Yeah.

It wasn't that exciting.

Mm-hmm.

You know, you, you'd get like a, a, a lamb chop or a pork chop, or you might get like a spaghetti bolognese or maybe a steak and kidney pie, but, but there was no, no exciting meat.

Yeah, yeah, sure.

Um, so it just, it felt really- Yeah ... really exciting to dive back in, yeah.

Mm.

Every eight days before [laughs] Christmas, he would just, and we were like, "Oh, no, Dad's started smoking again." Oh, no, he's started.

What was that like getting to know her?

It was dreamy, really, because, you know, we were obviously, like everyone, fascinated by Star Wars and that whole world.

And it had just been part of my childhood and right the way through.

Yeah.

I mean, not, I'm assuming, as much as you.

Yeah.

But yeah, absolutely.

Like, I guess, have you seen that in young people and how do you feel about social media? I

So you have family that lives here?

Yeah.

Uh, I'm going straight to see them after this.

So my mom is in Dublin, and my sister, and one of my, one of my sisters, one of my brothers.

The rest are in London.

There's a few of us.

I just feel like there are a lot of people, frankly globally, [laughs] who can relate to this.

Well, I just kind of looked around me and saw so many of my friends going through the same thing, and I like that thing of, you know, you, you bring up your kids and you feel like that's the hard bit done, and now it's time for me, and I should have some fun.

Did you go back out dating?

What do you think? Yes.

Yeah.

I did.

Yeah.

I mean, like most people.

I mean, it's not something that I... you know, I sort of relish the idea of, and I've never sort of done the Tinder thing or is it Tinder? Well, you know, I've never done that.

This exploration of being a young man in the world today seems to be important to you in this show, is it?

[laughs] Do you think there's more of an openness to tell those stories, or, or is getting a show like this on the air more of a reflection of programmers trusting you, and your taste, and sensibility, and ability to, to bring in an audience?

Well, yeah.

I mean, I think, I think it's the latter.

I think you're right.

There ...

I mean, there, there is just a, a, a dearth.

And I didn't realize how much of one there was until I started doing interviews for this show and everyone pointing out that there was nothing particularly out there, you know, in the, in, in, in the sort of rom-com realm or in, in, within comedy or, you know, even in drama, unless you set it, it, uh, as you said, as a d- you know, detec- detective kind of genre.

Yes.

Correct.

Tell everybody what the show is about.

Well, it's about a woman in her 50s who's divorced and is getting back out there, you know.

And she has a son who's 18.

He's just heading off to college and she's elderly parents.

And just when she thinks like she's arrived at a time when she gets to have a bit of fun, everything kind of goes a bit wrong.

Like her son, something goes wrong at uni and he has to move back home.

Are you in a good place in your life? Do you like being the age

And I'd love to hear how you came to that conclusion and then made it happen.

Well, in actual fact, it's 50-50, really.

I mean, I write a lot of what I do.

I write for other people.

I think really what I did want was to...

Yeah, I guess have control over my situation.

And I think as an actor, you're kind of, unless you become incredibly successful, you're kind of at the beck and call of other people.

So when you have been in all these different media and the involving of the whole model of how entertainment works, how do you find, you know, your preferences lie? Like, are you like the streamer is the thing for me? Or do you have a strong thing about binging versus, you know, week to week drop? What is your sense having done all of that?

Correct.

Tell everybody what the show is about.

Well, it's about a woman in her 50s who's divorced and is getting back out there, you know.

And she has a son who's 18.

He's just heading off to college and she's elderly parents.

And just when she thinks like she's arrived at a time when she gets to have a bit of fun, everything kind of goes a bit wrong.

Like her son, something goes wrong at uni and he needs to move back home.

Are you in a good place in your life? Do you like

Anyway, thanks for coming.

Tell everybody what the show is about.

Well, it's about a woman in her 50s who's divorced and is getting back out there, you know.

And she has a son who's 18 and she's heading off to college and she's elderly parents.

And just when she thinks like she's arrived at a time when...

She gets to have a bit of fun.

Everything kind of goes a bit wrong.

fun a lot of your work is based uh sometimes loosely sometimes not so loosely on your life and experiences yeah stuff yeah uh do you are you in are you in a good place in your life do you like being the age you are

Is it a thing, that?

You know it's a thing.

Like men, they just get back out there.

They are back on the horse.

I don't know.

I don't know why it's so easy for them and why it's so hard for us.

