28.8k modem |
56.6k modem | Introduce
yourself and the character that you play?
My name is Niall Toibin - I
play Father Mac. - Father MacAnally - who in a strange way started off as Father
Tom MacAnally and became Father Frank MacAnally in another episode. So we have
to assume that his name is Thomas Francis in order to justify both names. It’s
a character that I like playing because in one sense it is a very simple thing
to do. I have known a lot of people like Father Mac or at least I have made Fr.
Mac like a lot of people I know, which I think would be the more honest way of
putting it. Are
you anything like the character that you play?
 | Well
certainly he has a sarcastic streak in him and a lack of sympathy with fools or
people that he considers to be less than intelligent. |
He’s impatient but at the same time,
I think that he’s quite a learned man and somebody who probably was destined
for a higher intellectual post, but for some reason fell foul of some authority
with the result that he finds himself in this rather obscure parish. But
he commands enormous authority himself
| Oh, he
does within this place, but that would be natural, that would have been par for
the course. Some years back it would have been par for the course - it certainly
isn’t now. And to that extent his perceived authority is not quite factual
today. |  |
What’s the
most enjoyable thing about being in the show?
Quite honestly - and I’m
not saying this in any flattering sense - it’s because of the good atmosphere
from day one which I think either comes from the top down or maybe from the bottom
up. I’ll flatter ourselves and I’ll say we’ve had a civilising
influence on the English crew and producers (laughing) and they’ve
grown more like us as the days go by. Actually I think that there has been a wonderful
atmosphere right through. What
was the most enjoyable episode?
The most enjoyable episode that I have
had to do was the one with David Harewood, where he comes back from Africa as
a bishop having been a relief curate for me some years before. I thought that
was very interesting in many ways. First of all because of the sheer contrast
of the two characters and the unexpecedness of this figure from the past. Also
because in the course of the episode certain things were revealed about Father
Mac’s past; that he was a bit of a radical, and that it the episode filled
in a bit of the background. I thought that was very good and very valuable.
 | What
would you like to see your character do next?
Well as the oldest character
in the show, well the only thing that could say that I would like him to do next
is survive. To keep on keeping on. |
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