Filming locations on the island of Ireland for Conversations with Friends

Once again, Sally Rooney’s native Ireland forms the backdrop to the eagerly awaited TV adaptation of her acclaimed debut novel Conversations with Friends. 

The new series airs on Sunday 15 May, with the 12-part drama premiering on BBC Three in the UK, with all 12 episodes – each 30 minutes long – available to stream that day on BBC iPlayer, and Hulu in the US.  
 
From the team behind the global success of the TV adaptation of Rooney’s book Normal People in 2020, Conversations with Friends sees director Lenny Abrahamson return alongside co-director Leanne Welham with Oscar and Bafta-winning Dublin company Element Pictures again producing the 12-part series. 

The TV drama centres on two Dublin college students, Frances and Bobbi, and the strange and unexpected connection they forge with a married couple, Melissa and Nick. It’s been described as both a complex coming of age drama and a very modern love story. 

Cork actress Alison Oliver, an emerging talent from Irish drama school Lir Academy (whose graduates include Normal People star Paul Mescal) plays Frances, a 21-year-old college student who faces her vulnerabilities as she navigates a series of relationships. 

Sasha Lane (American Honey) will star as Bobbi, while Joe Alwyn (The Favourite) plays Nick, and Jemima Kirke (Girls) will play Melissa.  
 
As was the case with Normal People, the film locations and settings for Conversations with Friends skilfully reflect and contrast with the internal landscapes of Rooney’s characters.  

The main setting is Dublin, with the textures of everyday city life shining through on screen and the author’s alma mater Trinity College reappearing in a lead role. Rooney wrote the book while studying for her master’s degree in American Literature at Trinity.  

Trinity is home to The Book of Kells, a beautifully illuminated Gospel manuscript and one of Ireland's greatest cultural treasures, and is famous for its history and architecture, which includes a collection of elegant Georgian and Victorian buildings, cobbled squares and gardens. Its barrel-vaulted Long Room library, housing over 200,000 ancient books, is also one of the most photographed places in Dublin. 

The lead characters appear in front of Trinity’s classical eighteenth-century front gate, in the grounds and at the university’s cricket pitch, while Frances spends time studying in the modernist 1960s Berkeley Library.  

Frances’s flat is in the centre of Dublin, filmed on Hardwicke Street. She is seen on the streets nearby, including Blessington Street, as well as in the cultural hub of the Temple Bar area, on Lower Abbey Street and in cafés and bars in the city. 

The gorgeous coastline of Dublin Bay also features in the series, when the characters enjoy a swim at picturesque Seapoint. The beach is a popular bathing spot and is also well-known and for its Napoleonic-era Martello Tower. 

Standing in for Dublin, filming also took place in Belfast in Northern Ireland. Stranmillis College and Campbell College were used to fill in scenes set at Trinity College, while filming also took place at the Sweet Afton bar in Belfast’s Linen Quarter, at the Ormeau Road’s Canteen Café and at the well-known No Alibis bookshop on Botanic Avenue. 

In one scene where Frances watches Nick perform in a play, the production used Belfast’s historic Lyric Theatre on Ridgeway Street, rebuilt in 2011 in the modern style seen on screen. 

Conversations with Friends was Rooney’s breakout novel and has so far been succeeded by Normal People and last year’s Beautiful World, Where Are You. 

Normal People became a literary sensation when it was released, and spawned the 12-part TV show that skyrocketed the careers of Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
 
Through her work, the County Mayo native has taken readers and viewers from Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way to the streets of Dublin and back again.  

For anyone wanting to explore her fictional world some beautiful filming locations are waiting to be discovered. 

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