Dry Your Eyes is a Northern Irish sketch show which aired on BBC One NI in 2006, and was created by the Hole in the Wall Gang, the makers of one of Northern Ireland's most successful shows Give My Head Peace. The show was 'written' by Damon Quinn who also produced and appeared in the series.
Writer Damon Quinn said "It's a temporary move away from Give My Head Peace for us and is made up of a series of short series featuring new characters. We are delighted to be able to welcome on board actors Sharon Morwood, Martin McCann and Emma Little, which is a credit to BBC Northern Ireland in its commitment to bringing on local talent and promoting local comedy."
A second series with a revamped cast - Diona Doherty, Michael Stranney, Niamh McAllister, Bernadette Brown, Cailum Carragher - aired in January 2022.
Recurring sketches
Named characters
Angry Steve is an overweight radio DJ who is usually unpopular with his audience and makes disparaging comments to his assistants. Fans widely believed Angry Steve was based on Radio Ulster talk show host Stephen Nolan, although the creators claim that any likeness was entirely coincidental. Played by Damon Quinn. Arthur Heckler is a loud character who insults just about everyone – including his wife – and then retracts it by saying "I'm only sleggin'!". Arthur once ran a course in heckling at Queens, although it was closed down after he failed all his students. Played by Tim McGarry. Darren is introduced to someone by his girlfriend, but somehow always says something innocent that upsets them. The girlfriend angrily "reminds" Darren that the person is recently bereaved and he had just made a reference to the departed. This is also promptly followed by Darren then upsetting somebody else, who attacks him without explanation. Betty the Cleaner usually interrupts important events to ask when she can start cleaning, such as the evolution of apes and a UN meeting. her catchphrase is "Are youse gonna be long?" Played by Tim McGarry. Derek is a fanatic, foul-mouthed Linfield F.C. supporter. He has a very direct and no-nonsense way of dealing with issues. When disagreeing with someone, he usually blurts out "Is it/Are you by fuck!". He is widely regarded as the most popular character in the series. Derek is played by Martin Reid. McDowell Brothers: Jonjo 1 (Martin Reid) and his brother Jonjo 2 (Michael McDowell) are two motorbike enthusiasts from Rasharkin, Antrim. Despite their name being written as McDowell, they claim it is actually pronounced "McDooooooooowell". In the second series, the brothers were terrorised by a supernatural bike named Black Betty. Norman and his mother: A man (Michael McDowell) who goes around wheeling the corpse of his dead mother in a wheelchair. The mother speaks to Norman in his mind and reprimands him at any opportunity. These sketches are a clear reference to the 1960 film Psycho, with Norman being based on Norman Bates and his mother on Norma Bates. Patrick Irishman always responds to unfavourable outcomes by accusing the other person of discriminating against him because he is "Irish". However, Patrick has a fondness of making discriminatory comments towards English people. For reasons that are never addressed, he dresses like a leprechaun. Trendy Priest: A young priest (Martin McCann) is taking part in an event and doing his normal clerical duties: at some point his mobile phone rings with the unmistakable Crazy Frog ringtone. The priest starts chatting to his friend about where is his, often making disparaging remarks about his audience.
Nameless characters
While each of these characters had names in the script, none of them are mentioned in the show itself.