'Raw' star Keith McErlean talks to Linda McGee about his hot-tempered character Shane, making great friends while filming Raw and learning how to be a chef!
Linda McGee: Just two episodes in to the series and already Shane is in hot water again. Would it be fair to say that trouble never seems to be fair away from him?
Keith McErlean: Yeah, it's never far away from him. He's gone through a hard aul time alright. We pick up Shane when he is just starting to go through divorce proceedings and I mean obviously he was aware that this was all going to happen, but still, when it actually comes to fruition, and he looks at the divorce papers, that's got to be hard to take. It's seven or eight years down the drain. And when he finally gets the document in his hand it marks the end of that whole part of his life. But he has no idea what the next instalment holds for him. So yeah, we catch him at a bad time. And then he's obviously just pushed over the line by some guy who he obviously didn't get on with in his past and everything kicks off.
LM: You mentioned his past there, it seems like it's always going to come back to haunt him and demons just keep catching up with him. Is he ever going to get away from all that?
KM: It's sort of strange because you think he's a guy that had it together. He was obviously quite bright in school and he went on to be a lawyer for seven years and you kind of wonder 'What happened?'. Because normally, I think, if people make a big decision to change their lives and go in a brand new direction it's usually a new lease of life and everything's really rosy and it all works out brilliantly, for the most part. For Shane, it doesn't seem to be the case. It is odd, alright. And I don't know if they intended it to be that way for Shane, you know. Because I think he enjoys cooking. He's enjoys working at the restaurant and I think in the interim between series one and series two Shane has actually got some training. He can cook now. So Shane is a fully-fledged commi-chef when we see him back in the kitchen. So that much is going well.
LM: Jojo and Shane make for a fiery family combination as it is but now their mother is being added into the mix. How does her arrival impact upon them?
KM: Well, you see Shane has always been the golden boy probably, in his mummy's eyes, so he could never do no wrong. And yeah, now he's in a very bad place so understandably the mother's very worried. Is he going off the rails completely? Actually weirdly it's not my fault. It's more Jojo's fault and I should not be hanging around with her. It's 'Look what you did to my boy', is the way she's going on about it. So yeah, I think Jojo is probably going to get the brunt of the abuse. I can do no wrong, no matter what I do. But she does not like me hitting guards anyway, that's for sure!
LM: This season again we're seeing a great clash playing out between brother and sister, Shane and Jojo. Do you enjoy shooting those scenes with Charlene [McKenna]?
KM: It's fantastic. I always talk about how easy it is off certain actors but with Charlene it really, really is easy. It's just the sign of a great actor. But we are very much like brother and sister and I'm not just saying that. We can have a good aul row like, and then we'll get on five minutes later, you know. We just seem to get away with it and I've never really worked with an actor like that. But I think as well, Lisa McGee, the writer, she comes from that pretty-much typical Irish family. She's able to write very well brother-sister relationships, mother-daughter and mother-son relationships. She just knows that world inside-out and she writes it brilliantly. So we've got good dialogue as well, which helps.
LM: Having completed the cookery masterclass in order to make Shane a believable chef, could you see yourself sticking the pace a real-life kitchen?
KM: Aw God, no, no, no! Like I mean it's hard, very hard, pretending to do it. So if I had to actually prepare a full plate of food and get it out there, the same every time, I'd just... I really admire those guys. That's hard work. They're in there prepping all day, from 8 in the morning, they're chopping vegetables and getting everything together and then from 7 o'clock to 11 o'clock it's just pure hell, like it really is hard work. I'd say it's an amazing buzz to head off at 11 o'clock and go to the bar. I'd say that is good fun and I'd say those guys let off a lot of steam. They have to. But what a seriously pressurised environment. So no, not in a million years! I enjoy cooking at home but professionally, never!
LM: But have you learned lots of tips that you can put into practice at home?
KM: (long pause... then laughs) Eh... Not really, no! I mean bits and pieces, you know. I can sort of toss things in a pan and chop a vegetable but have I become a better cook? No! Not really, I'm not going to pretend that I have.
LM: What's in the pipeline for you next, Keith?
KM: Well, just at the minute, I'm doing one of the Storyland projects, which we're about to shoot this weekend, called 'The Butchers'. It's myself and another actor/comedian called John Lynn. So, needless to say, it's a comedy. So it's nice actually, because Shane is so serious, it's nice, as just a little bit of relief, to do a little bit of comedy again. So yeah, myself and John are shooting that this weekend. It's about me and John Lynn running a butchers so it should be funny. It's good comedy. It's well-written, written by two brothers. Other than that, I'm just back to auditioning again. I'm living in London now so just busy auditioning really, before Christmas and now after Christmas.
LM: It seems like you've got a real little Raw-family network going on in London. Lots of you live quite close to each other, don't you?
KM: Yeah, pretty much all of us. There's a lot of the 'Raw' crew living over there and we do all live beside each other. It's really strange. A lot of them moved over in the last year... It's ridiculous. We live beside each other and we do go out and we have nights out and we are one little happy family.
LM: It sounds great to have a little home from home...
KM: It is great actually. It's just nice to have people that you know well over there. London's a big place... It takes a bit of getting used to but I think we're settling in now. I've kind of been there on and off since 2004.
LM: I suppose it just goes with the job really, doesn't it? Ireland is a small island...
KM: Absolutely. There's only really so much you can do here. And if you're on one TV show, you're probably unlikely to be on another. It was the same before when I was doing 'Bachelor's Walk'. That's what I was doing, that and that only.
LM: Do you look back on 'Bachelor's Walk' fondly now?
KM: Absolutely. We had an absolute ball making that show. Those jobs are quite rare, where you just go to work and try and have as much craic as you can have, and that makes the show better, just to have as much fun as possible. I think it's to do with he crew as well. That crew loved making that show. They p***ed themselves laughing at a lot of it, which was a help to us! And then when they don't laugh you're going 'OK, maybe that's not funny'. So it was, it was a really nice atmosphere on that set and everybody really cared about the show and really wanted to make it and that was from the start up, you know, the writers, in particular, really wanted to put a show on TV that they would watch themselves so that's where it kind of got borne out of. It was a great time for everybody concerned.
Sometimes you find a character so convincing that you're almost scared to meet the actor who plays him. While harmless, Shane has the sort of nasty temper that would have you on your best behaviour constantly, just in case. But we're pleased to report that Keith McErlean has not attended the same charm-school as Shane and is, merely, very good at his job!
