Pulling Moves

Pulling Moves was a Northern Irish television programme set in Lenadoon, West Belfast. It follows the exploits of four friends: Wardrobe (Simon Delaney), Ta (Ciarán McMenamin), Shay (Ciaran Nolan) and Darragh (Kevin Elliot).

Wardrobe is the leader of the group, who only loves one person, his 'wee ma' and he would do anything for her. Ta lives with Una, the mother of his kids. She is always on his case, trying to get him to leave the group, get a respectable job and make a living for her and the kids, but his nature stops him from doing this. Darragh is always trying to impress his ex-wife to allow him to keep seeing his son. Shay is the youngest in the group, and the one who always makes the mistakes. He is always getting into trouble and his mother always hopes that one day he will be able to get a job and be sensible like his wee sister Niamh.

Each episode follows the guys trying different scams to earn money. These schemes vary from nobbling pigeon-racing to dog-breeding, and always with something funny happening to the group. They are joined by other various characters, including "Hoker," an anti-social element who can get anything from stolen cars to lost dogs for the crowd. Wardrobe doesn't like this guy, but Hoker is a friend of Shay's, and he's useful now and again. Crazy Horse is the local wino, he's always drunk and sitting outside the butcher's shop, and finally, Tiny Tim, who owns a pet salon, who the guys help out now and again.

Episode guide

Episode 1. Clamitis.
Aired:
Directed by: Brian Kirk
The guys are skint as usual and get involved in trying set up a phoney accident which would get them compensation.

Episode 2. Meat is Murder.
Aired:
Directed by: Brian Kirk
Ta's uncle asks the guys to dispose of a cow, but the guys spot a chance of making a few pounds selling bits of it off, and not realising it's possibly infected with Mad Cow disease.

Episode 3. The Quiz.
Aired:
Directed by: Brian Kirk
Ta owes his ex-wife child support and she won't let him see their son until he pays up. £1,000 prize money for a quiz at the local pub might help him out.

Episode 4. Dog-Eat-Dog.
Aired:
Directed by: Brian Kirk
The owner of a prize Shih-tzu hires the guys to steal another prize Shih-tzu so the two dogs can mate, but as usual, things don't go as planned.

Episode 5. Spousal Arousal.
Aired:
Directed by: Brian Kirk
'Mick Bad News' thinks his wife is having an affair and hires the guys to trail her to a local hotel, where shepicks up various men. After telling him the bad news, he suggests they set up a trap for her.

Episode 6. Catch the Pigeon.
Aired:
Directed by: Pearse Elliot
As a favour for the wife of recently deceased Barney the Bird, the guys knock down his pigeon shed, and accidentally come across the secret formula which he fed to his pigeons to make them fly faster. The guys then decide to sell it to the highest bidder, starting a bidding war between 'Honk Kong Paddy' and 'Petsey Pigeon'.

Episode 7. The Pirate and the Choir Boys.
Aired:
Directed by: Pearse Elliot
Ta gets a legit job and Shay becomes a taxi driver. It looks like the boys are breaking up until Shay upsets Concepta McCluskey, the mother of the three biggest guys in the west.

Episode 8. Two Weddings and a Break In.
Aired:
Directed by: Phillipa
Wardrobe wants to buy his mum's house for her as a birthday present, but the guys are skint. An offer from his cousin for the gang to break in and steal his wedding presents whilst he is away on honeymoon could solve Wardrobe's problem, until the local hoodlum, Hokey, gets involved.

Episode 9. The Grandfather Clock.
Aired:
Directed by: Phillipa
Local entrepreneur JJ Diamond enlists the help of the guys to bring a grandfather clock across the border. But dissident republicans hi-jack their van and use it for planting a bomb.

Episode 10. All Day Long.
Aired:
Directed by: Phillipa
Still working for JJ Diamond, the guys almost have enough money for a stag night for Ta, but when they go to do one last move for JJ, the police have arrived at his house and arrested Carol, so the guys are asked to smuggle JJ out of the country.

Cast list

Wardrobe (Simon Delaney)
Ta (Ciarán McMenamin)
Darragh (Kevin Elliott)
Shay (Ciaran Nolan)
Hoker (Gerard Jordan)
Una (Kathy Kiera Clarke)
Siobhan (Lorraine Pilkington)
Wardrobe’s Ma (Doreen Keogh)
Bap The Butcher (Sean McGinley)
Aran (Stephen Boyd)
Crazyhorse (Dennis Greig)
Dole Clerk (Tony Flynn)
Goretti (Paula McFetridge)
Client Advisor (Lalor Roddy)
Policeman (George Shane)
Niamh (Louise Ewings)
Shay’s Da (Sean McNamee)
Ciaran (Ossian McCulloch)
Aoife (Roisin Finnegan)
Ma Maguire (Bridie McMahon)

The show was first aired on BBC Northern Ireland in 2003, and aired nationwide on BBC Three, which ran for one series of ten episodes.