Fade In On: A winter beach, the rocks scrimed with snow, the ocean water ruffling the stones. High above, a gull floats on the wind. On the shoreline, a body lies, face up. And then, the man gasps, revives, and gets up.
Cut To: A tavern, where alewife Micaela (Rhiannon Morgan) keeps a firm hand on the bar and the brew. Her clientele is a trio of sleveens (Paul Wilson, Lawrence Barry, and Stephen Lush) and she has no hesitation in cutting them off and cutting them out. Then the man from the beach enters, courteously asks for ale and food, which he pays for handsomely, and introduces himself as Baji (Andrew Ravindran). Enter an imposing figure in a big hat – The Drifter (Kevin Hanchard).
Skullduggery ensues. There’s a hidden treasure, rival gangs, treachery, jeopardy, swindles – and the mystery of those two beautiful portraits concealed in Baji’s locket. From this promising premise, the exploits play out over several taut, exciting chapters. NQ talked with Noah, who directed, co-wrote, and co-produced A Tippling Adventure.

Where did the idea for this series come from? Have you always been interested in period
adventure stories, for example?
In terms of the seed of the idea – my personal interest was in creating the verisimilitude of being in a tippling house in the early 19th century. That idea and the imagery behind the process of one woman brewing and serving beer – but also acting as a bouncer. I once upon a time was a bartender and Rhiannon was as well. I knew she would be perfect to believably run the show in there. Throw a bunch of great actors as salty sea dogs as well – Bob’s your uncle.
I love period adventure stories. I grew up on them – I still watch them. I never lost that inner child and longing for another grand adventure in real life or on film. My love for early serials and double features that would have played back in the early 20th century was definitely a launching pad. As well as the aesthetics of films like Rob Roy, Jeremiah Johnson and the B&W academy ratio classics of the 40’s. Single location potboilers like The Petrified Forest and Key Largo … I could go on and on. I’ve always been intrigued by international linguistics and history so a major draw was to work on so many different accents with all these excellent actors. Cast them into some roles against type.* My love for traditional Irish and Newfoundland music was also driving the whole thing. Kyle Gryphon, Alan Ricketts and my Irish neighbour Emer O’Beirn play a few tunes alongside Adam Foran’s incredible compositions. So it wasn’t so much as one idea rather than quite a number of them, which also upgrades through collaboration alongside the various artists working with me. I greatly prefer cinema but we are living in a new world now so this was a chance to try my hand at writing and directing TV.

Was your filming done entirely in winter? That must have presented some challenges, though it looks like you were rewarded with a rich natural palette.
We shot the show in March of 2024. The weather was great for the first few shoot days and then it was Hell on Earth with a record-breaking storm. As the main producer, this presented a plethora of challenges which certainly took away from my ability to focus on directing. That being said directing feels so deeply ingrained in my consciousness that I am comfortable in any sort of challenge in that specific role. I’m well versed in cinematic language at this point. The rich palette you speak of: snow on the fir and pine trees. Insane wind storms. Glorious to behold and gave us a nice Il Grande Silenzio winter spaghetti western vibe. Compliments the frontier flintlocks. As a producer though, extreme unexpected weather is a nightmare. Money goes down the drain. So I try to let my director’s mind take precedence as much as possible and enjoy the fruits of the film gods. You have to use your vision and you have to be grateful. There’s been a shocking storm every time I’ve produced a film.

What’s next for you?
I am currently editing my baby – a dystopian action film entitled The Hunt which was shot before we did this project. Hardest thing I’ve ever done. ATA was done front to back in less than a year from pen to paper to camera and finally to your cable TV. The Hunt is a film I’ve tried to get made for nearly a decade. I am also writing my 16th century feature film Death Rock. It’s Braveheart meets The Sea Hawk. A true epic the likes of which does not get made any more. I have several other feature film scripts ready to start – I just have to find the time. Some other artists have also approached me with some interesting projects so there should be some adjacent collaboration to the Ark Film Ltd work. Exponential growth – I’m very excited about the future. Stay tuned! (You can find updates on subsequent work here: @arkfilm2049.)

*Just wait until you see Andy Jones.

A Tippling Adventure can be viewed here.

(Photos: Ravindran and Hanchard on the set of A Tippling Adventure; Noah behind the scenes of The Hunt.)