Siobhán McSweeney gave a new spin to the old acting saying “break a leg” when she made a guest appearance on The Late Late Show on Friday.
The Derry Girls star – she plays school num Sister Michael – had to be helped down the steps of the show’s stage by Ryan Tubridy on Friday’s show.
“I broke my leg,” she explained to Ryan. “I fell off my bike in West Cork, and broke the back of my knee and the top of my tibia. It’s just left me with a very interesting limp for the time being.
“It gives me character,” she added, with her tongue firmly in cheek. “There was nothing else going on in my life.”
It happened when she was filming the TV adaptation of Graham Norton’s debut novel, Holding, where she plays a lead role in the Virgin Media show.
“If I told you I did half of it with a broken leg, it’s a testament to the crew,” she recalled. “So listen, if you’re watching and you get bored – though you won’t – you can play this little game. Siobhan, has she got two legs in this scene or only one?
“There are scenes, I kid you not, where I’m being filmed from the waist up because there’s about three assistant directors holding me. That’s why it’s called ‘Holding’.
“Really,” she added, being serious for a moment, “they did an extraordinary job. I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Naturally enough, the subject of Derry Girls popped up in the conversation. As the third season is also the show’s last, Ryan wondered if Siobhan will miss Sister Michael.
“If I see the wimple again I’m going to shoot it,” she replied. “And then I’m going to stab it, and then set it on fire, and then I’m going to bury it.
“Because I loved playing that character so much, but that wimple . . . I couldn’t put it on! We had the best minds in the industry trying to figure it out . . . so I will not be unhappy to not see that again.
“But I’m dreadfully unhappy to not play here again because that mad woman changed my life. Really changed my life.”
