‘EVERYBODY WILL KNOW A ROSIE IN REAL LIFE’

If I’ve done my job right, then the audience should be willing Rosie to get better because she’s in total denial for most of the show. She gets herself in the most ridiculous situations but, underneath all that, you just want her to get well.

Do you think it might make people look at addiction in a different way?

I hope people have more empathy for addiction after they watch it. At the heart of it all is this real situation that Rosie is in and for anyone who suffers from any kind of addiction.

I just hope that people take something away from it and they can relate to Rosie. Its comedy and heart will appeal to all. I’ve never seen a comedy like this.

What was it like working with Ardal and his Father Ted co-star Pauline Mclynn, who plays Rosie’s mum, Win?

All the cast and crew were phenomenal and like a little family.

I particularly loved working with Pauline, because she played my mum when I was 17 in one of my first TV jobs

[ITV’S 1999 period comedy Dark Ages]. We were reunited, which was lovely.

And watching Pauline and Ardal together was brilliant. Apparently, they hadn’t worked together since Father Ted [the C4 sitcom ran from 1995 to 1998]!

Was it lovely to be reunited with writer Susan Nickson, too?

Yes, Susan’s amazing and a real trailblazer for female writers. We worked on Two Pints… for eight years [2001 to 2009] and we’ve kind of grown up together. Now, all these years later, I’m back playing her Rosie.

She has created the series from challenging things that have happened to her. She writes so honestly, tackling a difficult subject from the heart, but she can make it relatable and she understands how to find the humour in it.

Did you like the show’s mix of comedy and pathos?

Susan explained, ‘It’s such a happy little world of doom,’ and that kind of sums it up.

Out of the tragedy comes comic events that Rosie gets herself into. There’s an amazing balance between laugh-outloud moments and moments that will make you think and perhaps cry. Susan’s brilliant at writing like that; there are very funny situations and suddenly she’ll pull the rug from under your feet.

Also, even though the show is a comedy, it is about a serious issue and it’s important that we’re laughing at Rosie’s situations and not her addictions. It was also important to get Rosie right and to get the tone right. Hopefully, you will see light, warmth, fun and shade come through.

Were you able to have a laugh on set?

So many funny things happened! Rosie is meant to finish a bottle of wine and deliver a line. It was only meant to be a small amount of pretend wine in the bottle, but on one take, the bottle had been placed incorrectly as a full one. Everyone had to wait ages as I necked this whole bottle of pretend wine in one take. I could hardly breathe after downing it! The crew gave me this big round of applause but I felt so sick; I didn’t even eat my lunch.

Also, Rosie has this out-ofbody experience where she’s walking into a hospital, and she looks really bad, like a little troglodyte with crazy hair. Once I had the costume on and make-up done, I looked the most ridiculous I’ve ever looked in any job. We had to keep reshooting as no one could keep a straight face!