Dark comedy Obituary is back on RTÉ One with a new face in town. John Byrne meets The Walsh Sisters star Máiréad Tyers, who joins the cast as formidable new newspaper editor Vivienne Birch.
"Vivienne, she's an outlandish outsider to this world. I’d imagine if she was walking down Kilraven high street, she’d be getting plenty of looks."
Máiréad Tyers is laughing as she talks about her latest character, the new editor of the paper in Obituary where Elvira Clancy – played by Siobhán Cullen - works as a freelance obituarist who kills members of the local community to keep herself in gainful employment.
Tyers’ Vivienne Birch is a potential upgrade on Elvira’s vengeful former boss, Hughie (David Ganley), who’s currently making big plans to secure his release from prison and expose Elvira’s crimes.
Entering the deadly world of Kilraven for Obituary’s second season, Tyers comes with a hefty CV for someone of just 27 years. You may have seen her in Amazon's historical fantasy romance My Lady Jane as Susannah?
Or perhaps you caught her heading the cast of Extraordinary on Disney+ as Jen, a 25-year-old costume-shop worker - the only person on Planet Earth who doesn't have any superpowers?
Currently, she stars as Helen in The Walsh Sisters, the Marian Keyes adaptation running on Sunday nights on RTÉ One. More on that in a while but first up is Obituary. And the rather eye-catching Vivienne Birch.
"She’s fresh off the plane from New York or London, working for a highly stressed environment in a publishing office, or something like that," says Máiréad Tyers, imagining her character’s back story.
"Ray [Lawlor]’s writing is hilarious, and particularly for Vivienne, I felt it was so comedic, and there are loads of comedic opportunities in it, When I read the character I really wanted to do it.
"She’s so bizarre and strange, completely unapologetic and completely competent in everything she says and does."
As well as being a colourful and somewhat chaotic character, Vivienne has her sights set on Elvira and Emerson (played by Ronan Raftery), the two lovers who also work for the paper, and who harbour secrets about themselves from each other.
"She really enjoys pitting the two against each other, pushing them to their limits and making life difficult," Máiréad explains. "But ultimately, I think she cares about the paper and wants the paper to succeed.
"So she's willing to push them to their absolute limits in order to do that. And that leads to really fun relationships – the push and pull as she seems to play with the two of them."
Laughing again, Máiréad adds: "She’s also got some fantastic one-liners that I’ve been tripping over my words to say - I’m so excited to say them!"
Since her role as Auntie Eileen in Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autbiographical 2021 hit Belfast – landed when she was studying at RADA - she’s been very much in demand.
She’s experienced many firsts, from film debuts to TV debuts, to being cast in the lead role in Extraordinary, which also earned her a British Academy Television Award nomination.
Landing in the rather singular world of Obituary, filmed in Donegal, there's yet another new experience for the Ballinhassig native. "It’s my first time coming on to a show that already exists," she says.
Challenging, perhaps, to enter a production that’s established itself on the small screen. It’s a bit like going to a new school for Second Year. She’s the new girl, but relishes the fact that Obituary season one preceded her.
"That gives you so much," she insists. "Even though my character is coming from a different world, piercing this world and trying to change it, it’s so helpful because you know what the tone of the show is."
Naturally, she’s given the opening run of Obituary more than a glance. "You get an idea of what the world looks like and how your character is going to fit into that.
"I think she thinks she's above all of it. Even though in my back story she’s always been the small fish in the big pond, and now as she’s come into Kilraven, she’s become the big fish in a small pond."
Like Obituary lead Siobhán Cullen, who also features in The Dry, Nancy Harris’s comedy drama about a recovering alcoholic with a chaotic family, Tyers is fast becoming a familiar face on our TV screens.
It begs the obvious - and clearly unresearched - question: Has she worked before with Siobhán?
"No I haven’t," she says, with an enthusiastic lean forward. "And I was so excited. She’s marvelous and I try to see everything that she does. To work with her, and just to meet her, she’s like the nicest person in the world!
