Original subtitles

on the one hand, I was relieved.

And on the other hand, I thought, my God, another mutiny might

occur amongst the faithful.

Hello there, and you are very welcome

to The Walsh Sisters, the official podcast

presented by me, Marian Keyes.

And me, Stephanie Priesner.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We are so excited, the pair of us, about this series.

And just in case you don't know, the novels that I wrote were

the basis for the series.

But the magnificent genius, Stephanie Priesner

adapted the books. I did.

I adapted the books into The Walsh Sisters TV show,

which is every Sunday night on RT� One.

And then this official podcast will come out after so that you have

more of what you want when you want it.

The process has not been a short one.

Indeed it has not. No.

So we started this in 2018. Yeah.

And back then you were single. I was single.

I had no children. Now.

And now I am married and I have two children, production babies,

because the production has gone on so long.

So it's been quite a journey.

But I think actually the producer Dixie is the person who held

the faith for the longest amount of time.

But I was really excited.

I always believed, tried to hold on to the belief that it would happen.

What was that lengthy period like for you?

Okay, this is not my first rodeo, as you probably know.

And I've been writing for 30 years and very, very,

very little has been made.

And so I've always taken the position that until I am sitting

in front of me telly, watching the first

episode, I'm never going to believe it's going to be made.

Can we tell the listeners about the day when you and me

and Dixie were on a Zoom? Yeah, okay.

And I don't know.

I just didn't know in my heart, I had decided that nothing

would probably ever happen.

Because it had been seven years.

Okay, so let's rewind.

So Marian and I know each other outside of this project,

outside of work. But we made an unspoken thing.

We're just not going to talk about the show.

We're not going to talk about work.

So as I was going through, I met Noel, I got engaged,

I got married, I had multiple miscarriages, IVF, all that.

And I'd be texting you, and we just would not mention the show.

And then Dixie and I, who's our producer, we were

talking every day.

We got the green light, all of that.

And I just assumed that Dixie was keeping you in the loop because it

wasn't my job to keep you in the loop.

And I didn't want to blur those lines.

So anyway, we were auditioning.

We were auditioning for the character of Rachel.

So it would have been probably 2024, June, maybe.

Yeah. Maybe June.

And I had an email from Dixie being like, Look, we're goingl

to do a call with Marian.

Can you come on the call?

And I was like, Well, no, Dixie, because I'm auditioning.

And she was like, no, look, it's really crucial that you come

on this call and chat to Marian because we just want to fill her

in where we're at and you know her and you should come.

And I was like, Okay, so I had to ring this actor's agent

to say, Hi, can we push this actor's audition

back an hour because I need to do a call?

This is all quite stressful in the background.

And then we get on the call.

I ask everyone to leave the room so I can do the call with you.

And you're sitting there and you're...

I think people naturally know that the public persona that you

have is very similar to your actual personality.

You're very warm, very generous.

But there was a withholding.

There definitely was.

Yeah, I was like, What's going on with Marian?

And I can't remember.

From your perspective, what was it that...

I just thought it was another one of those calls that people are

obliged to make now and again because I've been through it

with other productions that never happened.

And the amount of times I've had to do calls where I just know

that I'm losing an hour of my life.

People are going to soft-soap me, and I would be grateful, and then

I'll never hear from them again.

That has happened countless times.

So I just thought we were doing another one.

And you were quite withholding. And then...

And then you said something like, Look, I've got to go now because

I've got a load of actors out the way.

What? You're auditioning people.

I was like, I'm literally in the audition room.

This is actually happening. We've just cast Rachel.

No, wait, you can't go. No, wait, wait, wait.

And it was such a huge surprise.

And I was just so delighted.

And then all of a sudden you see this door open.

You were like, And what about this? And what about this?

And we could do this. And do you want to do this?

And I could be here anytime.

And I was like, Okay, so she thought it wasn't happening.

I did. And it was just one of those.

My expectations had gone down the wrong road.

