Sharon Horgan on how her daughers judge the characters she plays

Sharon Horgan is back, leading her band of Bad Sisters into dangerous and hilarious situations with season two of the hit Apple TV+ show. Janice Butler talks to the writer, producer and actor about the pressures of repeating success, finding humour in the dark moments and why her children approve of this role.

When you’re told you’re going to get some time to chat with Sharon Horgan, ahead of the release of season two of Bad Sisters, streaming on Apple TV + from this week, there’s huge excitement from everyone around you; is there anyone who doesn’t love her, I wonder?

A storyteller and actress with a knack of really relating to her audience, especially other women, in a way we haven’t often seen before, Sharon’s own rise to fame has been incredible to watch and she’s now very much, one of our most successful exports.

With shows like Catastrophe, Pulling, Divorce and Motherland among her long list of credits, Sharon’s winning formula is her dry wit combined with a vulnerability and honesty that comes from so often weaving her own life experiences into her characters. When she took on the challenge to adapt Belgian dark comedy, Bad Sisters, a task she was hesitant to do initially, she brought herself and the incredible female cast to a worldwide audience in a way no one could have expected. What was meant to be a single season show has been brought back, due to a demand from viewers to know what happens to the Garvey sisters after the death of John Paul.

When I catch up with Sharon, she’s in her home office and she apologises for the mess in the background, when I point out her IFTA awards lying on the ground. "Don’t put in the article that my IFTAs are on the ground," she laughs. "This is my office; I’m sorting through everything, that’s why it’s so messy."

The Co Meath native, whose siblings include rugby star, Shane Horgan, didn’t find fame until her 30s but she’s barely drawn breath since she jointly won the BBC New Comedy Award for sketch-writing in 2001, with writing partner Dennis Kelly. The pair went on to write Pulling, which ran for two seasons and put Sharon on the map as the hottest thing in TV.

Bad Sisters season two, which again she wrote, produced and stars in, returns to follow the lives of the Garvey sisters played by Sharon Horgan as Eva, Anne-Marie Duff as Grace, Eva Birthistle as Ursula, Sarah Greene as Bibi and Eve Hewson as Becka.

Two years after the "accidental death" of Grace’s abusive husband John Paul, the close-knit Garvey sisters may have moved on, but when past truths resurface, the ladies are thrust back into the spotlight. Suspicions are at an all-time high, lies are told, secrets revealed and the sisters are forced to work out who they can trust. "There’s still a lot of humour in it; it has the same tone as season one, the DNA of that is still there," says Sharon of the new season.

"Part of the reason why I got excited to do a second season was to continue Grace’s story and to address how it is for her to move on; she’s still a victim of his abuse and she has to carry this on her conscience and they have to all try and move on. I took onboard stories that I’d read about women who’d been in that situation, when they get away from their abuser and how it’s not just something they get over, often they still even love the person. It’s so complex," she adds.

One of the secrets to Bad Sisters' success is Sharon’s very Irish approach to find humour in even the most challenging moments in life. "From my own experience, it’s at the darkest of times, when you least expect it, you can be on the floor laughing. If you feel safe with your siblings or family and protected, especially us Irish, that’s how we cope with dark moments in life," she laughs.

Season two also adds acclaimed Irish actress Fiona Shaw to the cast in the role of Angelica, a domineering woman who has recently moved in with her brother Roger, another of JP’s victims, and a neighbour to Grace. Horgan knew she wanted someone extraordinary to play Angelica, and it was Bad Sisters casting director, Nina Gold, who suggested approaching Shaw. After reading the script, Shaw agreed to meet Horgan and the show’s director and executive producer Dearbhla Walsh.

Despite the informal setting of a North London café, Horgan says she found herself overcome by nerves. "We went along to meet her in a café, and we were so nervous," she laughs. "When I was trying to explain the story lines to her, it sounded so nutty out loud – I thought we were losing her. I’d been a fan of hers for so long and she was so into it and up for it, thank God she took a leap and came along for the ride," she adds with excitement.

Horgan, who's a mother to two girls; Sadhbh (20) and Amer (16) admits that she felt a certain amount of pressure as she returned to the world of Bad Sisters. This stemmed not only from the desire to outdo the first season, but also from a profound sense of duty to the audience who resonated deeply with the show — particularly women who have faced coercive control in their relationships or witnessed its impact on family and friends.

"I always feel pressure in everything I do because I’ve been lucky enough to have people respond to the kind of stories I’m interested in telling," Hogan says. "But this time around, I felt a particular responsibility to all those people who contacted me after they’d seen the show and said it was the first time they’d seen their experiences shown on screen. We wanted to honor the stories of those who saw their lives reflected in the show, while also surprising and engaging our audience with new twists and turns."

She adds that as her own professional success in the industry continues to grow, she feels pressure not to let people down. "The pressure is there and has been there for a while because when people tell you that they like what you do, and it’s especially women, then there’s a pressure not to make something s**t. You don’t want to let people down and that can feel ominous. But the joy is still definitely there, even though it’s a huge amount of work, every day I get a buzz out of what I do."

And in terms of all the great female characters she played over the years from her namesake Sharon in Catastrophe to Shona in This Way Up, where does Eva Garvey sit on this list? "You know, I often play selfish people, and part of what makes a character funny is their flaws and I’m not saying Eva isn’t flawed, she is, but I like playing a good person and someone who puts other people first," she answers. "I love how she looks after the other girls; I really enjoyed playing that for a change. My daughters judge the morals of any character I play, and they don’t love that I don’t play nicer people, so they really loved Eva."

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