Wild landscapes, dark comedy and the Irish language: the rise of ‘Gaelic noir’

Dónáll Ó Héalai stars as the moody policeman who has to recuse himself from the investigation in Crá. Photograph: NA/BBC

Its setting is remote, desolate, and windy. Its protagonist is a mercurial policeman struggling with his own personal demons. Its subject: a long-lost body found in a mountain bog.

So far, so standard for a television crime drama. But there is something about Crá, a new BBC series that debuted last month, that makes it stand out from the crowd.