Sharon Horgan on why she was “nervous” to take on Best Interests role
Horgan spoke about transitioning from comedy to drama for emotional BBC series Best Interests
Sharon Horgan may be best-known for starring in comedy series or comedic dramas such as Bad Sisters and Catastrophe, but she is now starring in a series which is an entirely different prospect.
Horgan features opposite Michael Sheen in Best Interests, a drama from Jack Thorne about married couple Nicci and Andrew, whose daughter Marnie has a life-threatening condition. When the doctors say they believe it is in her best interests to be allowed to die, her family disagree, starting a legal fight as they struggle to contemplate the decision they have to make.
Horgan spoke about her role in the show at a recent screening and Q&A, and when asked why she wanted to take the part of Nicci, she said: "Well, I didn't want to take part! I was mid-filming Bad Sisters and my agent said, 'This script has come in from Jack Thorne,' and I’d wanted to work with Jack for so long.
"I was aware that I was mid doing something and it would be filming very soon after it ended, but I had a meeting with Jack and I read it and it just destroyed me.
"I felt really nervous, to tell you the truth. But then we had a Zoom and I felt a bit less nervous. And I guess I had that feeling, I felt really connected to Nicci, I felt really connected to her point of view. I really felt it deeply and I guess the thought of someone else paying her, I didn’t love."
Horgan continued: "I think the thing that I was most scared about -- actually, my daughter's in the audience, she's 19, and since she came along I’ve been an emotional wreck. And I was just worried about getting through it, really, and not just going to pieces. And we talked a lot about how you manage that and how you do it.
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"I know a lot of it is hard going and it kind of has to be, but the way Jack and Michael talked about it was how important it was to show them being a family, and the beautiful moments, the light moments and the moments of love, and the joy of that, and it felt like a really great way to approach it."
Horgan was also asked whether she was worried about taking on a dramatic role after becoming known for comedy, to which she said: "Yeah, I was. I've been too nervous to watch it until now. Yes, for sure.
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"But it's cast so beautifully against type. I mean, even seeing Kevin Eldon and Pippa Haywood, unexpected people in it, I think was just a really smart and unexpected route.
"I feel a bit nervous even now, but I think it was the right approach, because I sometimes think that TV that has a message like that can feel like a bit of a slog, it can feel like a trial. And we don't want it to feel like that, we want it to feel like a family story that draws you in, and it's tough because it has to be tough."
Read our interview with Sharon Horgan on Best Interests, Bad Sisters and putting women centre stage in the latest Radio Times magazine - out now.
Best Interests premieres on BBC One on Monday 12th June at 9pm. For more, check out our dedicated Drama page or our full TV Guide and Streaming Guide.
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