The Troubles-era drama Say Nothing on the disappearance and murder of Jean McConville has won a prestigious Peabody Award for public interest storytelling.
Based on the 2018 non-fiction book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe, the nine-part limited series follows the story of McConville and the experiences of Provisional IRA members Dolours and Marian Price during the Troubles.
Following the airing of the show on Disney+, Marian Price initiated legal action against the streaming giant. Lawyers for Ms Price said allegations of her involvement in the murder were “not based on a single iota of evidence” and caused “immeasurable harm in exchange for greater streaming success”.
The series depicts Gerry Adams as a senior IRA commander, while including an endnote in each episode stating that “Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence.”
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Created in 1940, the Peabody Award was originally established to honour excellence in radio broadcasting. It was later expanded to include television, podcasts, streaming media and social media videos.
Naming Say Nothing as a winner in the entertainment category, the Peabody Award board said it won for “exploring the social power of radical political belief, the code of silence that bound believers to secrecy, and the haunting emotional and psychological consequences of extreme violence on the lives and families of those who were lost and those who survived”.
[ Say Nothing: Bingeable yet sober-minded eulogy for the tragedy of the TroublesOpens in new window ]
Creator and executive producer of the series Joshua Zetumer said the themes of the period drama are still relevant today.
“When bad things happen – and believe me, they’re happening right now – the most dangerous thing we can do is stay silent,” he said.
Speaking to ABC on the red carpet before the ceremony, Lola Petticrew, who plays a young Dolours Price, said that “everything the Peabody Awards stand for is something that really resonates with me”.
