Roisin Gallagher: 'I was working in a bowling club on the Falls Road'

The two hit shows mark a remarkable run for the Belfast actress, who now finds herself with a higher profile than ever, 14 years into her acting career.

“It's been a really interesting journey the last two years,” agrees Gallagher, who will also return to our screens in a second series of The Dry. “I'm very grateful for the sense of security that the last few years have given me. I'm very grateful for the new people that I've got to work with - my world has opened up because of these jobs.

“I think it's just really important for me to forget about the hype around a thing and just be focused on the storytelling of it.” 

The Lovers sees Gallagher play Janet, a feisty supermarket worker whose routine is upended when a London political podcaster falls - literally, via a garden fence - into her life. Like The Dry, it’s a series that navigates a lot of the big stuff with a lightness of touch.

“Her journey is sort of epic. Within the six episodes, I feel that she's on a journey of finding love in lots of different ways. It's not just about falling in love with another person but with herself again, with her life, with the world, with her environment, her community, and feeling vital after a period of darkness.”

 Viewers will soon get to see Gallagher’s charming onscreen chemistry with Flynn, which is crucial to the success of the show. “You can't really special effect chemistry on screen,” she says. “It comes from a place of trust.

“It's really important to do those face-to-face chemistry reads because you'll know them if that relationship can build and come across on screen and I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable auditions I've ever had.

“You know yourself when you meet someone, you have a connection with them. It doesn't take long to build that and have a really good time and above all else, just enjoy it.”

 It was all the more special that Gallagher got to shoot the show on the streets of her home city. “I am based in Belfast, I live there, my home's there, my family's there.

“Being at home has been so important in my career so far to hone in on the stories that I want to tell and the creatives that I want to be surrounded by and I feel like The Lovers has been a real reflection of of that - celebrating Belfast and celebrating the fact that there is incredible creative talent on the island of Ireland and in the north of Ireland.” 

 Just like Ireland’s Oscars successes, the current run of great screen storytelling from Northern Ireland hasn’t happened overnight. The draw of huge series such as Game of Thrones helped showcase Irish talent internationally, while the low-budget short An Irish Goodbye stole the hearts of viewers worldwide and took home an Oscar.

The international success of the much-beloved Derry Girls showed how great writing, comedy and drama is universal.

“It opens doors and Lisa McGee is a real hero of mine,” says Gallagher. “She wrote about her experience and what she knew and she wrote it with integrity and honesty and it was just such a success across the world.

“We've just got to keep doing that. It's stories like Derry Girls, like The Quiet Girl, like An Irish Goodbye that pave the way - they're trailblazers. They allow more opportunity and the limelight to be shone where it should be.” 

 Following the successes of recent times, Gallagher has been reflecting on her long career, which started mostly in theatre, and those who helped her along the way. She remembers being introduced to Tara Lynne O’Neill, who had already been on EastEnders, when she was younger and learned she had gone to the same school as she did.

“Tara Lynne plays the mam in Derry Girls. And I remember thinking: ‘She’s done that thing that I would really like to do. Maybe it is a possibility.’ I had incredible support from my teachers, incredible support from my family.

“So many of us in the arts, in this industry, it's not in our remit to do anything else. I tried, believe me!” she laughs. “It was a notion that became a thing. People actually do this and make their living out of it. They do it all the time. And then that became a quest, how might I slip into that? That's when the great village of people came together and helped.

“I was working in a bowling club on the Falls Road when I left to go to drama school and I remember them doing a whip around for me. Things like that, the generosity of people and their belief in me is really what gets you through all the rejection and the years of not being employed.” 

•  The Lovers is on Sky Atlantic and NOW from Thursday, September 7

 Other shows to watch out for on Sky and Now this autumn

Cobra: Rebellion: Jane Harrocks joins Robert Carlyle in the latest series of the political drama. This time the threat is close to home as an unforeseen environmental disaster and its consequences pose new challenges for the Prime Minister.

Otto Baxter: Not A F***ing Horror Story: This feature length documentary follows the title character, a 35-year-old man with Down syndrome, over six years, as he writes and directs a foul-mouthed, autobiographical comedy horror-musical set in Victorian London.

Smothered: Danielle Vitalis and Jon Pointing star in a romantic comedy, where romance blossoms but the pressures of modern dating linger. She’s an independent young woman who’s sick of dating apps and out for a good time. He’s the warm-hearted guy with baggage. They agree to a short fling on condition they never meet again. What could possibly go wrong?

The Lazarus Project, Series 2: Following the success of the first series, George and his team return, finding themselves in a loop in which the world ends every three weeks and they are tasked with finding a solution.

The Russell Murders: Who Killed Lin & Megan?: In 1996, Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan were brutally killed in broad daylight while nine-year-old Josie Russell survived. This documentary reexamines the shocking case, one of the most prolific of the 1990s.