Gothic thriller The Woman in the Wall is a sensitively crafted, fictional drama series which examines the legacy of one of Ireland’s most shocking scandals – the inhumane institutions known as The Magdalene Laundries.
Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) is a woman from the small, fictional Irish town of Kilkinure who wakes one morning to find a corpse in her house. Lorna has no idea who the dead woman is, or if she herself might be responsible. That’s because Lorna has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking ever since she was ripped from her life at the age of 15 and incarcerated in a convent. There, Lorna gave birth to her daughter Agnes, who was cruelly taken from her and whose fate Lorna has never known.
Unluckily for Lorna, Detective Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) is now also on her tail, for a crime seemingly unrelated to the body she has discovered in her house.
As Colman searches for a murderer and Lorna searches for her daughter, their paths collide in ways they could never have anticipated. Lorna’s search for Agnes will take her deep into her own past and to the heart of Kilkinure’s darkest secrets, as she and Colman seek the answers they each so desperately need.
What is the mystery of The Woman in the Wall? Distinct, stirring and revelatory, The Woman in the Wall is a psychologically and emotionally compelling detective story shot through with dark humour, coming soon to BBC One and iPlayer in the UK.
The series was made on location in Northern Ireland with funding from Northern Ireland Screen. Written and created by Joe Murtagh (Calm with Horses), the series is produced by British independent production company Motive Pictures, backed by Fifth Season.
GK
Interview with Joe Murtagh (Writer & Creator)
Can you tell us about the premise of The Woman In The Wall and what compelled you to tell this story?
The show is a fictional story about a woman called Lorna Brady, played so brilliantly by Ruth Wilson, who was a former inmate of one of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries. The story begins in 2015, where we find her with quite a strange sleepwalking habit, and it really kicks off when she finds a dead woman’s body in her house and has absolutely no idea who this person is or how she got there. Or more importantly, if she herself is in any way responsible for what appears to be a murder.
She has no clear memory of the previous night's event, but it soon comes to light that that this person may have been able to tell her what happened to the daughter she gave birth to in a Mother and Baby Home 30 years ago, and whom she was torn away from. She decides to conceal the body to give herself enough time to start a sort of amateur investigation to find out what happened to her daughter and if she's in any way responsible for this person's murder or not.
As for the inspiration behind the series, primarily it was coming across the real-life stories of the Magdalene Laundries. I just couldn't believe what I was reading. It was Peter Mullins’ film The Magdalene Sisters that first introduced me to it. I couldn't believe that it had happened, but I also couldn't believe that I didn't know that all this had happened.
Anyone I spoke to after that didn't know what I was talking about, and most people outside of Ireland didn't know that this has even occurred. And then I'd read the last one closed in 1996. And so, primarily, I was inspired to do this just by a sense of outrage, I guess you'd call it. And I wanted to do it in a very particular kind of way where, because it was so unknown, I wanted to kind of cast the net wide, and get the story out there to as wide an audience as possible.
Please introduce us to our lead characters in the series, Lorna Brady and Detective Colman Akande.
When we first meet Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson) she has a strange sleepwalking habit, and we're not really sure where it's come from, or how this has begun. In the small fictional town of Kilkinure it’s become weirdly accepted in a way that people just whisper about it happening, and they make fun of her for it, but no one really openly acknowledges it. Her story kicks off when she discovers a dead body in her house and has no idea if she's responsible for the murder or not. Because of her sleepwalking habit and because of her past, she can't fully trust herself, so she’s the ultimate unreliable protagonist.
She then comes to learn that this dead person in her house has a very unique connection to her past and may well hold the key to knowing what happened to her daughter who was taken away from her at birth. She comes to conceal the body and begin an amateur investigation where she's playing both detective and prime suspect – she's sort of investigating herself and whether she was responsible for this woman’s death.
Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack) is a detective from Dublin, who begins our story, investigating what seems to be an unrelated murder case of a priest in Dublin. But when the priest’s car turns up in Kilkinure – the town that Lorna's from – he has to go to Kilkinure for the investigation. It's not long before we realise that the two cases are linked – the dead woman on Lorna's floor and the dead priest in Dublin.