I mean, a lot of my female friends who've gotten divorced are still single and they're great.

when she starts tidying up and she she you know she realizes it's a moment and she needs to sort this out

Is it, is there stuff in this that's really autobiographical? Is it literally based on instances that happened to you?

Yeah, actually.

I mean, it's, it's, it's an interesting one.

And, and, uh, I mean, you know this.

It, it's not like there was ever a grand plan that there was gonna be a trilogy.

It was just kind of pointed out to me, and I was like, yeah, it makes sense that I documented each of those kind of, um, seismic phases in, in, in a woman's life, I suppose.

Um, but, uh, there is a, it is a bit more personal, and I'm not sure why that is.

Yeah

Like on your rounds, I don't mean personally, but I just mean, are you aware of that as a growing thing that there are a lot of men or maybe people who are institutionally single? Yeah.

Well, more men.

Yeah, it's a man thing.

Although I love meeting single women who have figured it out and they're happy in their own skin.

I'm like, we deal with that in episode five, you know.

But no, I've been involved with the institution of single and it's, you know, it's an interesting mindset.

But the other thing about, I'm glad you mentioned Rupert Frank because I think he's so brilliant in it and he, he captures something that's not really talked about.

Was it very awkward to film that scene? Because on the screen, it's incredibly awkward and funny.

W- in terms of your writing, what did you want to accomplish with your stories and scripts that you hadn't seen before?

I think just, um, a, a, a sort of, um, a take on the world that I sort of hope, uh, people can relate to, you know, that feels kind of real, believable.

Like, I, I, I really, really try with all of my shows to not separate the, the characters from, from the audience.

You know, I, I try and make it all as bedded in and real as possible so, so they, they do kind of think, "Oh, this, this is me," or, "This is my friend," or, you know, "my family," that, that it's, that it's relatable.

Like, I really try and do that.

And I have to say, as much as I absolutely w- want men watching my shows, 100%, I, I do find myself writing f- for a female audience, um, b- because, you know, because I am one.

[laughs] Because I, I am very interested in all the stages of, of being, um, a woman and everything that happens to us in our bodies and our brains, and, and I feel like I have a perspective on that.

Mm-hmm

Does it feel more like a mountain to climb [laughs] as, as you go on?

Um, no, I still really like creating new stuff, 'cause I, I think that, um ...

I mean, I loved Bad Sisters and, you know, I, I, I kind of ...

It was hard to say goodbye to it in a way, but, um, but I also think when you're making something, you, you kinda get ...

You know, the w- that show had a certain k- a certain kind of feel to it, and so with that comes a certain kind of music that you choose for a soundtrack, and you kind of-

Yeah

... lines, 'cause it's kind of documenting, I suppose, a, um, um, a, a certain period in your life.

And, um, like, Thirties was sort of misspent 20s, and Catastrophe is, like, having young kids and, you know, trying to stay in love with your partner, and Youth is about kind of someone slightly similar to me [laughs] who's in their 50s, and their, their kid is leaving for college, and, but, and their, their, their parents are kind of, you know, getting older, and they're sort of ...

And you meet him and he is already declared as, "I'm gonna be a writer."

When I met him, he was Constantine to my Nina in The Seagull, so he was being an actor, but very quickly, he realized that he wanted to be a writer.

But we had sort of parted ways and then we met each other one night in a pub, just like bumped into each other, and he had written his first play.

And so I was just sort of astounded by this.

And that's what got me into the writing.

I was like, "I wanna write sketch comedy." Then off the back of that, a kind of sitcom.

Mainly that.

How many hours a day do you work?

I mean, is that correct?

so few notes on the whole thing.

It was like everyone went on holiday.

It didn't make sense.

It makes less sense now, but we would get a handful of notes per series.

I mean, really, really nothing.

And given the fact that Dennis and I had never made anything before, it makes it even more refreshing and amazing.

That's the

Exactly.

And in sort of, you know, researching it and doing, like, reading and watching and listening, you know, women who kill their partners, who end up in prison because of it, don't even necessarily...

Stop loving them, let alone, you know, are rid of the trauma or in a better place or any of those things.

And so, yeah, I mean, that was exactly it.

And also, you know, the sense of getting away with it.

Like, what the hell does that mean? You know, when you've taken the life of your child's father, you know, getting away with it is...

you know, doesn't even come into it, really.

Was this always going to be an Irish