Hidden Assets star Cathy Belton: 'The success can't happen without investment'
Cathy Belton stars in season two of Hidden Assets on RTÉ. Picture: Andres Poveda
Cathy Belton’s dream of an acting career grew from drama classes as a youngster. But it was a role in iconic Irish soap Glenroe that helped seal the deal.
Her casting as local vet Lucy Reilly brought her onto one of the most famous shows in Irish TV history and into the homes of the majority of Irish households at a time when the Sunday-night soap was essential viewing.
“It was huge at the time and I was in it for the last three years. It was massive - it was a wonderful experience, and I learned so much on that show,” she says of her early acting experience.
“Also, it was security. In this profession you just don't know what you're doing next so it was lovely to know I had a job for two years. It gave me the courage to go: ‘I’m all in now, I’m not going back. This is me’.”
Her stint on the Co Wicklow farm helped give the Galwegian a foundation to a career that has seen her become one of our most familiar faces on stage and screen.
This week she returns to primetime TV in the second series of Hidden Assets. The show centres around a group of investigators at the Criminal Assets Bureau, who joined forces with their counterparts in Belgium in series one to investigate the activities of members of the Brannigan family.
The Belgian-Irish co-production was well-received in both countries and has also grown legs internationally. “It’s lovely to see it travel outside Ireland and with the whole Belgian story, to see two worlds. It was amazing filming in Antwerp this time - the amount of people who’ve seen it.”
Season two hits the ground running with CAB hit by a cyber attack which is linked to the Belgian anti-terrorist department, leading them back to the Brannigan case.
Belton plays Nora, a woman seconded from the tax office to work with CAB. “Her gun is her pen, and she's the one who follows the money, which is what CAB has done for years since it was set up after Veronica Guerin was so horribly murdered. The amount of work that people like Nora have done. (Often) the only way they can get these guys is through their tax and their money.”
Growing up in the West of Ireland, Belton feels she benefited from living in Renmore in Galway amid the city’s thriving arts scene.
“I think Galway had a huge influence on me becoming an actor,” she says. “It became possible, it wasn't an extraordinary thing to do in Galway. There was Druid, there was the Galway International Arts Festival, I felt we were surrounded by the arts in Galway.
"There was a group, the Renmore Pantomime Society, that I was in as a child. I remember being in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and thinking this was all I wanted to do. There were facilities in the parish I grew up in Renmore - there was the pantomime society, there were variety shows, the community games, all led by Joe McCarthy. I was lucky to be sent to drama classes because I was very shy and my parents thought it might do me the world of good. I had a wonderful drama teacher called Rebecca Bartlett, who saw something and gave me great support.”
In the years since, Belton’s screen roles have included high-profile series and films such as Red Rock, Intermission, Philomena and The Woman in White.
Like many in her industry, she cheered the successes of Ireland’s 14 nominations at the Oscars. With the ongoing actors’ strike in the US, she also feels this is a time of great change in the screen industry - and that support of the arts is more crucial than ever.
“It came from years of hard work and investment with Screen Ireland who put the money into these projects,” she says of Ireland’s growing international profile.
“We wouldn’t have An Cailín Ciúin if the money hadn't been put in years before. We proved it with the Oscars, with the success of what's coming out of this country at the moment, but it can't happen without investment.
“We’re coming to a really crucial time in taking this industry seriously and artists seriously, so I'm excited for what’s to come, but I think we’re at a milestone at the moment. I stand in complete solidarity with all my colleagues in SAG. I think it’s very important that this is sorted out before we can move on.”
- Season two of Hidden Assets debuts on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player on Sunday, September 3, at 9.30pm
