Published: Friday, 8th January, 2010 1:00pm

O'Byrne no flash in the pan

Hello Mullagh! Brían F. O'Byrne in Flashforward.

Mullagh actor, Brían F. O'Byrne, paid a visit back home last Monday (January 4) - on our television screens, at least.

The Tony Award-winning actor, who's had roles in The International, Million Dollar Baby and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, will be in living rooms around Ireland every Monday for the coming weeks in Flashforward, a new high concept US drama, based on Robert J. Sawyer's sci-fi novel.

The plot centres around an eerie, chaotic vision of the future after a mysterious event makes everyone on Earth lose consciousness. Later, as people start waking up, the world starts changing because people know their future. It stars Joseph Fiennes and John Cho as two FBI agents assigned to investigating the unknown cause of the two minute blackout. Brían F. O'Byrne has a major role in the series playing Mark's friend and AA mentor Aaron Stark.

The 42-year old actor, who has lived in New York for nearly 20 years, won Broadway's 2004 Tony award for his performance as Ralph in Frozen. He credits his training at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College in Dublin for his many successes.

The series poses the questions: Can destiny be changed? And by changing just one destiny, what effect would that have on those of others?

Next week in Flashforward Mark and Janis travel to Germany to speak with an imprisoned Nazi who claims to have knowledge about the blackouts, and an anonymous tip leads Demetri to believe his deepest fears about his future. Meanwhile, Aaron pleads with Mark to help him get the approval to have his daughter's body exhumed in order to re-test her DNA and confirm the identity of the remains.

The show is on RTE 2 on Mondays at 9pm.