Siobhán McSweeney talks death, Cork and why her parents' deaths were a 'gift'

The Derry Girls star joined Kathy Burke on her podcast where she discussed her 'fantasy' death

Siobhán McSweeney was chatting to Kathy Burke on her podcast, Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake. Picture: Jeff Moore/PA Wire

Derry Girls star Siobhán McSweeney has opened up about death, her love for her home county, and her fantasy funeral in a candid conversation with fellow actor, Kathy Burke.

Speaking on the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast, which is based around the concept of planning your perfect death, Cork native McSweeney admitted that she does not like the idea of dying.

“What I would like is that everybody else is gone. The world is on fire. It is uninhabitable. There's nothing to live for," she tells Burke. "The idea of somebody else, of everybody else being dead would probably be enough to let me curl up into a corner and die.” 

When asked if she has a touch of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), the 43-year-old says she used to have “major FOMO” but now, she is at the point in her life where she enjoys missing things.

“I’m like, ‘no, no, thank you. I'm staying in and watching Poirot’ and it sort of gives me the same tingly delight as if I'd been like, ‘oh, I found out where the party is. I'm off to there’ and I'm really enjoying it.” 

McSweeney's mother died when she was 27 and had just graduated from drama school while her father was ill for a long time before he passed away.

In May, the actor won a Bafta for her performance in Derry Girls and admits she would have liked to have had her parents there. “Not for the, like, ‘aren't I great?’ But for the, ‘I'm okay’,” she explains.

In her acceptance speech, McSweeney said one of the very last things her mother said to her was, "would I not consider retraining as a teacher."

"If she could see me now getting a Bafta for playing a teacher. Joke’s on you," she told the audience at the time.

Speaking to Burke about her parents, she said: “I feel a bit, should I say this, but after my father died —  my father was ill for a long time — and I felt high. I was manic for three months after he died. After the manic stopped, I swear to God, Kathy, this outpouring of ideas and of plots and plans and I started writing and I had an idea for this and I had an idea for that…. 

"It was like a dam had burst and I think that the best gift my parents gave me was dying.

“I feel that it has allowed me finally to grow up. I minded dad and I minded mam as much as I could. There's a great honour and it's a real privilege to be able to look after your parents — it's a real, real privilege and a beautiful thing… to suddenly not have to worry about that anymore and feel like, yes, I minded them, that's fine. But now I have this. I have more than half my brain back.”

Siobhán McSweeny as Sister Michael. Picture: PA Photo/Channel 4 Television/Peter Marley

Moving on to her fantasy funeral — unsurprisingly — she said it would have to be in Cork.

“I was thinking maybe the lovely black horses and the carriage instead of the hearse. But then I thought, no, I want a litter of young Greek boys. Do you remember how Liz Taylor entered in Cleopatra? That but me dead.

“I want it camp and beautiful and sad and I also definitely, no matter what, want the same litter of Greek boys to send out beautifully embossed pieces of off-white card to my list of enemies.

“It would say, ‘you are cordially not invited to Siobhan McSweeney's funeral’. And I would hand write underneath the reasons why they were c****. I’m really looking forward to that bit.” 

Settling the Barry versus Lyons tea debate, McSweeney says for her last supper, it would be a combination of some classic Irish cuisine.

“Freshly cut mackerel fried in either plain flour or porridge oats. A big mug of Barry’s tea with a teensy bit of milk, soda bread with — I use butter like cheese, I cut it like cheese — but, Bandon Co-Op butter and a bit of salt, a bit of white pepper and that is it. It is the most delicious meal in the world.” 

As for her ashes, they would be scattered in Cork, she says, because even while enjoying life in London — “home is home”.

• You can listen to the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast  here. Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake is available on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.