So, Colman starts out very much as an antagonist to Lorna, with him being the detective who is after her without even really realising he's after her specifically. But it's not long either before we're going to realise that there is a really personal element to this for Colman too, where it’s revealed that he himself was born in a Mother and Baby home in Dublin. It’s this personal element that's going to be driving him and getting him into lots of trouble, going a bit rogue.
The Woman In The Wall is multi-layered – examining a horrific tragedy in Ireland’s history, while also telling a compelling whodunit crime drama. Can you talk about how the two elements work side by side, and why you decided to take this approach as a writer?
In order to tell a story about Magdalene Laundries, I wanted to tell it in such a way that it would reach as wide an audience as possible. And so, I leaned away from doing a straightforward drama or social-realist peace, and I wanted to kind of blend it with genre, partly because that's also my natural sensibilities as a writer. That's the kind of stuff I like to write and the kind of stuff that I like to watch. But it also felt like an interesting challenge to try and tell a compelling ‘whodunnit’ crime drama, not just in a way that would sort of get the issues we explore out to as many people as possible, but in a way that it would hold its own too.
My hope is that someone in a random corner of the world, someone who's never heard about the Magdalene Laundries is going to sit down to watch this show because they want to watch a heightened type of murder mystery, and it will totally deliver on that and they will be engaged by it but then by the end of all, they've also learned all about the Magdalene Laundries too. So, I wanted to do both of those things to make each element better.
What were your motivations and inspirations for the series?
There was definitely the subject matter of course, which is the Magdalene Laundries and the Mother and Baby homes, other similar institutions in Ireland which were state-funded and run by the church. It was also partly the fact that very little has been done around these institutions. There was a state apology to the survivors and victims in 2013, and there's been compensation schemes but not much else beyond that. This still isn't taught in the Irish curriculum.
We spoke to charities quite a lot during the research process for this series, and when you see that the way that these people were treated and the way they're still being treated, it's infuriating. I think there's still a long way to go. When it comes to the tone of the series I was looking at Hitchcock and Coen Brothers, filmmakers like Martin McDonagh, who blend genre really well or do one particular type of genre really well. They were the inspirations for the storytelling, tone and genre.
Despite the fact that the drama is inspired by real-life events, the town and the events that happen to the characters in the story are totally fictionalised. Why did you take that route into the story?
For a couple of reasons. We didn't want to link ourselves to any one particular place, person or series of persons. We wanted to protect the survivors in that sense. It was also to give ourselves the opportunity to collate as many of these stories. By setting it in a fictional town, we could imagine our own Laundry and Mother and Baby Home and could create a whole bunch of new characters who've had experiences very similar to many real different women from across the country.
That was the thing that probably excited me most about having a fictional town, was to allow us to tell as many of those stories from across the country, while still setting it in quite heightened world. It allowed for our town to be quite busy, and for there to have been quite a lot of terrible things happen there.
It's such an incredibly dense and delicately layered piece, but with a lot of twists and turns. How was staggering that and structuring a thriller?
Having the writers’ room was a definitely a huge help. We had really cool writers involved, Margaret Perry, Courttia Newland, Miriam Battye, Jamie Hannigan, who helped me do exactly that. The way that I tend to go about it is that from the beginning that I have milestones set in my head, for example, I knew how episode three was going to end before I even started writing episode one. I knew that this scene would be in episode five, and that scene would be the middle of episode six, etc. etc... So, for me, it was setting up these milestones, and then tying up the gaps in between them.
The way I tend to work is sometimes I'll think of a moment that just seems really cool or mad to me, and I think, okay, “How can I make this work?”, which is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do as a writer. You're supposed to allow your characters to take you to that point, and we do do that. But there is something that comes out of just kind of painting yourself into a corner for a moment and seeing if you can work your way out of it. Because if you can, in a way that stays true to your characters and to the tone of the story you're trying to tell, then you get to have your cake and eat it. You have an amazing moment that hopefully feels true to form, and not contrived. Because when that stuff doesn't work, you just throw it out. That's the benefit of being able to throw everything at the wall and think up some mad ideas.
What was your research process when writing the scripts? Did you speak to any Laundry survivors to gather first-hand accounts of their experiences?
