Hilary Rose: 'I just don't think a nine to five would have suited me'

The Smother star on bare feet, trending on TikTok, and the long-awaited complex female character

Hilary Rose: "I was certainly a comedy actor, but my heart has always loved drama." Picture: Miki Barlok

Have you ever seen Irish eyes smiling? I have. Hilary Rose, Cork’s most beloved export, has smiling eyes – beaming at you so enthrallingly you begin to believe the Oirish stereotype. She would dismiss this, of course, such is her desire to commend the brilliance of others rather than herself (“Pauline McGlynn, what an incredibly smart woman,” etc) but the sentiment still stands. 

Retrospectively, one might credit it with her love of nature (“I’m usually in bare feet from March to October”) her passion for the arts or her genuine or her choice to forego curtains (“my circadian rhythm thanks me for it”) but as it happens, a Rose with any other name would smell as sweet – such is the regard with which Hilary talks to you.

Born in Galway but raised in Cork to a family of engineers, Rose’s self-confessed “rebellious energy” caused her to pivot where no family member had ever gone before; the Arts. Classically trained in the Gaiety, RADA and the Irish Film Academy, Hilary cut her teeth in the comedy world opting for roles that demanded more than a pretty face and delicate frame. 

This direction paid off, as it happens, bagging her sought-after roles in RTÉ comedies The Fear and Republic of Telly (“which has become massive on TikTok, don’t ask me why!”), leading her to tread the boards in other massively successful shows such as Vikings, The Tudors and Amy Huberman’s Finding Joy. She balances the transition from comedic to dramatic seamlessly, this writer is not alone in thinking, refusing typecasting at every turn. It’s a conscious attempt, she shares. 

”It’s funny, I got my break in comedy in the end, even though for me it was just a bit of craic,” she grins, wryly. “It was my husband Peter [Foott] who talked me into it as I’d been creating different characters around him, just to wind him up. Then I began being seen as a comedian, even though I never was. 

Like I was certainly a comedy actor or comedy performer, but my heart has always loved drama. So now it's interesting because now I find that I can kind of walk in both worlds which is what I love – and that was kind of always the goal in the back of my mind, to not tie myself to one thing. Because that's where you're going to have the richness of the experience as an actor, and that's what I really wanted.” 

Rose is perhaps best known for her complex portrayal of Mairéad MacSweeney, mother of Conor MacSweeney (Alex Murphy) from the hit BBC TV series, The Young Offenders, written and directed by husband Foott for BBC3 and RTÉ. 

The piece – that Graham Norton urged viewers to “Sell all your cocaine and buy a ticket to see this film!” – celebrated great acclaim in Ireland and the UK, placing as the third most popular programme on the BBC player, the first always going to Eastenders. For her portrayal of MacSweeney, Rose has been IFTA nominated twice, the ensemble cast ultimately winning Best Scripted Comedy for the show at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards 2021. 

“I mean, it was wonderful. It was a really, really special time,” Rose gushes. “It was a special project anyway, I don't think we really are kind of aware of it, you know, when you're in the thick of the workload. But when you step back and go, Oh, that was really special. And we finished filming the 2020 season in 2019, so that was lucky!” MacSweeney acts as Conor’s long-suffering mother, giving birth at sixteen and picking up the pieces ever since. 

Hilary Rose: "my dream role was always Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien" Picture: Miki Barlok

It’s the kind of complex female role Rose thrives at, reflected majorly in the praise of her performance; “Máiréad MacSweeney [is] one of the strongest female characters you’ll see on TV this year” BBC Three’s critic said, solidifying her status as a tour de force. It’s a fight long battled, Rose says, but the tide is turning for female actors, she swears it. “I remember when I was starting at drama school, that all the female characters were very one-dimensional, you know love interests and stuff, it was just so, so boring! 

And I was never drawn to those characters personally. I was always drawn to something that was more feisty or a bit more interesting or, you know, out there. And so I think it’s firmly turning now and I think that's a really, really good thing. You know, especially for the actors. We’d been grinning and bearing it for the longest time and that's changed,” she poses.

“That’s part of the reason why I created a lot of my own characters in the beginning. I never fit into the “starlet” roles either – my dream role was always Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien. You know, if I could have played that I 100% would, I just think that character is one of the best female characters out there to be honest because it's really heroic, but it's really complex. It's very motherly as well. It's really, really beautiful. These days, thankfully, roles across the board are on much more equal footing – and saying that there are so many more opportunities for people of colour, too. It’s fantastic. God, finally as well.” 

The equal footing she refers to is becoming dominantly clear within the formerly male-heavy Irish acting scene, most notably in Rose’s most recent project Smother. One of the breakout TV dramas of 2020, Kate O’Riordan’s Smother is an Irish thriller-drama series, showing on RTÉ, centring itself around the death of Denis Ahern, the father of a family we get to know intimately throughout. 

Denis’ death unlocks a myriad of secrets, each consequently found out after his passing, causing the viewer to reexamine the story of a man whose skeletons breakthrough closet doors one by one. Rose plays Alanna Hutchins, the partner of Frank (Conor Mullen) and is one of a number of women who spearhead the show, alongside Dervla Kirwan, Niamh Walsh, and Seána Kerslake.

 “I think this is the first project that I’ve done that has had such a heavy female lineup, it’s incredible,” Rose beams. “Alanna is also such a fun character to play,” she smirks. “We had the sense [with Alanna] that there was this old kind of friendship with her that turned into a sort of frenemy-ship,” she laughs, “with Dervla Kirwan’s character. And so in season two, she shows up again and she’s now with Frank, who is the uncle of the family essentially, the last man standing now that Denis is gone. So they're sort of questioning why Alanna is with Frank, you know, whether she is trying to implant herself back into the family. 

Hilary Rose: a nature blogger outside of her work as an actor. Picture: Miki Barlok

But she does have genuine feelings for him, so it’s really interesting to kind of go through all of that. And then obviously, there are new characters that arrive on the scene – so everyone starts to question different motivations around why they're there and yeah. I’m trying not to give it all away but this season is so good!” 

Which brings us back to the women who rule it. “It’s an amazing show, and we had so much fun throughout, even though it’s obviously quite dark and dramatic. It was also great to be surrounded by great, really funny, smart women. The guys obviously too, but really funny, smart women – such a pleasure to be around.” 

She remembers there was a time (“about eight years ago”) when those In The Know questioned whether women were funny (“how ludicrous, as if we’ve never cracked a joke or had a laugh in our entire lives”) crediting the changing landscape to the “really versatile, hilarious women” who share the stage. 

“Justine Mitchell, who is also in Smother, is probably the funniest woman I have ever met in my life. And Joanne McNally! Oh my God, she is just killing it.” For these reasons and more, it’s increasingly difficult not to root for Rose. She’s clever, interested, generous with her time and fiercely witty to boot. 

She’s also a self-confessed “big hippy” documenting her barefoot travels on her pandemic-created blog Live Wild. “I only started it because I finally had time on my hands!” she laughs, synchronising her playful nature and warmth in one beat. “It’s also given me reason to keep prioritising nature in my life, sea-swimming year-round, waking with the sun and going for barefoot walks in the woods. Those who don’t know me must think I’m absolutely cracked!” 

Cracked or not, it feels like a constructive thing to do in a country that turns grey for four months of the year, and you don’t even have to change into spandex. There is also, lest we forget, the added bonus of being able to tell people this is your “thing”. Barefoot schmarefoot – we’ll all be copying Hilary soon.

• Shot on location at The Dean, Cork