| Marion
O’Dwyer joined the cast of Ballykissangel for series five, and made her first
appearance last week (Series Five Episode Four transmitted on 17 October 1999
on BBC1). Her character Oonagh Dooley arrives in the village with the intention
of buying Fitzgerald’s Bar, which has been put on the market by Brian Quigley
following Niamh’s decision to move to Dublin. "Dooley," says Quigley when he hears
her name, "Now there’s a name to conjure with." He’s thinking about his nemesis
Paul Dooley, who he stood against in a bi-election in series1
episode 5.
| "She
has quite a lot to put up with from her husband. Rather than turn into a nag though,
she finds other ways of dealing with him. She has a lot more patience than I have." |  |
"She's a long
suffering wife and mother, but she’s a bit of craic when she’s allowed to be;
when she hasn’t too many problems to juggle, or when the kids and her husband
aren’t giving her too much trouble." Marion
admits that there are two main differences  between
herself and the character, "I certainly don’t have the patience she has and wouldn’t
be as sensible as she is." Her favourite episode is the one where the family are
introduced, Series Five in Episode Six. "We just had great fun doing it and playing
with the children. Establishing all the bickering and family was good fun. The
episode after that was great craic as well, there was a lot of running around.
We really enjoyed ourselves doing that. There was a lot of mad mayhem going on
the pub at that stage." | Sitting
in a pretty hotel in "Ireland’s Garden" - County Wicklow - the Dublin
actress talked about how pleasant it is to work in that part of the world. "We
film in lovely locations, and it’s a lovely drive to work. I often say that’s
the nicest journey I’ve had to a job in a long time just driving through the country
side in Wicklow." | |
"And the people
are fantastic - the crew are great. It’s a good atmosphere." One
of the most popular actors on the set is Owen Roe who plays Oonagh’s husband Paul
Dooley. So when she was asked about the most difficult scene she has played in
the series there was a broad grin on her face and a metaphorical tongue in her
cheek.  |
"Well obviously kissing Owen Roe - it’s very difficult, he’s very unwilling" she
say’s laughing, "but I’m a professional actress so even if he resists I do my
best.". | And
what would she like to see her character do next? "I would like to see my character
find a toy boy and give Paul Dooley a run for his money!" | 