Yes, we did. Initially we did our own research, and we had our own researcher on the project who was amazing. That was a case of trawling through all of the first-hand accounts that were available from these women. Watching all the films, all the documentaries, reading all the books and all the newspaper articles we could find. And after we felt like we had a solid foundation, we then reached out to a number of different charities and groups.
We had a consultant who was incredible, she was able to help guide us a little better and was able to answer our much more specific questions, and when we all felt comfortable we reached out to a few survivors via her and spoke to them first-hand about their accounts. That was just incredible. By that point, we've read dozens of accounts and we've watched interviews, but still nothing quite prepares you to hear those stories first-hand from another human being who's actually been through this experience. What was really inspiring was who they were as people. I feel so fortunate to have been able to speak to them. It was also really, really inspiring for them to just be so behind the idea of the project.
The Magdalene Laundries began in Ireland in the late 1700s, followed by Mother & Baby Homes in the 1900s. Shockingly, the final Laundry did not close until the late 90s close to when this story is partly-set in the mid-80's. Many people in Ireland will remember these tragic events but why do you think it’s important to tell this story to audiences today?
I would say that while people in Ireland know about this, I would argue that a lot of them still don't fully know that all the details as much as they think they do. So, it's important for that reason, of course, within Ireland, to tell this story. You can always know more. But then, for people living outside of Ireland, most don't know about this at all. When I tell people that last laundry closed in 1996, and the last Mother and Baby home closed in 1998, they can't believe it, because the stories sound so medieval - they are medieval.
It's hard to say why people don't know about this. It's interesting that such an incredibly awful, harrowing piece of Irish history that ceased to exist relatively recently, isn't more well known. It’s hard for that not to feel like an active act of repression, or covering this up, or brushing this under the rug. It’s this sense of shame that stopped people talking about this for years, and I feel like it's still stopping people from talking about it. It is still affecting quite a lot of people, and there must be thousands more who don't even know that they've been affected by it. The further you get into it, when you start reading about illegal adoptions, and falsifying death certificates in order to prevent birth mothers from finding their sons and daughters, this idea of “move on” just isn't tenable.
What is your hope for the series?
If I have one hope, it’s that this will start a conversation about the events that took place. That would be my one hope – as simple as that. I have lots of other hopes, obviously I want people to enjoy the series, I want it to do well, I want people to watch it. I want them to be entertained by it as a thriller and as a detective story and all those things. But mostly, I just want to start a conversation.
As I mention earlier, I want someone to sit down watch the series, someone who has never heard about this before, and then I want them to start looking into it, and to start talking to their friends about it, saying “I can't believe this actually happened”. I want it to start a conversation.
There is a lot of dark humour within the scripts, can you tell us about your decision to include it?
I don't know if I’d call that a decision as much as that it's just my natural instinct, my natural way to write - especially when it gets to anything uncomfortable. And this is deeply uncomfortable. Maybe that's an Irish thing in general. It's definitely my natural way of writing, just to go at it with some comedy. I also find that the dark humour, it's weirdly more realistic - in my life experience anyway - than just doing a straight drama.
I find that in the most horrific experiences in life, there's always weird moments of humour and things that don't quite belong. Someone saying something the wrong way, or it not coming out quite right - that I think is just realistic. So, I would say it's a natural instinct. But at the same time, if I stop and think about it, it's probably the perfect way to tell a story like this.
There is an incredible ensemble cast supporting Ruth and Daryl, can you talk to us a bit about them and the casting process?
Yes. Oh, my God, I loved the casting process. It just makes you realise the level of talent in Ireland, it's incredible for such a small country. Genuinely incredible. We were genuinely spoilt for choice in a way that kind of broke my heart. There were so many other actors that I just wished I could have written more parts for. I could not be happier with the entire cast, including Simon Delaney, Hilda Fay, Phillipa Dunne, Ardal O’Hanlon – these people are just incredible.
When you think of our two leads in terms of the POV of the show, 90% of it is looking either through Lorna or Colman's POV. We only break away a few times here and there. But I think one of the really surprising things to come out of it is that the other characters all have really satisfying arcs across the series. There's a few really standout performances amongst them all. So yeah, I really could not be happier with the casting.
Interview with Ruth Wilson (Lorna Brady)
Can you tell us about the premise for The Woman in The Wall and how you came to be involved in the project?
