The Dry, writer-creator Nancy Harris's award-winning comedy-drama about recovering alcoholic Siobhán 'Shiv' Sheridan (played by Róisín Gallagher) and family, is back on RTÉ One this Thursday night for its third and final season - with all eight episodes arriving on RTÉ Player on the night.
This time round, there's a major new character in the mix. Read on and find out more...
So, who is he?
The character's name is Daryl, and he's played by the Australian actor Rick Donald.
Where does Daryl fit in?
Well, when the cameras started rolling on the third and final season, Daryl was described as "a handsome and mysterious Australian stranger", who seemingly develops a fixation with the show's hero, Shiv (Róisín Gallagher), after "turning up out of the blue at a recovery meeting".
What's the story with Rick getting the role?
"They auditioned, I think, a lot of Aussies back home," he tells RTÉ Entertainment. "And then I got a callback and I got on a call with Paddy (Breathnach), the director, and Róisín (Gallagher, who plays Shiv) and we did a little bit of a chemistry test.
"Callbacks can be real hit-and-miss, especially on Zoom, because it's like, 'How do you have a chemistry read over Zoom?!' The internet's stuttering and you can barely hear people and then someone's coughing and you're not even looking at them anymore in the scene! One of the producers or something is frozen on their face!
"But it was meant to be a half-an-hour thing - and it ended up being an hour and a half. I got off and I was like, 'What time is it?!' I had a look because it was my nighttime in Queensland and their morning.
"It was an amazing [experience]. I thought, 'Even if I don't get that job, that was a very nice callback'. And then Paddy called me a week later and said I'd got the part."
Had Rick ever been to Ireland before?
Never - and he's loved it.
"I couldn't wait to get here because it's also like, 'And I get a holiday!'" he laughs.
"I've been to Glendalough three times, swam freezing cold, but it's unreal. It's like New Zealand... We went up to Howth and all of that. My wife and daughter came over. We went to the Phoenix Park.
"I've been here for nearly four months now. I feel like you actually get to see what it's really like when you work in a place, rather than just going with your family on holiday. You go from the hotel to the restaurant to the beach and then you fly home and you're like, 'Oh yeah, I think I know it...' You have no idea!
"It's been nice going for walks and hikes and not having to look down for snakes! I saw a cobweb for the first time I've been here on the veranda - couldn't see a spider!"
What has it been like for Rick to join an ensemble cast in such an established series as The Dry?
"I don't know if it's also coming from Australia, because we have really lovely sets as well - I feel like we tend to try and create a nice environment. But, this set, you can tell 90% of the crew are the same crew from the first season," he smiles.
"We all went out for dinner last night and sitting there as sort of the new guy, I was looking around the table. I felt like I was at Christmas [dinner] and I was at my wife's family and you just see that history. You're just looking around and you're going, 'Oh my God, these guys are really close'. And it doesn't always happen like that. That's rare that everyone gets along on these types of shows!
"To see it, it's awesome, and they have been super welcoming. I don't know if that's just because that's Irish in general, because everyone seems insanely polite. Don't get me wrong - in that funny way too they'd chop you down immediately! On set, some of the lads, they'll want to build me up, and I go, 'Yeah, I'm up here!', and they go, 'Get back down!' But it's been great."
What is Rick saying about playing Daryl as season three begins?
He's not giving away too much!
"He very quickly gets brought into the family, but then everyone very quickly starts getting very suspicious of him and starts thinking maybe he's not who he says he is," Rick says. "And sort of one by one, they go from being his biggest fan to thinking there's an enemy in the house!
"Nancy Harris's writing is so good. Daryl's character, his journey, is an absolute rollercoaster in this world, in their (the Sheridans') house. But he comes with an agenda. He comes with a plan. And it goes good until it starts to go bad!
"He really comes in and every character he has an effect on in different ways. So, it's been nice to be able to come in and actually work with everyone in their little world. It's been cool to have so much to do in the final season. You know it immediately when you see it on the page. You go, 'Oh, I'm not going to have to do anything. I'm just going to turn up and say this stuff'.
"You think you'll be doing a scene and it'll start just like a nothing scene - chatting, having coffee - but then there'll be a huge bit of information that's dropped and the characters are now in a completely different world. It was quite an experience, because I don't know if I've experienced that type of writing before."
Any final words from Rick on Daryl?
"I think he likes to present himself better off than he actually probably is," he concludes.
"[He's] One of those guys that will try hard to be perceived in a good light, will go to the nth degree to make people think the same thing.
"But, you know, everyone has cracks, everyone's got stuff... I mean, everybody. They put on their best shoes and they go out in the world. But we all have little secrets, we all have little stuff, no matter who you are. He's definitely got some of those. Definitely!"
Episode one of the third and final series of The Dry airs on RTÉ One on Thursday, 23 April at 10:15pm. All eight episodes will drop on RTÉ Player on the same night. Catch up on series one and two on RTÉ Player.
