Actor Liam Garrigan is currently on our screens as heartbreaker Bobby in 'Raw'. Linda McGee caught up with him to find out what it's like to be part of the show and what we can expect from Bobby once his jealous streak surfaces!
Linda McGee: Were you very pleased when you first heard that Raw had been commissioned for a second series? It sounds like a show to be involved in.
Liam Garrigan: Aw absolutely. Yeah, definitely, and the cast as well, we had such a fantastic time, such a fun time, on the first series. When I found out that it was going again, and pretty-much everybody was coming back, I thought 'I've got to get on board, I've got to come back again'.
LM: So it was a no-brainer for you?
LG: Yeah, absolutely. Before the second series of 'Raw' I'd had six months of nothing else, like in the wilderness, very few auditions and obviously with the recession biting and everybody tightening their belts there was even less around than there was before so then 'Raw' 2 came along at an absolutely fantastic time.
LM: In this series Bobby seems a little bit tamer. He's nursing a broken heart and licking his wounds. Do you think he's changed a lot as a character?
LG: Em, yeah. His priorities have shifted now. Obviously, at the end of the first series there's this big emotional rift between him and Jojo. So although they've decided to put that behind them, and he gives her an ultimatum, saying 'we'll be friends and that's it, that's the only thing we're going to be', there's still a lot of pain there. They're both going to have to work through it. And then Dylan comes on the scene and suddenly everything changes. The foundations are sort of rocked. Bobby has never seen Jojo like this before. He starts feeling kind of weird things and he's not quite sure why, and how he should deal with it.
LM: Would jealously be that weird feeling by any chance?!
LG: Yeah, kind of jealous! And it's unexpected. He doesn't quite understand why he's feeling it or how he should deal with it, whether he should confront it or ignore it, but generally his priorities have shifted.
LM: You have to give us a few clues... because I think almost everyone watching the show really wants Bobby and Jojo to just get together...
LG: Well, Bobby's way of dealing with it is to throw himself headlong into this new bar, that him and Dylan decide to set up. On the one hand, it's a distraction, because he's doesn't really want to have to deal with it, but he's with Dylan all the time, which is a constant reminder of what's going on. So he's kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. So yeah, it builds up and it builds up until he can't actually deal with it anymore.
LM: So can we expect an explosion?
LG: At some point... you might see an explosion!
LM: There are a lot of fiery characters in 'Raw' and some great scraps between them. Bobby and Jojo have had their fair share of run-ins in the last while. Do you love getting stuck into those scenes, the ones where you are all tearing lumps out of each other, to put it bluntly?!
LG: Completely! And you know what, because of how close and tight the cast are [I know that sounds like a cliché but really I haven't been on a job like it ever in my life, it's amazing!] we're all kind of sparking and we've got banter left, right and centre, constantly, when we're not on set. So we just transport that into the lines that have been written. It just happens, that's the vibe. So yeah, it's great. And at the end of the day, even if it's a big emotional, tense scene or you're arguing or screaming at each other and all that sort of stuff, at the end of the day everyone's going to go out and have a bite to eat and a drink and the day's gone and it's like 'let's do it all again tomorrow'.
LM: You're based in England most of time, aren't you? Did you enjoy spending a bit of time in Ireland when you were filming this series?
LG: Loved it! It was around 12 weeks, nearly three months. I'm big into surfing and the west coast of Ireland has some fantastic surfing, Sligo, Bundoran, Easkey, Lahinch, all around there.
LM: So you'd recommend it for a water-sports holiday then?
LG: Aw yeah, absolutely, all of the west coast. Ireland is a beautiful country and the west coast of Ireland has some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in my life. The first series when were out here the weather was amazing the whole time. I think we had like two days of rain in two-and-a-half months. It was amazing.
LM: Are you sure you were in Ireland?! When did you come here?
LG: I know, tell me about it! And it was pretty-much the same on the second series. I had a bunch of mates come over from England and we went over to the west coast and climbed Croagh Patrick. We did all the crazy stuff. It was amazing. We had top fun. I'm in love with the country.
LM: What's coming up next for you Liam? Are you back on the audition trail?
LG: Well, I finished 'Raw' on the Friday and on the Monday I was out in Budapest filming a thing called 'Pillars of the Earth'. I was out there for nearly six months. So that was a big, big job. It's a four-part mini-series, four 2-hour episodes, called 'Pillars of the Earth', set in the 12th Century, a big epic costume drama... So that comes out, I guess, in October of this year.
LM: Well that's certainly a change of direction from 'Raw'...
LG: Aw yeah, absolutely, couldn't be more different. I'm a bad guy in it as well... well, misunderstood! And I have to age from 17 to 35 in it so it's completely different, couldn't be more different.
LM: Is that an important factor when you're looking at new projects? Is it ideal to be able to choose to do something completely different, just to keep things fresh for yourself?
LG: Absolutely, absolutely. I think that's the appeal of this job, this career. Every single job is different, you're working with different people all the time, different crews and every project has a life of its own. It keeps you interested... Two things I'd really like to get down in 2010 are a feature film, even if it's just a tiny little role – just to get that credit on my CV – and I'd really, really like to get back on the stage. It's been three-and-a-half years...
LM: Was theatre your first love then? Was that where you caught the acting bug?
LG: Yeah, completely. I was like 5-years-old doing amateur dramatics and theatre stuff, and that was my hobby two or three times a week, all the way through to finishing my A levels and then I decided to go to drama school and I got it and everything's kind of snowballed from there.
LM: And it seems like you've never regretted your decision to pursue acting...
LG: No, not in the slightest. There have been times, you know, when you're out of work for a long period of time and you start thinking 'Right, this might be it. What if there's never a job going to come round again? What else can I do?' And I'm stuck every single time. I get to that point where I think 'I haven't got a clue'. All my eggs are in one basket.
Watch 'Raw' Sundays at 9.30pm on RTÉ One.