The Woman in The Wall is set in the small fictional town of Kilkinure, and it follows a woman called Lorna (played by myself) who was sent to a Mother and Baby home 25/30 years prior. And in that home, she had a baby who was taken from her. We pick up in 2016, Lorna awakens one day following an episode of sleepwalking to find the body of a dead woman in her home. She notices that she had been left a note from this mysterious woman which starts to unravel her whole backstory, including the mystery of the Mother and Baby homes and what may have happened to her child.
Lorna is unsure whether or not she is responsible for the death of this woman. As she attempts to retrace her steps and remember the events of the night before, she becomes an amateur investigator, while also being the number one suspect. This kicks off a chain of events that force the whole community in Kilkinure, to reckon with the sins of their past.
I was sent the pilot a number of years ago now and thought it had real potential. Joe Murtagh had written a script that was truly unique. I thought it was swimming in something vital, dramatising a subject matter that demands attention but through the lens of genre. And not just one genre. Crime caper, psychological/gothic horror, and dark comedy. I thought it could potentially not only educate but entertain, and thereby reach a larger audience.
Can you tell us about your character, Lorna Brady?
Lorna is a little bit of an oddball, an outsider and I felt deep affection for her immediately. On the page she kept surprising me. She starts as a mystery, probably even to herself but as the show progresses and more of her past and that of the community is revealed, you start to understand why Lorna behaves in the way she does.
She’s a survivor of a traumatic experience that was instituted, governed, and covered up by that state where she lived. She becomes a woman on a mission and throughout the course of the series, you see her gaining confidence and clarity about what she has been through and what she's looking to find and resolve. She is odd, quirky, funny, a loner, but in some ways, she discovers that being an outsider gives you power, you have little left to lose. She learns to find support, to ask for help, the mission becomes one for the community, not just her.
The series is inspired by Ireland’s horrific history with the Magdalene Laundries and Mother & Baby Homes. How much did you know about these real-life events before taking on the role?
I didn’t know a great deal. I probably knew what a lot of people know, which is that they’d watched Philomena and The Magdalene Sisters. I read a bit about it, but I didn’t know the full extent and I don’t think I had read or watched enough, that the information really penetrated. After having done some research, I went out to Tuam which is where they discovered the remains of hundreds of children and babies in 2017, in the grounds of a former Mother and Baby home. I then read lots of personal oral testimonies, many books, literature, podcasts and met with Katherine O’Donnell from Justice for Magdalenes Research, who was one of the advisors on the series.
It’s only been in the past 10 years that the truth has really started coming out. It was shocking to me that the last Mother and Baby home closed in the 90s, such recent history. Our show is fictional, the characters are fictional, but the context is real and much of the material is inspired by true events. It feels important to make work that can platform the stories of these women and my hope is that people enjoy the series, but more importantly, go away and dig a bit deeper, learn a bit more.
What makes this series stand out from other similar thriller/crime dramas?
I think it’s probably the mash of tones to be honest. It’s not just a crime drama, but a gothic horror, psychological drama, and a black comedy. When I first read the scripts, it reminded me of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart”, - it reads like a 19th century gothic thriller but then you realise it’s contemporary, so it’s a really unusual twist on those genre pieces.
Can you tell us a little about your role as Executive Producer on this project? Why was it important for you to take on this added responsibility for this series?
When I joined the project, the creative team were predominantly male. I felt hypersensitive to the fact that this was a female story, and fundamentally the heart of the piece lies with Lorna and those ladies in Kilkinure. As an Exec I could keep an eye on that female lens and I could help widen the female creative team, with directors Harry Wootliff and Rachna Suri.
How did you find working opposite Daryl McCormack, and the rest of the cast?
Wonderful. The cast and crew across the board were phenomenal. We filmed in Northern Ireland, and I think it was one of the best crews I've worked with. They all knew each other because it was a very small community. For many of them, it was particularly personal as it's their story too. So many of them were connected in that they knew someone, or knew someone who knew someone, that had either been in a Mother and Baby Home or were an adoptee or associated with this part of history in some way.
