She says she was “third choice” for the part of Biddy Byrne, the no-nonsense female farmer in RTÉ’s rural soap, which was a Sunday night staple for over a million viewers for much of the 1980s and 1990s.
Born on a farm in Co Westmeath, her experience of country life was pivotal to her being cast as Biddy, who upended the traditional image of a farmer’s wife on the series set on a Wicklow farm.
In an interview on RTÉ’s The Meaning of Life she laughed as she explained she landed the part, “because I could drive a tractor. That’s the only reason. I was third choice. I have no illusions.”
The fame that came with being in one of Ireland’s most-watched shows didn’t sit well with the actress or her co-star Mick Lally who played her husband Miley Byrne. Becoming household names caught them completely unawares as there was “no celebrity culture” up to that time in Ireland.
Mick Lally as Miley, Mary McEvoy as Biddy and Joe Lynch as Dinny in ‘Glenroe’
“We didn’t like being recognised,” she said. “Mick Lally… don’t call him Miley, he did not like it.
“I didn’t like it either. I’ve relaxed about it. I still don’t like being called Biddy simply because it’s not my name.” But she said she has learned to “roll with it” over the years.
“What’s the point? You’re always at a disadvantage because somebody knows you and you don’t know them.
“You could walk into a room and everyone will know you and you don’t know a soul and there is something very primitive about the feeling, of being hunted or something. It’s a very strange one.”
In the programme, she said her 37-year relationship with her musician partner, Garvan Gallagher, is a good one.
“He doesn’t like me talking about him,” she said. “Everybody kind of thinks, you walk down the aisle and out into the thing and it’s all loveydovey, and of course it’s not.
“But every time you have a little glitch and you stick with it and you work on it and you take responsibility for your side of it, you come back deeper.”
I suffer a huge amount of anxiety
She also candidly discussed the impact of living with depression — something that has inspired her two books How the Light Gets In and Ordinary Beauty.
She said depression is “always there” in her life.
“It doesn’t leave. I think people confuse unhappiness and depression because you can be a happy person, but you can be depressed.
“There are times when it really gets me. It got me good in January now, and anxiety as well. I suffer a huge amount of anxiety.”
However, she said being on stage or in the spotlight puts her at ease.
“Funnily enough, the most relaxed place would be something like this or doing the Today show or on a stage, or anything that’s a completely controlled environment.”
You’re happier if you accept people, including yourself
She said a self-help Zoom group she started attending during the Covid-19 pandemic has been a huge help with her mental health struggles.
“It’s a 12-step programme and (there are) people from all over the world and the first meeting I went to… they accepted me as I was.
“It was the most affecting thing that I’ve ever, ever come across; this complete non-judgmental acceptance of who I was and all my struggles.
“They taught me how to view other people with acceptance.
“Judgment, I have a real problem with it, but I’m working on it, it’s a real work in progress.
“Then you say to yourself, maybe that’s the reason I have depression, that I can learn these deeper truths about life. That you’re happier if you don’t judge people, you’re happier if you accept people, including yourself.”
The Meaning of Life is on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player tonight at 10:30pm.