Because they had to be managed for your own sanity.

I had to mind my heart because this one, more than anything,

is really, really, really close to me, The Walshes.

And then it has just been so gorgeous.

And then meeting.

Can I tell about the first day that I was on set?

Please do. Oh, my God. Okay.

Tony and I went down.

Tony is my husband, and he has lived with these

characters as long as I have.

And he's been so pivotal.

He does so much of it.

He does the proofreading.

And whenever I'm writing a new Walsh book, he goes through and

picks up dates and stuff like that.

And so we go down and it's the day that Maggie, Claire, and Helen are

visiting Rachel in The Cloisters.

Start of episode five. Yeah.

And it was just...

I was watching these women.

So along comes Claire and Danielle Galligan,

and she's got these gold-rimmed sunglasses and this

beautiful this choppy blonde bomb and this oversize blazer.

And she's strutting along on her silver stilettos and just

looking exactly like Claire.

And then there's Helen.

Helen, with her trousers slightly too short.

I mean, there's just signalling, Hello, I'm slightly odd here.

And her little hands are in fist in her bomber jacket pocket.

And she's got this attitude of like, Oh, for God's sake,

everything here is just...

Life is just so crap. Everything's so crap.

And now I have to be here.

And then there's you being Maggie and being so lovely and the mother

and the organiser and the lovely the navy suit and everything.

And it was like all of you had just walked out

of my head and become actual people before my eyes.

And I cannot tell you how moved I was.

And Tony and I were watching at different monitors,

and he came over and he said to me, I said, I feel really emotional.

And I was on the verge of crying.

And it was so incredible.

That was my first day of filming. I was so nervous.

I was like, oh, of course you're going to bring

Marian in the first day of filming.

And then I was like, over to the team,

can you please make sure that Marian has cans,

that she's watching on a good monitor, like trying

to make everything happen.

And also I I wanted to chat to you and see you, and I could see you

talking to Danielle, and I was like, No, this is going to be fine.

I think she really approves.

Oh, I loved it.

We both did.

It was the most uplifting, happy thing.

But I really wanted it to be you.

Because after Can't cope, Won't cope, I just

I loved what you did with it.

And you were the writer that I wanted when they

wanted to adapt it.

And you have been amazing.

Can we take some moments to talk about what you

did, you took the verticals of novels.

What does that mean? Okay.

Each novel is a stand-alone one sister, one story.

But you have taken all those stories and I think for the viewer

and the reader, you're going to experience

these characters differently. Yes.

So all the sisters are in this series.

Series. They're all in the world together.

It's not just one.

This isn't just Rachel's story or Anna's story.

It's all of them.

How I like to imagine it is if you imagine faders on a sound desk.

Very good.

There are five sisters.

And I would say that in this series, Anna and Rachel are dialled

up to 10 on the full volume.

Claire is at a midpoint and comes up in episode six a little bit.

Maggie... Oh, yes, she does.

Maggie, again, I would say she's at a four and maybe

comes up to a five.

How hard was it doing all of them together?

Like, for you to adapt them?

Quite, because I actually...

I was a huge fan of these books before I ever came on board. Thank you.

I love them, particularly Rachel.

Rachel's Holiday, I felt like before I had anything

to do, before I even knew this was going to be a series or I

was connected to it all.

I think what you do is you create, you tell stories that

are quite shocking.

And I think that there is something really clever about how you market

the books and how you market yourself.

It's called Rachael's Holiday.

It's got a pink cover and it's got a flipflop on the front of it.

So women are going on holidays and they're going to the airport

and they take the book and they read it on a beach

with some sangria.

And then they're like, hang on, this is a middle class girl who's

never had anything like awfully tragic happen to her.

She hasn't grown up in some flat.

Yeah, she doesn't have visible trauma or economic trauma.

But she is really using to excess.

And the way you've done it so cleverly in the book is like,

other people are like, hang on, I drink way more than you.