"And visually, our two characters look so different," she adds. "I think they’ve done a class job with wardrobe. I’m trying to decide what clothes I might like to keep.
"Vivienne comes in, looking like a bomb, this kind of fashion bomb, and just disrupting the quiet life of the paper's office. Visually, it looks amazing."
And then there’s the Marge Simpson/Bride of Frankenstein barnet boasted by Vivienne. Máiréad Tyers isn’t the tallest, but Vivienne’s bold locks are putting in a shift.
"Even the height of the hair," Máiréad laughs. "It’s incredible. I forget what I look like sometimes when I’m walking round." More laughter. I was tempted to ask if she also got paid for having so much fun, but I thought better of it.
Instead, I wondered if getting that lead part in Disney+ fantasy series Extraordinary opened a lot of doors? The fact that we’re on the set of Obituary answers that one, but no harm in asking. Máiréad acknowledges with a firm "100%."
She recalls that casting as "Unbelievable, and completely unexpected. It absolutely opened doors. You get a job and people see you and then see you in other things – and hopefully it keeps on going.
"That was a very original show. It’s almost in a genre of its own. It’s so original."
As well as Tuesday night in Obituary, Máiréad Tyers also pops up on Sundays in The Walsh Sisters, the RTÉ One adaptation of the massively popular series of Marian Keyes novels about a set of South Dublin sisters.
She plays Helen, the youngest of the siblings and the only one still living at home with the Walsh parents, played with much humour by Aidan Quinn and Carrie Crowley.
Another first for Tyers, as she was playing a much-loved character who has featured in several Marian Keyes novels over the last 30 years. Variety seems to spice her career choices.
"I feel like a lot of the rehearsals were extremely helpful, in terms of finding the relationship between her and her parents," she says. "The frustration of living at home.
"She's in her mid-20s and feeling the overbearance from her family, it’s something a lot of people can relate to nowadays, with the state of the housing crisis. It’s very realistic."
The Walsh Sisters is very much an ensemble piece and – unlike, say, the quirky world of Obituary that's dominated by Elvira Clancy – it's set in an Ireland and Irish family situation that’s very realistic.
"They’ve done a great job in the casting," says Tyers. "We all have melded well together and all our different personalities, like the sisters, meld together and bring different traits. That was great and – again – rehearsals were great for that.
"We were even lucky that we had rehearsals," she adds. "Usually, that never happens."
Getting back to Helen, she says: "She has a lot of simplistic views of the world, being as young as she is. But I’ve loved playing her. She gets to come in with a lot of quick wit and putdowns for the rest of the sisters.
"I love playing her," she adds. "And although she has these funny one-liners, the way she’s written, she doesn’t know how funny she is. I don’t think sher has a plan for her life.
"I think she feels quite lost. She’s kind of perpetually in college because she can’t pass exams.
"She doesn’t know what she wants to do but – despite not being in the most secure space – she still manages to be very critical of everyone else’s insecurities.
"It’s easier for her to put her focus onthat and be critical of everyone else to avoid dealing with whatever’s going on inside her."
If she wasn’t a big fan before, Máiréad Tyers is certainly a great admirer of Marian Keyes and the characters she created, and whose lives have been developed in a series of books that began with Watermelon back in 1995.
"What she’s remarkable at doing, and what’s been so nice, is that reading her books, they’re 30 years old and I still feel like they’re so relevant," she says.
"It’s a credit to her writing and how perceptive she is, that they still stand the test of time.
"And her characters, if they were written yesterday, would be just as believable," she adds. "They’re nuanced and feel like characters that are flawed and unlikeable, and interesting."
Obituary is on RTÉ One on Tuesdays at 10.15pm, while The Walsh Sisters continues on RTÉ One on Sundays at 9.30pm. You can also catch up with the shows on the RTÉ Player.
