
The Young Offenders
- TV sitcom
- BBC Three / BBC One
- 2018 - 2024
- 26 episodes (4 series)
Comedy series about two inner-city teenagers, based on the 2016 Irish film of the same name. Stars Chris Walley, Alex Murphy, Hilary Rose, Jennifer Barry, Demi Isaac Oviawe and more.
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 1

Further details
Conor's long suffering mother Mairead tries to keep both her son and his best friend on the straight and narrow, with varying degrees of success.
Friendship, loyalty, laughter and lots of mischief bring best pals Conor and Jock into conflict with their headmaster, leaving Conor's mum to pick up the pieces. To add fuel to the fire, the lads strike up friendships with the headmaster's daughters.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Thursday 1st February 2018
- Time
- 10am
- Channel
- BBC Three
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
Chris Walley | Jock O'Keeffe |
Alex Murphy | Conor MacSweeney |
Hilary Rose | Mairead MacSweeney |
Jennifer Barry | Siobhan Walsh |
Demi Isaac Oviawe | Linda Walsh |
PJ Gallagher | Principal Barry Walsh |
Dominic MacHale | Sergeant Tony Healy |
Shane Casey | Billy Murphy |
Christopher O'Flaherty | Building Owner |
Donal Cotter | Teenager |
Luke Dunlea | Teenager |
Ger Mullins | Teenager |
Luke O'Driscoll | Teenager |
Thomas McCarthy | Teenager with Knife |
Dean Cronin | Passing Pupil |
John Murphy | Guard |
Joe Campff | Teenager Given Mask |
Ciaran McCarthy | Teenager Given Mask |
Chris Kent | Conor's Dad |
Louis Slattery | Young Conor |
Peter Foott | Writer |
Derek Dillon | Writer (Additional Material) |
Ross Browne | Writer (Additional Material) |
Jocelyn Clarke | Script Editor |
Peter Foott | Director |
Martina Niland | Producer |
Peter Foott | Executive Producer |
Cormac Fox | Executive Producer |
Lotte Beasley Mestriner (as Lotte Beasley) | Executive Producer |
Abby Singer | Executive Producer |
Eddie Doyle | Executive Producer |
Justin Healy | Executive Producer |
Hugh Chaloner | Editor |
Anna Maria O'Flanagan | Editor |
Owen Power | Production Designer |
Mike Foott | Casting Director |
Derek Foott | Casting Director |
Patrick Jordan | Director of Photography |
Lara Campbell | Costume Designer |
Ray Harman | Composer |
Jonathan Shaw | 1st Assistant Director |
Alex Moody | Commissioning Editor |
Video
Meet The Young Offenders Of Cork
Meet Conor MacSweeney and Jock O'Keeffe of County Cork. Friendship, loyalty, laughter and lots of mischief bring these best pals together.
Featuring: Alex Murphy (Conor MacSweeney), Chris Walley (Jock O'Keeffe) & Dominic MacHale (Sergeant Tony Healy).
Press
The Young Offenders review
Interestingly, a homoerotic undertone is more than hinted at: the love the two scallies have for each other almost made explicit.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 3rd February 2018I'm always willing to give BBC Three comedy a try because occasionally it leads to discoveries of hidden gems such as the wonderful This Country. Like This Country, The Young Offenders is another low-budget piece focusing on a couple of youngsters who are presented as outcasts from society. Based on the film of the same name, The Young Offenders focuses on Irish teenagers Conor MacSweeney (Alex Murphy) and Jock O'Keefe (Chris Walley). This first episode is essentially an introduction to the characters, their world and the relationship that the pair share. It's clear that Conor is the smaller, smarter and less confident of the pair whilst Jock acts as his protector which is evidenced in an opening scene where he gets revenge against a bully whose stolen his friend's phone. The main focus of the plot is on the pair being put in the frame for a theft and facing the ire of their unpopular headmaster after they form a romantic attachment with his daughters. The episode also introduces Conor's fiercely protective mother Mairead (Hilary Rose) who, in one of the episode's funnier scenes, provides the boys with a flimsy alibi. As a sitcom, The Young Offenders didn't particularly make me laugh with most of the gags being fairly basic and not provoking anything more than a titter. But at the same time, the programme wasn't without its charm thanks in part to the two leads whose winning chemistry kept me watching the show. Murphy and Walley certainly understand their characters and their partnership is believable throughout even in the episode's more far-fetched moments. Furthermore, I appreciated the sentiment behind the episode; friends will always try to look like each other as that's a way of showing how much the other person means to them. However, I hope that now that the world has been established, the writing team behind The Young Offenders can focus on making it funnier as there's only so many episodes of a sitcom I can watch without it making me laugh. However, I would recommend you at least check out the opener of The Young Offenders on BBC Three as it's a show that has its heart in the right place and one that contains a believable chemistry between Murphy and Walley.
Matt, The Custard TV, 3rd February 2018