THE NIGHT WE HIT THE G&Ts
Is this really the same lager-loving Tony from Men Behaving Badly? Meet the grown-up Neil Morrissey
NEIL Morrissey is taller in person than you might think. With a white wispy beard and flecks of grey running through his hair he is a far cry from the young lout who became a household name with Martin Clunes in Men Behaving Badly. As he leans back in an antique chair in the Lord Mayor’s drawing room in the Mansion House he looks, dare I say it, respectable?
The drain pipe jeans and cheque shirts are gone; replaced with a fine tweed jacket, tailored shirt and a fine Italian leather bag. He has come a long way since voicing Bob The Builder in the animated children’s TV series. More recently he has featured alongside Amy Huberman in RTÉ One drama Striking Out, playing legal eagle Vincent Pike and he has just finished filming for the day when he sits down.
‘It was the earliest Lord Mayor’s residence in Europe’, he says looking around the room and the giant mahogany table he is sitting at. ‘It was built in 1713 and they didn’t get one in the UK until 1756.
‘I read all about it in the toilet downstairs. We can’t bring water or tea and coffee in here.
‘I was delighted when they called me to tell me season two was happening because I love Dublin. Considering we are only a few miles apart across the sea there are subtle differences with how people work. There are great atmospheres on set and everyone is friendly and in town people are reflected in how the work is done and it is good fun.
‘The character is exactly the same. He is still the same maverick and is his own worst enemy in many ways. He is still as determined as ever to win all his cases and picks his fights carefully and admits that he is a bit of a mess but gets through things.
‘He really has the bit between his teeth for this season. I can’t give away any spoilers but there will be a big enquiry that the whole series will hang on and it comes to a head with him really getting everyone rattled up.’
The second season of Striking Out returns to RTÉ this Sunday, January 7th. The show, which co-stars Amy Huberman will resume its primetime slot of 9:30pm on RTÉ One. Season 2 will see Amy reprise her IFTA winning lead role as Dublin-based solicitor, Tara Rafferty.
The show will also see the return of Rory Keenan (Peaky Blinders, War & Peace) as her former fiancé Eric and Neil (Morrissey) as Tara’s mentor and friend Senior Counsel Vincent Pike. Also returning are Tara’s street smart and opinionated clientturned-assistant Ray Lamont (Emmet Byrne) and tech guru and private detective Meg Riley (Fiona O’ Shaughnessy).
Neil admits that even though he only had five weeks to film the six shows, he found it fundamentally easier producing a second series now that all the characters and relationships are established.
‘With season one we had to build everything from the start whereas now we can just arrive and start work. When you start on a job the first job is to establish the characters and the narrative. When they see me doing something mad in the first season they will wonder why I am doing it. Then they invest in the character and have an expectation of what he will do once you have built it. That work has been done and now we are developing the characters and having fun.
‘There is a lot going on with the development of Tara’s character and Eric as well. There are crossovers and there are a lot of great exchanges.’
His phone buzzes in his pocket. He takes a quick glance and puts it on silent. It is his Auntie Margaret calling for a catch-up and he says he will call her back later. The years of behaving badly have not taken their toll on the actor who admits that he has enjoyed a quiet time around Dublin this time around.
‘I haven’t had a real chance to go for a good night out in Dublin this time around. We had a couple of pints one of the nights after filming and then maybe one of the nights over a weekend. Because we went to see the Great Gatsby at the theatre and they sell gin and tonics while you are watching it. So we may have got slightly over-refreshed that night, but apart from that I haven’t really had a chance to get out at all which is disappointing.
It has been nose to the grindstone for 12-hour days every single scene because they have to concertina everything I do into his short period I am here to film.
‘I am straight off to Sri Lanka after this to do more Good Karma Hospital for ITV and I literally finish the Friday and fly off on Sunday.’