This is a problem.

And you allow the safety and comfort of the

pinkness of it allow access, you allow women to access those

stories and then suddenly start these conversations with Maggie's

one, the story of abortion, like these stories that had not

been told in Ireland before now.

So I had this question of like, so they were quite shocking and you

became the voice of a generation and this national treasure that you

are for starting conversations that weren't otherwise happening.

But I'm not being sycophantic, am I?

I mean, that is really nice of you to say that.

Yeah, I suppose the idea of, say, for example, addiction.

That addiction happens to everyone.

Not to everyone, but I mean, addiction is no respecter

of economic circumstances or education or where you

live or anything like that.

That addiction happens to all kinds of people.

And the fact that I was a young woman who had gone through

addiction, it changed, I hope, people's

expectation of what addicts are.

I think it certainly did at the time.

And I think you paved a way forward for many other...

I've spoken about my relationship with alcohol, my history with all

of those things, with eating disorders.

But I didn't have to walk through that field with a scythe to clear

the way for the story because you had walked that path ahead of me,

and it was pretty clear.

And so my question, the question I was grappling

with when I had to adapt these is, am I trying to make the stories

that Marian told, although they are now not as

shocking as they were in the '90s?

Or am I trying to capture that Marian Keyes

thing of starting conversations that are quite tricky.

And so with each of the sisters, I've tried to do

a little bit of both.

And I mean, what you've done is really, really beautiful because

they're a very ordinary family.

I know you're making a face now. You're laughing.

Yeah, they are wildly dysfunction, but every family is.

This is my point that there is no such thing as a normal family.

But most people like to think that they are.

And most people like to think the terrible things only happen

to other people, that they are somehow exempt.

But in every life, we're going to have a moment,

at least one, where the spotlight of doom goes on over our head,

and we are suddenly facing something really

unexpected and unwanted.

And yeah, the thing that should only happen to other people.

The reason I was smiling is because there's that line from Mammy Walsh

who's like, "every one of them physically healthy but emotionally

unstable, and I breastfed", which I think is really funny. It's great.

Even though the Mammy of the books would not have breastfed.

Actually, she was the hardest, I think, to adapt because

Mammy Walsh, I think a 60-year-old woman in the 90's

is quite different to a 60-year-old woman now.

And as I wrote her, the closer I kept to the books,

the more I was like, she's...

I don't want her to just be a laughing stock.

There's viewers who are going to relate to her.

She's so not.

I really, really feel for her. Do you?

I do.

We can't do spoilers, but by episode 6, I don't

know how I feel about her.

She goes on a very interesting journey through the six episodes.

We see all kinds of sides to her, but it is not easy.

How is Mammy Walsh of the books -

old woman of internet fame. How are they similar?

How are they similar? The devoutness.

Yes. Yeah.

I mean, the devoutness doesn't really seem to be a thing.

There is a reference to it. It's actually quite funny.

There's a reference to it in episode one where Helen says,

Mam's annoyed because dad fell asleep at mass.

But as we did more of the Mass stuff,

first of all, some of our British financiers and producers

were like, really? I don't think that this is real.

And then actually, Caroline, who plays Rachel, she was like,

my mum goes to Mass all the time.

She's praying for a second season.

She has candles lit.

And then Dixie was like, okay, so maybe people do go to Mass.

I was like, they definitely do.

It's not that Ireland has changed that much.

People go to Mass.

I just don't think that.. Yeah, but they don't think you should be

imprisoned for skipping Mass or not going to confession at Easter.

Absolutely, yeah.

I think the the intensity has been dialled down an awful lot.

I mean, that is one of the interesting things about

starting writing 30 years ago.

Ireland has changed so much. So much.

But dysfunction remains the same.

Yeah, that's why I think that.. I hope that these are

relatable stories.

They're definitely relatable.

Even though they are high...

We just saw the end of episode one there, which ends in quite

a dramatic car crash.

