Obituary is a 2023 Irish black comedy television series created by Ray Lawlor for RTÉ and starring Siobhán Cullen. Its first series originally aired in September and October 2023, and its second series aired between October and November 2025.
It showed in the United States on Hulu. A second series aired in 2025. It also airs on AMC Networks International Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal), Netflix (UK), BritBox (Australia), TVNZ (New Zealand), One (Germany), Proximus Pickx (Belgium), Radio Télévision Suisse (Switzerland), Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, BluTV/Max (Turkey and Cyprus) and Tet (Latvia).
Contents
Background
Filming took place in Ballyshannon and Bundoran in the south of County Donegal in Ulster, even though the series is set somewhere "down south" in Ireland.
Plot
In a small Irish town, a young woman obsessed with death becomes an obituarist for the local newspaper. Seeking more interesting deaths to write about, she begins to murder local people.
In the second season, Elvira deals with her father's death by beginning to kill again, but there is another serial killer in town, and local Gardaí begin to suspect Elvira.
Cast
Siobhán Cullen as Elvira Clancy, a small-town obituarist
Michael Smiley as Ward Clancy, her father (series 1)
Ronan Raftery as Emerson Stafford, a journalist investigating a cold-case murder in the town. He later becomes Elvira's boyfriend.
Danielle Galligan as Mallory Markum, Elvira's best friend (series 1)
David Ganly as Hughie Burns
Máiréad Tyers as Vivienne Birch, the new editor of the paper (series 2)
Noni Stapleton as Detective Rose (series 1–2, recurring)
Episodes
Reception
Obituary received positive reviews. It received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on six reviews. In The Irish Times, Ed Power praised Siobhán Cullen's and Danielle Galligan's performances, but said "it's a shame the script isn't funnier. Obituary is a dark comedy that often forgets the laughs."
At the 20th Irish Film & Television Awards, Obituary was nominated for Best Drama, Best Director (John Hayes), Best Script (Peter McKenna), Best Actress in a Lead Role (Siobhán Cullen), Best Actor in a Lead Role (Michael Smiley) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Danielle Galligan), but did not win any. Siobhán Cullen won a Rising Star award, in part for her work on Obituary.