It felt like there were a lot of connections to that world and each of them brought a personal understanding of the experience and what it meant to the community. It was a joy to work with all of them, especially the women. My favourite scenes were with them because it grounded the show, it made sense of Lorna, and reminded us all of why we committed to this story.
What was it like to reunite with director Harry Wootliff after your collaboration on 2021’s True Things?
It was great, I love working with Harry. I think she's got a really unique eye and she understands character so well. With Si Bell [Director of Photography], Harry and myself there's a kind of symbiotic language that's fluid, incredibly intimate and honest. She is very emotionally instinctive so I knew having her at the helm, certainly for those first two episodes, was vital because she would always go for what feels real and honest and find truth in the genre. Also, she’s a filmmaker, the way she moves the camera is not often seen on TV. Her work elevates the look of the piece.
Did you have any concerns about taking on the role of an Irish character?
Yes, of course! With any character you want to be convincing. That's your first and foremost, and you don't want to offend people. But, in a way, it's not solely an Irish story, it has happened elsewhere too. And, if you think of women being repressed and silenced, whether that’s by the church or religion or state, it becomes a bigger question. But I do have a some Irish in me, and I was brought up a Catholic, went to a Catholic convent school, was an altar girl, so yes, I understand the Catholic world very, very well.
What is your hope for the series?
First and foremost, I hope people watch it, that they're entertained by it, but then I hope that it encourages a bigger conversation and makes people delve a bit deeper, investigate that history, ask questions, and listen to these women’s stories. Only by revealing the truth of stories like this, can we ever hope to prevent it happening again.
Interview with Daryl McCormack (Detective Colman Akande)
Can you tell us about the premise of The Woman In The Wall?
The Woman in the Wall follows two survivors from fictional Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland, who have been separately impacted. The story begins after the murder of a priest that my character knew from his childhood, it brings these two people together, the young detective who's trying to solve the case played by myself, and a prime suspect who was sent to a Mother and Baby Home in the mid- eighties played by Ruth Wilson. They both kind of have similar wounds from this system, and it's about them going on to really tackle something that's a lot bigger than just the initial murder case.
Please tell us about your character, Colman Akande?
Colman is a detective. He is in his early 30s and is an adopted young man who came out of the Mother and Baby Home within our fictional town of Kilkinure so he's never known the true identity of his mother. He is very bullheaded, kind of stubborn, but you can sense that it is his only way to survive.
He's an interesting character and hides a lot on the surface, he is almost a victim of the type of masculinity that almost hurts him. He struggles to really bear himself to those around him. He's met with a lot of his own demons and paths that he doesn't want to really face but this investigative case that he is working on forces him to do so. You can sense the wounds and trauma that he hasn’t yet dealt with and has to then face throughout the course of the series.
Colman is transferred from Dublin to the fictional Irish town of Kilkinure – a seemingly close-knit community, which up until the events of the series, remains relatively quiet. Tell us about this journey for Colman, and what his relationships are like with Gardai and people living in the town?
I think Colman is angry at what appears to him to be small mindedness on behalf of the local Gardai. I think there can be an Irish tendency to sometimes sweep things under the rug in fear of hurting people or in fear of disrupting the peace. And he’s partnered with a detective called Massey who is very happy to just move things along quite quickly. So, there is a dissonance there between the two of them. They operate in very different ways. He has no real allegiance or obligation to appease the local community, so he comes in becomes quite frustrated quite quickly, which I think adds to the kind of comedy of the two. They're two very different people which makes for more of an obstacle for his investigation.
Though totally fictional the series is inspired by Ireland’s horrific history with the Magdalene Laundries and Mother & Baby Homes. How much did you know about these real-life events before taking on the role?
I've known about the Magdalene Laundries for quite some time. I remember watching The Magdalene Sisters movie when I was maybe 14 or 15. And through kind of just growing up in Ireland, it would have been talked about every once in a while. So I knew of it for the most part, but I obviously did a much deeper dive into the history once I once I started prepping for this role. I was more focusing on the children that came out of the Mother and Baby Homes, because that's where Colman was coming from. It was difficult. Obviously, there's a lot of pain and a lot of shame, which is part of the Catholic institution. So it was necessary, but also difficult to re-expose myself to the truth of what happened.
In the process of solving a murder in the town of Kilkinure, Colman makes a massive personal discovery about himself. How does his past trauma affect the decisions he makes throughout the series?
