Sharon Horgan on Bad Sisters season 2: 'Life is going to change for them'
This interview originally appeared in Radio Times magazine.
This year, Sharon Horgan’s Apple TV+ series Bad Sisters, a black comedy about five Irish siblings bound together by their brother-in-law’s death, is up for a best drama series BAFTA and, more than anything else, she’s relieved. “Yeah, thank God, right?” the 52-year-old Irish actor, writer, director and producer laughs when we connect over Zoom. “It would have been weird being in the BAFTA edition of Radio Times without that. I was a bit worried…
“A more well-rounded person would tune it out because sometimes there’s no rhyme nor reason to it. I attach too much importance to awards. But then I also kind of laugh it off a bit. We were happy and delighted [to be nominated]. It’s a bit silly, because it should be about making a great piece of work. But you do find yourself wanting your peers to say, ‘Well done.’”
If you cast a glance at Horgan’s CV, it’s a smorgasbord of cult classics and critically lauded hits, including Pulling, Catastrophe, Motherland and Divorce. And as we speak she has a hand in eight ongoing or upcoming TV series (that we know of – she hints at more), some as actor, some as writer or creator and some as executive producer through her company Merman.
Among these is the second series of Bad Sisters – “The scripts are all there, piled behind me,” she says – which she co-writes, produces and stars in. On top of that, she regularly crops up in movies – last year, she played Nicolas Cage’s wife in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and the year before that she was in the movie of musical Everybody’s Talking about Jamie. She also has two teenage daughters. How does she fit it all in?
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“There’s a lot of stuff in my email inbox,” she agrees. “I just compartmentalise, you know? At the moment, it’s a little bit hard. I literally just flew back from LA, and I’m completely banjaxed, jetlag-wise. But for the most part, when I’m doing one thing, I’ll just be doing that. I catch up on another couple of things when I down tools on whatever I’m writing.”
At which point, Horgan’s daughter bursts into the room with an announcement – she’s just been accepted to university. True to form, Horgan manages to juggle celebrating with her family and completing this interview – once RT has expressed suitable felicitations.
“Congratulations from the Radio Times!” Horgan says. “Oh my God, honey. I’m going to make you breakfast in a minute.”
Given how much else is on her plate, it’s slightly surprising that she opted to make a second series of Bad Sisters, originally intended as a one-off. Now critically acclaimed and BAFTA-nominated, it makes obvious business sense for the show to come back – but does she worry about diminishing returns?
“Well, thanks a lot!” she laughs. “It’s true, I had no intention of doing any more, but while we were on set I kept thinking of this one idea that could be a possible second season. The first series did have a lovely end, but I think when you kill a man, when you put yourself through that – and there were five of them in it – life is going to change. You don’t just dust yourself off and get on with your life. I was interested in what would happen to these women next. And we’ll find out.”
But for now, she has to leave – because in the kitchen, she has another mini-project to crack on with. “There is something I need to do – I can go give my daughter a hug now,” she says. “I’m really excited.”
My first TV memory is… Dynasty and Dallas. I was a massive soaps kid. They probably played a big part in why I love a story.
My big break was… Pulling. That was the first sitcom that Dennis [Kelly] and I wrote together, and it was my first starring role – that I very kindly gave to myself. Before that I’d done bits and pieces.
I’ve learnt… perfectionism. I got some very good advice, which was just, “That’s not good enough”. It’s hard to hear, but you need to keep working on something over and over before it’s ever going to get good.
Bad Sisters is available to stream now on Apple TV+ – you can sign up to Apple TV+ here. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or Streaming Guide, or visit our Comedy hub for more news and features.
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