Delight for Ballyshannon with Declan Lawn and Obituary winning IFTA awards

The Ballyshannon Drama Festival has passed on its congratulations to Declan Lawn on winning the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) for best drama award for the third time with Blue Lights.

Lawn was born in Derry, with the family moving to Ballymena, Co Antrim, and is the son of his late father, Gerry Lawn from Ballyshannon. His grandparents were Liam and Kitty Lawn, who lived on Station Road.

Formerly an investigative journalist with the BBC, he transitioned into screenwriting and directing, creating acclaimed dramas.

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Blue Lights is a BBC police procedural drama set in contemporary Belfast, created by Lawn and Adam Patterson. The show follows the high-stakes lives of rookie and veteran officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

“Congratulations to Declan Lawn on winning the IFTA for Best Drama award,” Ballyshannon Drama Festival posted. “Declan will be our special guest at the Awards Night of Ballyshannon Drama Festival on March 21.”

He beat off competition that included Hugh Travers for Video Nasty in the same scriptwriting category. Travers’ father Michael is also from Ballyshannon.

Set in 1985 Dublin, the show follows three teenagers, Billy, Con, and Zoe, on a quest to complete a collection of video nasties - horror films famously banned or censored in the UK and Ireland during a real-life moral panic.

And that wasn’t the end of it for the Erneside town as Rachel Carey won best director for Obiruary, which was made in Ballyshannon.