Pauline McLynn and Ardal O’Hanlon reunite for Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything

Pauline McLynn and Ardal O’Hanlon are back together onscreen for their first roles together since the glory days of Father Ted, writes Esther McCarthy

Sheridan Smith, Pauline McLynn and Ardal O’Hanlon in Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything, on Sky Comedy. 

They delivered some of the funniest moments in a TV series that became beloved the world over. Now, more than 27 years after first appearing in the sensation that would become Father Ted, Pauline McLynn and Ardal O’Hanlon are working together again.

The stars are playing the Irish parents of a Manchester girl determined to clean up her act in new TV series Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything. Rosie (Sheridan Smith) is a party girl who loves to overindulge, be it smoking, alcohol or chocolate orange.

But following a couple of disastrous developments, she realises that her issues are destroying her relationships, health and work life.

Both McLynn and O’Hanlon had a chuckle when they first learned they were going to be working together again, though they were delighted to have the opportunity to do so.

“Some people are not going to be able to get over the fact that Fr Dougal McGuire has grown up and he’s gotten married to Mrs. Doyle even though we’re very different in this series,” smiles McLynn. “We’re not even from southern Ireland, we’re Northern Irish. But still, it will melt some people’s brains and I kind of like that.

“When I got the call from the producer saying: ‘Ardal O’Hanlon’s going to be playing your husband’ I just started to laugh. Because it had been so long putting us back together again, it was the last name I expected. It made such sense once I’d heard it.”

Sheridan Smith and Pauline McLynn in Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything

It comes as little surprise to learn that the two found working together again very straightforward despite the passing of time. “It was all too too easy in one way, because we have this shorthand going back 25 years,” says O’Hanlon. “We were able to pick it up pretty quickly and make for a convincing married couple.

“From day one, when we arrived in the room we’d start teasing each other and slagging each other, and the old bickering started up very quickly. I think that really helped.

“Sometimes when you’re going to a new show, and you’re meeting new people for the first time, it might take a while to get to know them, and to get to know what to say, and what not to say. We have this ease with each other. I think it was a brave move on their part — I’m sure there was a little bit of mischief involved as well.”

Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything debuts on Wednesday, on Sky Comedy and Sky Now.

O'Hanlon and McLynn in Father Ted with Dermot Morgan and Frank Kelly

Though very humorous, there’s an edginess to the series — Sky has called it ‘a candid comedy’ and the six-parter doesn’t shy away from taking on the issues it’s tackling. As part of her research, writer and creator Susan Nickson spoke to medics and pharmacologists to get a sense of how substance misuse would impact on human functionality and behaviour.

Was it important to the actors to get the tone and material right? “One hundred per cent,” said O’Hanlon. “You definitely wouldn’t want to be in any way exploiting an issue or trivialising an issue or even shirking away from the horrors of an issue. I think this show, it’s coming from a place of honesty and truth, I think Susan Nickson knows what she’s writing about. She was given the license to write the show she wanted to write so I think once you know all that, and that Sheridan is embracing it 100% as well, you kind of feel that you’re in very safe hands.”

McLynn agrees — and says the complex characterisations was part of the appeal. “People are so complicated, aren’t they? And families when you see them together, so eccentric in their own ways.

“Even though there’s a lot of stuff about issues, substance abuse, whatever else, it’s not in any way preachy, because it is a candid comedy. That’s the kind of series that I love —something that invites you in and makes you at your ease, because you can laugh, and then shows you that you’re going to be pulled up in a heartbeat.”

But regardless of how the new show is received, fans of Father Ted will forever have their favourite Dougal Maguire and Mrs Doyle moments over the three series on Craggy Island.

“I have nothing but pride in the show, nothing but fondness in remembering those times,” says O’Hanlon. “But it was a very small part of our lives. I mean, because it’s on all the time, it might look like it’s all we ever did. But it was three very short stints really, you know, very memorable in their own way.”

• Rosie Molloy Gives Up Everything begins on Wednesday on Sky Comedy and Sky Now

 Billie Piper in I Hate Suzie Too

Five other shows on Sky Now

Christmas in Ireland: Irish star Imelda May welcomes friends and peers to a night of music from Dublin’s Pepper Canister Church. As well as showcasing traditional music and new voices, she will be joined on stage to showcase stars across several generations of Irish music.

Christmas Carole: Suranne Jones leads a high-profile cast that includes Jo Brand and Nish Kumar in this modern take on A Christmas Carol. Jones plays an unabashedly wealthy and in-your-face entrepreneur who has made a fortune from her online Yuletide business. But in real life, Carole is a mean person without a festive bone in her body. Can some familiar spirits soften this tough nut?

I Hate Suzie Too: Billie Piper returns to play one of her most popular characters in a return of the hit TV series. Dubbed a three-part, anti-Christmas Christmas special, it sees child star turned actress Suzie Pickles return with a new agent and a new show. But her main ambition is to regain the love and allegiance of her pals, while her personal life continues to be a challenge.

Predators: Top British actor Tom Hardy narrates a new wildlife series focusing on some of nature’s most-formidable predators. For polar bears in Canada, wild dogs in Zimbabwe, pumas in Chile, lions in Botswana, and cheetahs in Tanzania, this is an unprecedented time, as the rapidly changing state of the world impacts both their own lives and the domains they’ve traditionally ruled.

The Unofficial Science of Home Alone: It’s one of our very favourite Christmas movies, so who doesn’t want to know if the booby traps Kevin used to send his criminal rivals running could work in real life. Comedians James Acaster, Guz Khan and Alex Brooker have waited all their lives to carry out the ultimate experiment — would Harry & Marv have survived those traps in real life?