He chauffeurs him on a journey that takes in the crematorium, his family home, the graveyard and the crematorium again. He can be seen standing by his car reading a newspaper as Micí Dubh kneels at his brother's grave.
- Genevieve, also referred to as "Gin" and "Jenny" at various points by Charlie and Vincie in "Thar Sáile". She sells insurance (in reality, life assurance) and encounters the brothers on Tory Island after they wash ashore at her hotel. Her attempts to seduce Vincie are undone when Charlie knocks on her room window, claiming that he cannot find a room for himself and their drunken father (a corpse they possess). Genevieve is desperate to reach Sligo by 14:00 the following day to attend a meeting but, despite receiving assurance from the ferry captain that he leaves at 10:00, he sets sail early, leaving her no option but to row there on Charlie and Vincie's boat. A frustrated stamp of her stiletto causes the boat to spring a leak.
- Máire, sister of the corpse Seán Ó Baoill, accidentally cremated in "Dubh agus Bán". She makes the situation difficult by arriving from New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(and corrects Charlie by saying she is actually from BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
) just as the coffin containing a falsely bearded and hungry Pádraig has been sealed (with him hiding behind a wardrobe). Unable to find a false beard the three cut one from the back of her coat, which becomes very clear as she turns her back to leave the room. - Mark, Bríd's adulterous lover on Crutch Island Golf Course. He suffers spinal pains but welcomes Bríd's massages, later encouraging her in her plan to kill Peadar with her golf club.
- Micí Dubh, returns from America after fifty years upon the death of his twin brother, John. He causes confusion amongst Pádraig, Vincie and then Charlie when they think he is his brother's ghost come to warn Charlie not to steal $4000 found in one of his pockets.
- Peadar (played by Frank McCafferty), the long-suffering husband of Bríd whom he met at the Mary from Dungloe festival. He suffers regular blackouts and burns his wife's clothes whilst attempting to iron them. Against Bríd's wishes he leaves their house for the Mary from Dungloe as she has left him alone to play golf. However, in his confusion over the suddenly sunny weather, he forgets to bring his coat in whose pocket are his tablets. After some alcoholic beverages in a pub and feeling suddenly unwell, he collapses clutching a stray lawnmower in a strange garden and subsequently becomes enrolled in a carpet when Charlie and Pádraig think a falling sign from their hearse has killed him. He wakes up confused and walks off with Vincie innocently donating the carpet to a bonfire in Charlie's absence. Charlie encounters him as he attempts to hide his mistake by thowing more wood on the bonfire and offers to drive him home. In the hearse with Charlie he discusses the abuse he has received from his wife.
List of corpses
- Pádraig and Máiréad's father, dies in a lightning flash whilst sitting on his bed after waking up in the dark of night and becomes locked in that position. This leads to difficulties fitting him into a coffin and when Pádraig discovers an unusual string underneath the corpse springs up suddenly and frightens the mourners.
- Tomás Eoghain, Donncha's brother who was found in his bed by his brother the morning after eating carageen moss. He lived on Tory and is said to have had many days at sea. On his final sea journey to the mainland he ends up on Tory Island where Charlie and Vincie resort to pretending he is their drunken father when two members of the island's community discover him sitting in their boat on his own and deliver him to the hotel they are dining in. Donncha and Vincie are seen to finish off the malted whiskey the dead man made the previous night.
- Seán Ó Baoill, possesses a long black beard and is accidentally cremated in a mix-up at the crematorium. Pádraig takes his place in the coffin as his sister Máire arrives from Boston.
- Doctor Kilala, a black doctor who becomes the crematorium's first foreign business deal. Vincie misunderstands his name thinking it is the similar-sounding location in County MayoCounty MayoCounty Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
. - Seán Ó Murchú, an unseen corpse living in Belfast at the time of his death but originally from Gleann Dómhain. When Charlie hears of his death in the morning death notices on the wireless, he rings Frank Doyle on the pretence that he is a relative asking for his service. Doyle drives to Belfast and expresses his fury when he realises he has been conned.
- Páidí Mhór Mhaggie, dies as Charlie and Pádraig embark on their day out at the Mary from Dungloe festival where they have entered the hearse as a float. Vincie has to cycle to Dungloe to tell them that the body is leaving the hospital at three o'clock.
- Seán Ó Searcaigh, announced on the morning death notices on the wireless. He is originally from Gleann Dómhain but will be buried in CavanCavanCavan is the county town of County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The town lies in the north central part of Ireland, near the border with Northern Ireland...
. - John Dubh, a twin of Micí whose $4000 leads to a plot involving dishonesty and ghostly goings-on.
Episode guide
| # | Title | # in series |
|---|
Response and awards
The series generated a great response from audiences, with devoted fan clubs springing up in Dublin, BelfastBelfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and further afield. It also won the "Spirit of the Festival" Award at the 1997 International Celtic Film and Television Festival. C.U. Burn has been rebroadcast five or six times on TG4 in the years since., most recently in May/June 2011.
External links
- TG4 television schedule Award (Gradam)
- Gaelsport (Irish)
- C.U. Burn availability (Irish)
- C.U. Burn on BBC Cymru (Welsh)
- Paddy Stevenson Lighting Cameraman Awards for the Show
Articles
- "Suil eile TG4 faoi scrudu ag suile eile". The Irish TimesThe Irish TimesThe Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
- 26 November 2008 - "Lá fén dTor". The Kerryman - 17 December 2008.