What I really enjoyed about playing Colman was that he is really trying to keep a lid on himself, because it's the most efficient way he can get through the case. And as he meets with truths about both the Mother and Baby Homes and the murdered priest, he is being provoked by his own past – a dark past that he hasn't really decided to look at.
So, he really becomes a lot more rash and emotionally driven, which was obviously great fun to play, because he becomes slightly unhinged in that in that regard. He cannot go back and not be involved with the case, so when these emotions come up for him, it only forces him to try and go through it as quickly as possible. And that causes him to go to all sorts of places.
Why do you think it’s important to tell this story to audiences today?
I think it’s important to cover anything that hasn't gotten its fair share of exposure, particularly when it's left a wound for some people in the country. I think the great thing about art and storytelling is that it gives another chance for people to hear and learn about past events, whilst in the frame of a fictional recreation. And I hope in doing that you give both the survivors, and the people involved a chance to hopefully salvage some recognition and some empathy, but also some justice. When we were making the show, everyone involved from the writers to the actors, and the directors, were aware that this is a sensitive topic, so we just tried to really pour ourselves into the show as much as we could for the people affected. So, the hope is that it something for them and that our efforts come across.
The series examines tragedy in Ireland’s history, while also telling a compelling whodunit crime drama. Can you talk about how the two elements work side by side, and how you found that as an actor?
I think that's a great question. We're not making a documentary, we're making a fictional drama, and there is some sort of creative licence in there with regards to how that is expressed. For those involved in the series, there was a juggling act which was to really have respect to the truth of the show, but at the same time, as an actor be open to creatively where the show went and how it expressed itself.. So, it is an element of I guess, trusting that you're respectful of the history and then letting that go and trusting the process of how the show is being made. And trusting also how it's going to be received, hoping that people will see that you have good intent.
What was it like returning to Ireland to take this role?
I love coming home to shoot and I love working with Irish crews. I think we have some of the best crews in the world. This was my third time shooting in Belfast – I’d previously worked on a film called Pixie and some of Bad Sisters in Belfast too, so to be back there felt good because I knew the city. There is also something nice about telling an Irish story in the country.
What makes this series stand out from other similar thrillers and crime dramas?
I think it’s really to do with the way the show dances between dark comedy and horror and thriller – there are so many genres working together, which makes it feel really new. Also, in the way Joe has written in the show and how visual it is, will be exciting for audiences. A lot of time when you have a show or material that is inspired by historical events, it can be very limited in terms of how it’s expressed, almost as if it’s been shot documentary-style. But I think this show really takes licence to take risks in how it expresses itself, and I think that will be something that people haven’t seen much in this genre and that opens it to a wide audience.
How did you find working opposite Ruth Wilson, and the rest of the cast?
I've always wanted to work with Ruth. I remember when I first saw her in Luther, I just thought she was incredible, so from that moment that I really wanted to work with her. I didn't mention that to her at all though, I was kind of shy, so I thought befriend her first and then let her know that I'm actually a massive fan! But she's incredible and so unpredictable to work with as an actor as well.
I think there's a frequency that she operates from that is really riveting. It was a joy. And working with Simon Delaney who plays my fellow detective, Massey, was an absolute treat. He's a fantastic actor, and obviously known more for his comedy, but I was delighted that he has such a great role in this as well, one that really shows some depth. There's such a great cast of Irish legends in this in this show that turn a brilliant performance.
What is your hope for the series?
Well, my hope is that that it is received well, and that hopefully it might bring up some more discussion, for the survivors and people involved. And then on top of that, I hope that audiences get a show that is creatively fulfilling as well. It’s a weird thing to hope for, because it's based on true events, but I just want the survivors to feel like they're being represented well. I really do think it's going to be an exciting show, so I hope that they enjoy it.
Interview with Philippa Dunne (Niamh)
Can you tell us about the premise of The Woman In The Wall and your initial reaction to the scripts?
