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Paul back in the pub (naturally!) in racy new role

PAUL Mescal is back on our screens in a racy new thriller series tonight... and it appears his new character is fond of the pub, just like his old Normal People character Connell.

The Kildare dreamboat stars in new show The Deceived which has been described as a tale of ‘lust, murder and manipulation’.

In stills from the show, Mescal’s character Seán can be seen chatting to central female Ophelia – played by Emily Reid – in a bar.

Asked about his character, Mescal told the Radio Times: ‘Seán is a simple man, in a good sense... He has a very strong and good moral compass and he has his eye on Ophelia. He is attracted to her but also there is a slight concern he has for her.’

And having already brought the GAA to a wider audience in Normal People, the actor is now flexing his Irish language chops.

The 24-year-old former GAA player captured the hearts of the nation following his stellar performance as Connell alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones’s Marianne in the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People.

In the hit show he was regularly seen playing Gaelic football, and off screen he was often spotted out jogging in O’Neills GAA shorts. And in the first clip of his highly anticipated new show, The Deceived, Mescal is seen speaking as Gaeilge, and doing a decent Donegal accent.

The short clip shows The Fall’s Emmett J Scanlan’s character Michael pull up to a house with Ophelia. Seán and Michael have a quick conversation in Irish before Seán is introduced to Ophelia.

The trio then walk towards the house as the clip comes to an abrupt end.

Like Normal People, which was a huge hit in Britain having been broadcast on BBC, The Deceived has already been airing on Channel 5, and the ‘Mescal effect’ seems to have made it a hit.

It is Channel 5’s third most watched show of 2020 so far. The first two episodes air on Virgin Media One tonight from 9pm.

Mescal speaks as Gaeilge