INNISHANNON actor Aidan O’Callaghan has joined the cast of the second season of an acclaimed Gaelic TV thriller.

Filming has started for BBC crime thriller An t-Eilean (The Island), taking him to the Western Isles and mainland Scotland.

The BAFTA-recognised series has been described as the most expensive Scots Gaelic drama ever made, with reports placing the new four-part season at a budget of around €1 million per episode.

Aidan joins acclaimed actors Sorcha Groundsell and Sam James Smith alongside newly announced cast additions including Jamie Quinn (Two Doors Down) and Roxie Mohebbi (The New Legends of Monkey).

Irish director Tom Sullivan (Arracht) is directing the series.  Actor Aidan’s list of screen credits keeps growing after he previously appeared in The Witcher (Netflix), The Rook (Starz), Wolfe (Sky), Coronation Street (ITV), EastEnders (BBC) and Emmerdale (ITV).

His recent feature film The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan, opposite Olwen Fouéré, premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh and was later featured at the Chicago International Film Festival as part of the Chicago Irish Consulate showcase.

In December, The Southern Star reported that the Innishannon actor appeared in Coronation Street’s 65th anniversary episode.

It made him the first Irish actor to star in all three of the UK’s major soaps.

Aidan grew up in West Cork and attended Hamilton High School in Bandon, later graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in pharmacology.

He gained bar experience at his parents’ pub in Tower, which led to his EastEnders role as a barman.