The Woman In The Wall is the story of a woman living in a small fictional town in the west of Ireland, who is very othered, by her kind of “antisocial, strange, odd behaviour”. But what people may not know about her is that she's dealing with trauma of having spent years in a Magdalene Laundry / Mother & Baby Home, and she's still traumatised. She's constantly thinking of the baby that she had there, and what became of that baby and she's obviously tormented. This is the reason behind her place in life at the moment and so the show watches her rediscover the fate of this baby and just how much the experience has affected her from the time she spent in the laundry.
When I read the scripts, I thought they were absolutely unreal and I just thought I had to be in this programme. The imagery, the just the grimness at moments, the writing and the characters are all incredible. It's so dark yet they're still comedy poking through. And life has so much of that tragedy and comedy balance going on. Anyone reading them would want to be involved. It's such a powerful story.
Can you tell us about your character, Niamh
My character is called Niamh, and she is friends with the lead character Lorna Brady played by Ruth Wilson. Niamh is a very focused, grounded advocate who is campaigning for the survivors of the Magdalene Laundry and the Mother & Baby Homes. She wants their voice to be heard, and she wants to get them compensation. She's not a survivor herself, but she is carrying the baton for her mother who is deceased. Her mother was a survivor who never lived to see justice or recognition for what happened, so she was very much campaigning for her mother's memory. And also, what makes it current for her is her friend Lorna, played by Ruth Wilson, who is a survivor and who is actively going through the trauma.
In addition to this Niamh herself is pregnant, which makes it very relevant in that when you're expecting a baby, all your senses are heightened to a mother's plight and a connection with the baby. So Niamh is very aware of how horrific these women's experiences were when it came to carrying a baby and then the baby being taken away, she can't help but empathise extremely with them. So she's doing it for a mother, for her friend Lorna, for the women survivors in the group from the town, and a part of it is doing it for herself so that she should never meet the same fate as they did.
Niamh comes from the fictional Irish town of Kilkinure – a seemingly close-knit community, which up until the events of the series, remains relatively quiet. Tell us about where we first find Lorna, and what her relationship is to Lorna Brady?
We first meet Niamh quietly stalking Lorna. She's very concerned for her because Lorna has been acting strange, and you might say drawing attention to herself because of this strange behaviour, unfortunately. Poor Lorna, she's very bewildered, she's very traumatised, and it's affecting her deeply. Niamh wants to know that she's OK. She knows about Lorna's history and wants to pin her down and make sure she's all right. She also wants to involve Lorna in her advocacy work with the group of survivors, as she thinks it could be a good support network for her, but Lorna just isn't ready for any of that. Niamh just wants to look after people and make sure people are OK.
Why do you think it’s important to tell this story to audiences today?
Because it needs to be spoken about forever, it can never be forgotten. And what the women endured can never be forgotten. We have to be aware of how dark this country got so that nobody would have to suffer that way again. It's inexcusable, unforgivable. Plus, the fact that it was still in operation up until so recently is absolutely shocking. It's still too fresh. And when it's fresh, let's not wait for the dust to settle, let’s keep talking about it. Because there are people still alive who went through this awfulness, and we need to honour them. They need to be listened to and they need to be heard, their stories need to be told.
You can't let the memory of this fade because it's an injustice to the women and it’s putting us at risk of something similar happening again.
How did you find working with Ruth Wilson, Daryl McCormack, and the rest of the cast?
Fabulous! I was pinching myself. I'm a massive fan of Ruth’s work, I always have been, and I have always watched her stuff and loved it. To get to see her perform in real life, she's an incredible actor, stunning performance. I learned so much just from watching her and how she approaches her craft. My jaw is still on the floor. I didn't have any scenes with Daryl sadly, but I'm just delighted to be the in the same show as him. It was a lovely production. I just really enjoyed every minute working on this programme, because I knew it was going to be a fantastic show. And I'm really proud of my involvement.
What is your hope for the series?
I hope it's well received, and I hope it does the material justice. I hope people get to appreciate all the facets of the show because it's so much more than just that key story.
There are so many genres folded into one – there’s horror, there's mystery, there's thriller, there's deception, there's redemption there's finding a certain level of peace, there's rediscovering yourself and your strengths. There's just so many strings to the bow of what this show is. And I hope all the different facets do something for everyone, and I see it being a great watch. I want people to appreciate the fabulous writing and performances and enjoy watching it – if enjoyment is the right word. I hope they find it intriguing and appealing.