Merlin actor Colin Morgan has said the “dark humour” in new BBC drama Dead And Buried adds to the show’s “authenticity” as “there’s a lot of it in Northern Ireland”.

The 38-year-old, from Armagh, plays Michael McAllister in the four-part psychological thriller while Walking On Sunshine’s Annabel Scholey stars as Cathy McDaid who bumps into Michael, the man responsible for killing her brother, unaware he has been released early from prison.

Speaking about the humour in the series, Morgan said: “A very Northern Irish trait is the ability to ‘deal’ with pain with humour, often on the darker side – the greater the pain the greater the need to offset it in whatever way you can.

Still from Dead And Buried
Annabel Scholey and Colin Morgan star in Dead And Buried (Steffan Hill/Three River Fiction/Vico Films/PA)

“It just so happens that Michael, and many of the characters in Dead And Buried, have dark humour as a coping mechanism.

“I’m sure a psychologist could give the deep-dive on where it all stems from, all I know is that there’s a lot of it in Northern Ireland and there’s a lot of it in this show, which only adds to its twisted appeal as well as its authenticity.”

Reflecting on what it was like to use his own accent, he said: “When an accent isn’t required there’s a definite shorthand with a new character, we speak a similar language already and so however I end up sounding in the end, we’ve got off to a good start.”

Scholey, 40, who is from West Yorkshire, said she “loved” learning a Northern Ireland accent for the show.

“I worked hard. For weeks. With my brilliant accent coach Brendan Gunn”, she said.

Colin Morgan and Annabel Scholey
The show was filmed in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Irelan (Steffan Hill/ Vico Films/ Three River Fiction/PA)

“I felt very strongly that to tell Cathy’s story with a bad accent would not only ruin the story for viewers by reducing the authenticity but as an actor, in a role like this, you need absolute freedom.

“If I had been limited because I wasn’t secure in the accent, it would have been a disaster, I think. I absolutely loved the accent and found so much character within it”.

Discussing her experience filming the series, she added: “I have spent a lot of time in Northern Ireland and Ireland as my daughter is half Northern Irish.

“I have always found both to be very vividly beautiful places, full of friendly, open and artistic people and it was a pleasure to work with our crew who were quite simply excellent.”

The series, written by Colin Bateman, was filmed earlier this year in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Dead And Buried starts on Monday September 2 on BBC One Northern Ireland at 10.40pm. The full series will be available on BBC iPlayer from 9pm that evening.

The series will also begin on Virgin Media in the Republic of Ireland on the same evening.