Neil recently discovered that season one of Striking Out has gone global thanks to an online streaming service. In North America, the four-part Series 1 premiered as an Acorn TV Original Series on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2017, on streaming service Acorn TV and quickly became one of its most popular series of 2017.
The Hollywood Reporter said, ‘Huberman is excellent… both magnetic and relatable,’ while TV Guide said: ‘Terrifically appealing heroine...a real charmer… a legal Grey’s Anatomy… Irish delight.’
Neil adds: ‘I didn’t know it was going to be sold but I am not surprised that it has done so well and that it sold abroad. It is a really good show and I believe in it.
Neil still keeps in touch with his old Behaving Badly co-star Martin Clunes who played Gary opposite his Tony. ‘I was judging at the weekend, a competition for the dog that most looks like Neil Morrissey in Dorset with Martin Clunes.
‘He puts on the Buckham Fair and this is a very coveted prize. And he has this set of fans called the “Cluneatics” and they are a proud group of American fans of Martin’s and his show goes out on Acorn TV which is where ours does too.
‘So for once all the “Cluneatics” were coming up to me asking if there was going to be a second series of Striking Out? I couldn’t understand where they had seen it but now I know but it goes to show you that there is a real demand for it and it was a nice surprise to hear about it.
‘For me though it is a bit unusual not being able to watch it live when it goes out. I can’t watch it in the UK. Once it has been broadcast I can be sent links and watch it at home. My missus loved it but we still haven’t seen episode four from the first series so we will have to get
I was judging a competition on the dog which most looks like me... it’s a coveted prize
onto that before we start the new season.’
There has been serious internet traffic since news emerged that the cast would be extending to facilitate the two new episodes of season two.
New actors joining the cast in the second series include Moe Dunford (Vikings), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Redwater), Charlotte Bradley (Veronica Guerin), Owen McDonnell (Dominion Creek, My Mother and Other Strangers), Adam Fergus (Clean Break) and Jane Brennan (Paula). But Neil admits he missed all these announcements as he does not do social media.
‘I don’t do any of that Twitter stuff because I don’t want to get involved with that world. I don’t do Facebook or Instaface or whatever.
‘One thing came up when we did the Late Late Show and they followed the twitter buzz that was going on around the show, and my favourite thing was from this lovely Irish lady and she may have been form Cork and she asked if it was her or is Neil Morrissey ageing deliciously?
‘They read that out on the show and of course it could have been my Aunt Margaret and I have dined out on that one many times since. My missus now rolls her eyes in her head when she knows I am about to tell that story.’
The first series of Striking Out aired on RTÉ One in January 2017 and had a consolidated average of 576,100 viewers.
And now with the following series in the bag Neill is hopeful that this strong and close cast will get the nod for series three.
‘We have a hoot when we are on set which is great. I know we haven’t had much time out but we have grown close.
‘One of the things you are dealing with when you are doing a drama is that it is all heavy and dramatic and lots of barrister, lawyer jargon filled conversations. What you find is when the cameras stop rolling the opposite happens.
‘We just want to talk like human beings and just have a laugh about life in general.
ALL the scenes are filled with hard talk and furrowed brows and luckily everyone is very funny. You have to find the serious performance and the emotion and just let it happen when you are out on set and then everyone understands where your character is in relation to the work.
But you can’t live like that. I couldn’t live like Daniel Day-Lewis does and be the character for weeks on end.
‘It is just too much and while you have to find the performance when you need it you don’t want to drive yourself mad with it either.
‘When I was doing Grantchester I had to cry and cry and cry at my daughter being killed in it and we did 20 takes of this and by the end I was done and they had to bring me a tear stick. You can find it once or twice but then you have someone come in and blow something in your eyes and then the tears come and you do the acting.’
Neil’s phone buzzes again in his pocket and his presence is required on set again. He takes his time to shake everyone’s hands and pose for selfies before retreating through the grand old doors of the Mansion House. Very much a man behaving grandly.