‘33 more years for Fair City’
Carrigstown’s Aisling O’Neill ref lects on playing stalwart Carol as RTÉ’s soap marks anniverary with cliff hanger
IT’S 33 years old this week but Fair City veteran Aisling O’Neill says it is more relevant than ever.
Both the longest-running and most popular Irish drama on television, the goings on in Carrigstown have kept viewers gripped for more than three decades.
Fair City first aired on RTÉ One on Monday, September 1989 with an average of 550,000 viewers tuning in every night since then.
O’Neill plays volatile but loveable Carol Foley, who has dealt with alcoholism and child abuse and has had multiple affairs.
And while O’Neill, who has played female lead Carol for 23 years, doesn’t know what the future holds for her specifically, she hopes Fair City will be on our screens for another 33 years.
The 48 year old said there was great excitement when filming the two-part anniversary episode – which airs tonight – in which Carol faces a life or death situation.
She said: ‘It was absolutely fabulous to shoot the anniversary, they really went all out, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a Fair City shoot like that before.
‘They pulled out all the stops, it was like a film set.’
The actress assured us that viewers were going to have a great time watching it. From tonight, Carrigstown sees havoc unfold through many different storylines and a major accident happens on the site of Rafferty Developments.
With lives hanging in the balance, will someone be able to come to the rescue in time? The episode spans one day and night in Carrigstown which are split into two episodes. Aside from the devastation with Damien and Rafferty, Alex finds himself in an uncomfortable position leading him to be the subject of terrible rumours.
Accusations fly when Dearbhla has her drink spiked. On Thursday, Carrigstown wakes up after a night of carnage and we see fingers point in a certain direction over the incident. Dearbhla retraces her steps to find out who spiked her drink and is shaken to discover who she was with that night. Ms O’Neill recalled: ‘It was very exciting to shoot, we were all working around the clock, also there was a real buzz after Covid because everyone was like “here we go again”.’
The Dubliner reflected on how the series has changed since she first started on the show, saying: ‘When you’re there you don’t notice the changes, you just adapt and realise it’s so different since the beginning. ‘The pace has definitely
‘They went all out for it. It was like a film set’
changed and now we can do four episodes a week instead of three.’
Ms O’Neill’s father Chris O’Neill starred in Ireland’s first soap, The Riordans, from 1972 to 1979.
The Dublin actress even made a small cameo – her screen debut – on the show as a baby.
■ Fair City airs on RTÉ One tonight and on Tuesday at 8pm, on Thursday at 8:30pm and on Friday (8pm).