We’re having a FAIR CITY BABY
On-screen, they’re Carrigstown pals but off-screen, Shane Quigley Murphy and Connie Doona found love, and have some very exciting future plans...
AFEW weeks before Christmas, Connie Doona was getting over what she believes to have been a mix of Covid and that strange flu that was doing the rounds at the time, and seems to have persisted ever since.
‘I’d be the type, if I have a cold or anything, I’d end up getting a bit nauseous or sick or a bit under the weather, regardless of whether it’s a small dose or a big one,’ the Fair City actress says. ‘I just thought I needed a bit of rest and recuperation.’
Isolating in the family home in Roundwood in Co Wicklow, she took a Covid test but it was negative. On a FaceTime call to her partner, Shane Quigley Murphy, who also stars in the Dublin-based soap opera, she impulsively decided to take a second test, and a very different one it was.
It immediately became clear that the nausea was nothing to do with Covid or flu.
Instead, it was morning sickness, even though it often seemed to last all day. Confirmation of the pregnancy was a happy surprise, but not a shock.
‘When we found out, we were delighted,’ Connie says. ‘Shane got a taxi all the way up here from Dublin.’
Shane says that he had already put two and two together while he was in training with his professional partner Laura Nolan for Dancing With The Stars.
‘Obviously, during those early stages of rehearsal, you’re getting to know each as human beings as well as artists, and I remember telling Laura that Connie had missed a period,’ Shane says. ‘She asked how I would feel about it, and I said I’d react happily. Myself and Connie had talked about it already and it was more of a three to five-year plan, but we were like, look, if it happens, it happens.
‘It’s everyone’s choice, it’s each to their own, but an opportunity like this with a human like Connie, well, I landed on my feet with that, big time.’
The couple, naturally, are keeping the due date to themselves, but say it will be some time in late summer. Coincidentally, as part of RTÉ’s cost-cutting plans, Fair City continues to record four episodes a week, but is showing only three, with those in reserve to be broadcast when production goes on a break for all of July and August.
Right now, that presents challenges. Shane says he was recording episodes this week that will be shown in June, and had outdoor scenes in a T-shirt. The minute the director said ‘cut!’, he made straight back to his warm jacket.
What it means though, is that both very likely will have time off after the birth, and a chance for some precious bonding with the baby. For fans of Fair City, the news came very quickly after they became aware of the relationship at all, with Shane only confirming they were a couple in January.
Connie joined the soap early last year, taking over the role of Zoë Allen from Lauren Kinsella. Shane, who plays Gar Doyle, remembers their first scene together.
‘My character is speaking to his girlfriend, and Zoë comes up, and there is a brief interaction, and then we head off,’ he says. ‘But, yes, I remember the first time we met in the canteen, and the first scenes we did together.’
Connie addresses Shane directly. ‘That scene was the first time I got to see you in action, really,’ she says. ‘I remember, in a great way, I was absolutely terrified. You carry yourself with such ease and with such poise on set.’ There was another reaction too. ‘I was there taking it all in and learning a lot from him,’ she adds, ‘but also being absolutely smitten behind the scenes. I was walking off set going, oh my god, how did I get through that? You know, absolutely reeling from it, but Shane was just the friendliest, most welcoming, hard-working guy.’
That welcome was extended by all the cast. You might imagine that those who have been in a continuing drama such as Fair City for many years become almost as close as the families they portray, and therefore might also be wary of newcomers who suddenly get juicier storylines.
Was that intimidating for either of them when they joined?
‘It’s the thought of it more than the experience of it,’ Connie says. ‘Everybody was so welcoming when we joined. Ahead of the first day, I was absolutely nervous and, you know, sort of worried that it was going to be this very tight-knit community you’d have to break into. Instead, everybody was just so excited to see a new face and always willing to go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. There was not one day of hardship on that set.’
Given the fact that the cast are so close, did any of them figure out Shane and Connie has started a relationship in real life?
‘It was very much early days for us,’ Shane says. ‘Both of us came out of relationships and we were doing work on ourselves, so jumping into another thing straight
‘I was learning from him but also absolutely smitten’
away we kept it to ourselves.’
Connie points out that it also is not like a 9-to-5 job where you see co-workers every day.
The nature of soaps is that storylines come to the fore, and then recede once resolved, so it often could be weeks before you see individual actors again.
