The star of ITV comedy thriller Holding, Siobhán McSweeney, says her recent sex scene in the adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel was 'incredibly exciting', nerve-wracking and long overdue.
Siobhán plays Brid Riordan in the Irish drama, whose partner’s remains are discovered, making her prime suspect in the disappearance.
A first for the in-demand theatre and TV actress (who also plays Sister Michael in hit Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls) was her sex scene with local copper PJ (Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill).
Siobhán told The Independent that the sex scene, directed by Kathy Burke, was a very deliberate move to play against type for the actors.
“The narrative is that people like me and Conleth… that’s not what we want to see,” she said. ”And that’s not the reality. There’s love and tenderness and sensuality everywhere, in every body. There’s a craft to comedy, but there’s a vulnerability with this that if you haven’t been asked to do it before, you are going to feel nervous around it. I mean, I was also incredibly excited to do it as well because I feel that it’s about ****ing time. And everybody deserves to see my tits.”
The scene was choreographed by an intimacy expert, which has become the norm on set in TV and film, yet it still left her terrified, while Conleth was ‘very, very apprehensive too’.
As well as Holding and hosting The Great Pottery Throw Down Siobhán, 42, recreates her hilarious character, Sister Michael, in the third and final series of Derry Girls later this year, a long break since it last screened in 2019.
“I wonder whether the momentum was gone slightly,” she said, of the comedy.
“The pandemic took the momentum out of things and then we’re doing it and it’s almost like Diet Coke – all the taste, none of the calories. We couldn’t hang out and we were filming a little bit later than we normally do.
"It was still wonderful and getting to play Sister Michael and getting to hang out with Father Peter and the grown-ups. I’m very happy doing this. But it’s also knowing that it was the last time, so everything was bittersweet about it. It wasn’t great, but how could it have been?”
Holding continues on Channel 4 on Monday nights.
