History Series / TheHangingGale

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* KangarooCourt: [[spoiler: Captain Townend decides to evict the Phelans from their farm, even though they paid their rent, simply because he dislikes them (and wrongly believes they were party to Daniel's plot to kill him), and even bullies the magistrate to go along with it. Connor and Sean get six months in jail for resisting eviction.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Townsend is sympathetic to the tenants' plight and even tries to convince Lord Hawksborough to waive the rents until the famine has passed. But when Lord Hawksborough tells him to collect the rents regardless, Townsend does his duty and goes around evicting tenants who can't pay and collecting rent from those who would starve if they ''did'' pay.

* SadisticChoice: The Irish farmers have to chopse between feeding themselves and paying their rents.

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Captain Townsend effectively rules the estate with an iron fist to the point where he can order the local police to hang a man without trial if he wants. [[spoiler: He later evicts the Phelan family from their farm even though they paid rent in full because Daniel tried to kill him. When the local magistrate points out there's no evidence that the rest of the family where involved in the attempt, Townesnd bullies him to take his side.]]

** [[spoiler: One local officer refuses to shoot his gun at his fellow unarmed Irishmen who are doing nothing more than peacefully protesting the unjust eviction of the Phelan family.]]
* TruthInTelevision: This drama does not sugarcoat the plight of the Irish farmers nor the brutality or indifference of their British rulers.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: The Phelans lose their farm and Sean and James to disease, so Meav, Connor and the surviving children go to America. Danny successfully kills Townsend in the end but he hangs for it and he can't live to see the child he had with Mary grow up. Liam is the only one left in Ireland and he's all alone.]]

A 1995 mini-series coproduced by the Creator/{{BBC}} and Creator/{{RTE}} based on an idea the [=McGann=] Brothers had, while they were researching their Irish heiritage. The title comes from an old Irish phrase "hanging gale" -- a landlord would allow his tenants a six month grace period to pay rent, after the crops were sold.

* UngratefulBastard: As Danny points out, Ireland is responsible for growing food that feeds the British Empire, and yet this same Empire refuses to help the Irish when they're starving to death.