‘I don’t necessarily think it was overly obvious to anyone,’ she says. ‘A few of our very close pals were probably picking up on something. There was us being super discreet and it probably was written all over our faces, but I don’t know. We were lucky enough that we got the space and time to figure it out first.’
Shane laughs. ‘There were a few people, a few of the actors, that we definitely pulled the wool over their eyes,’ he says. ‘There was one
‘There was definitely a guiding hand that pushed us together’
day we were saying goodbye and we were spotted by a couple of the other actors sharing a peck on the cheek, and it was kind of, what’s going on here? So we did say, yes, we’ve been together a few months now, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.’
Once out in the open, though, the couple were determined to keep both aspects of their lives separate. ‘We like to be seen to be professional and not hugging and holding on to each other,’ Shane says. ‘When we’re in there, we’re there to do a job, and if we want to be a couple, we’ll make sure we’re on our own.’
There are no plans to write the pregnancy into the plot.
‘We didn’t have an official discussion about it,’ Connie says, ‘but RTÉ are really good at acknowledging that pregnancy is such a fragile process. I think they understand that it would be quite difficult if, God forbid, something happened and it was in the storyline, and you had to acknowledge that. They’re really good at maintaining the private side of it while working around the actor as they go through it.
‘So there are a lot of oversized jackets, and filming above waist height!’
Last year, the couple posted a photo of themselves in the sea in what looked like a very exotic destination.
‘That was Wicklow!’ Connie says laughing. ‘We had some cracking days there last summer, probably August. We actually lived on that small little harbour there for three or four days.’ It was a memorable time for Shane too.
‘That was actually during the very early stages of, eh, the courtship, shall we say?’ he laughs. ‘We’d be finishing up after read-throughs, or rehearsals, or filming, and we were still early days kind of gauging, what is this?
‘What’s beautiful about that is, first and foremost, it’s a friendship, a kinship at its core. It’s very reminiscent of the best friends you had growing up, at school or at college, you know, someone who just gets things innately, so we were still navigating that part of it.’
That’s an enviable connection to discover so quickly.
‘We were very fortunate,’ Shane says. ‘There was definitely some sort of guiding hand that pushed us together. You could feel it innately from the get-go.’
Connie agrees. ‘The connection was very strong right from the beginning, in a friend capacity and then more as well. There’s always such comfort around each other, just such ease, which really stood out for both of us.’
‘It doesn’t hurt that I fancy her as well,’ Shane butts in.
Both are looking forward to seeing where their Fair City characters go next. Connie admires Zoë.
‘I love that she will stand up for herself and fight until the death,’ she says. ‘She’s not afraid to speak her mind. She’s so good, so kindhearted, underneath the tough exterior that primarily is there because of everything she’s been through.
‘Getting to play the contrasting elements of her being quite soft underneath versus this really feisty sort of, won’t let anybody say anything that she doesn’t agree with aspect, that’s a lot of fun to play with. There are some exciting bits coming up where you get to see those contrasting elements of her which is really, really fun. I love every minute of it.’
Shane also is fond of his alter ego, Gar Doyle, who is caught between his adoptive and biological mothers, and often manipulated by both.
‘Shane would definitely see these things coming a mile away, but Gar... well, playing that kindhearted individual is fun,’ he says. ‘It’s also good playing a good guy, because I don’t get attacked in the street!’
Once again, though, Shane is keen to stress his admiration for Connie, pointing out that when she took over the role of Zoë, she stayed true to the nature of the
‘There’s such comfort in each other’
character created by Lauren Kinsella, both a brave and difficult thing for an actor to do.
‘That’s very impressive, and very selfless, because people could go, I know how to make this character more likable, or do this or do that, but she plays to the authenticity that was established by someone else.’
For now, though, life now is all about the pregnancy, and enjoying the simple pleasures between now and the big day.
‘We love to be out in nature,’ Shane says, ‘walking the dogs — Patch, a Jack Russell, Ruby, a Danish/Swedish farm dog, and Bella, a black Labrador retriever cross.
‘We spend hours and hours together, talking, sometimes not talking, and we love linking in with friends. We’re both very family orientated people [Shane has two younger brothers, Connie is an only child], so we do spend quite a lot of time with our families.’
As for the new arrival later in the year, they’re inching their way towards that too. ‘We are just really enjoying this next transition to adulthood,’ Shane concludes.