Ballykissangel returns to screens

The cast for the sixth series of Ballykissangel

The hit BBC series Ballykissangel is back for a sixth series - and boasting a new priest at the heart of the County Wicklow village.

Despite the name, Father Vincent Sheahan is played by Australian actor Robert Taylor.

He was most recently seen as Skip in the blockbuster movie Vertical Limit.

Writer and creator of the series for BBC Northern Ireland, Kieran Prendiville, said the new priest was "something special".

"No stranger to the racetracks or the homes of single women, he is not the kind of man to be pushed around," he said.

Doyle with other new recruits Taylor (left) and Ronan

Taylor came to the part with no preconceptions about how best to tend his flock in the village of Avoca.

"He's a bloke with the same thoughts and problems that many of his flock have," said Mr Prendiville.

Sparks will soon fly when Father Vincent meets feisty horse-trainer Avril Burke, played by Susannah Doyle, daughter of the late Ballykissangel star Tony Doyle.

Tony Doyle, who played Brian Quigley in the series, died suddenly in January.

His daughter is better known for her role as Joy in Channel Four's Drop The Dead Donkey.

Also joining the cast for the new series are Paul Ronan, who starred alongside Brad Pitt in the movie Devil's Own and Mick Lally, star of the long-running RTE series Glenroe.

Ronan plays motor mechanic Edso Dowling while Lally is sheep farmer Louis Dargan.

Robert Cooper, head of drama for BBC Northern Ireland, which produces the series, said last June: "Following the tragic and untimely death of Tony Doyle we had to reinvent BallyK.

"Series six was planned around Tony and it was a great challenge to carry on without him."

Ballykissangel returns to BBC One on Thursday 1 March at 2010 GMT and then runs on successive Sundays from 4 March.