A demonstration against the controversial series will take place on January 17.
A demonstration will be held this month outside of British TV station Channel 4’s London offices in protest of a proposed comedy series about Ireland’s Great Hunger.
Channel 4 has commissioned Dublin screenwriter Hugh Travers to write the script of “Hungry,” a comedy about the Great Hunger in which one million Irish died and one million emigrated. “Comedy equals tragedy plus time,” Travers told the Irish Times.
Austen Harney, Chair of Campaign for the Rights and Actions of Irish Communities (CRAIC) is organizing the London protest. Harney is also the Race Relations Secretary for the South East Region Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The show has met fervent global opposition; a petition was created against its production and so far it has gained almost 35.6K signatures.
“It’s outrageous that Channel 4 thinks it can get away with making a joke of the millions of people who died or were displaced as a result of the famine,” Harney told The Irish Post.
The protest is scheduled for January 17 at 1 pm at Channel 4’s Horseferry Road headquarters, and will include a range of speakers.
“Myself and fellow CRAIC campaigners feel we have no other choice but to express ourselves peacefully in a demonstration at their London offices. We encourage anyone else who is offended by this to join us.”
“We are responding to the reaction seen in the last few days, so we still have some details to finalize,” Harney said, “but we will keep everyone informed.”
Channel 4 has thus far defended the TV series, saying, “It’s not unusual for sitcoms to exist against backdrops that are full of adversity and hardship,” adding that brilliant humor can come out of tragic and trying times.