No spoilers to what's going to happen there.

I mean, if you've read Anna's book, anybody out there..

You might have a... You might have a small clue.

But they are relatable to people.

Claire announces her divorce coming through.

Rachel has...

Luke throws water in her face because he can't rouse her.

Because he thinks she's dead. Because he thinks she's dead.

And then that night, she also in her own hotel that she

works in takes some tablets and is woken up.

So there is a lot of drama in one episode,

but I still wanted it very much to feel like these were real

people and this could happen.

They feel So real to me.

It's funny because I know I wrote them originally, but they are new.

They've been funnelled through Stephanie Preisner.

They are different.

But you see, that's because Anna is Anna and Bridget.

Yes, I get you. I do.

She's become this composite character.

Because Anna...

In Rachel's book, Rachel has Bridget,

who is her best friend, and she's living with her

in New York, and she's also going out with Joey, and Joey

and Luke are the real men.

And you need that kind of a confidant, but again,

if it's the Walsh Sisters and the show is about the sisters,

and you have a 47 minute hour to tell an episode,

it's too much real estate in an episode to have

more friends and all that.

So we have to keep it much more in.. Streamlined.

Yeah,streamlined? Yeah, streamlined.

No, that makes perfect sense.

It's a bit disappointing, though.

I don't think it is.

I think it would be really confusing.

It would be because there's versions of that.

There's early versions where it was person per series.

But I feel like, do you ever read books where

there's a chapter about one character and then a chapter about

another character, and you feel this sense of like,

I don't want to go on to that. I want to know.

I want to stay with this person.

I was afraid that if we spent too much time...

And that actually is, Rachael and Anna.

If you think of Rachel's book, Rachel's Holiday,

I feel like it's about the love story of Rachel and Luke.

But this TV season, I feel, is the love story of Rachel and Anna. Yes.

So I hope in season two, I'm manifesting season two here.

I hope in season two that we can move on to some other

stories but still retain the love that people will have

developed for Rachel and Anna. Yes.

I mean, absolutely.

But also, Luke is also Luke is also in this.

He's very much in it.

Yeah, we're just reassuring people here.

Talk to me about Luke, because Luke has definitely been

the greatest burden. Yeah.

What would you call it?

There's a litmus test or something like that.

He is a litmus test. Yeah.

I love the cast.

There are fan clubs of Luke.

Let's talk about Luke from the books before

we talk about the cast.

Luke seems to be... He's an icon.

Yeah. He's a fantasy man, really.

And when I first wrote him, 28 years ago,

it was pure fantasy stuff.

And many, many years later, when I came to do a sequel,

he was a far more real person with flaws and gaps.

But back then, he was the perfect man.

He was a complete ride.

And he was mad about Rachel, and he was lovely to her.

But then he was fabulously boundaried when he needed to be.

So he showed strength of character and a moral centre,

every good thing.

And then he came back to her.

There wasn't a single thing that he didn't fall down on.

When she got the flu, he looked after her.

They had great sex.

He told her to take her dress off in the kitchen.

There was everything that you'd want.

Leather trousers.

But you see a man in leather trousers in 2025.

That's a different type of man. Yeah, that's right.

Like, you'd be rolling around the street laughing.

Yeah, I know. Exactly.

So casting Luke then was...

It was so funny because I said to the...

We were sending pictures.

You were like, he has to be absolutely ridey.

And in the book, he's very ridey.

And we were sending pictures of actors back and forth between

ourselves being like, will we call this guy in for audition?

Ridey enough?

And I was like, lads, if we were men and these were

female actors, we would be several times cancelled. Yes.

So we stopped that immediately and started auditioning people.

But it's so funny how that exercise betrayed the fact that everybody

has a different idea of what's ridey. Yeah.

And everyone has a different picture in their head

of what Luke looks like. Of what Luke looks like.

And I think it's painful when you realise that as a creator.

And say, well, there isn't going to be one perfect man

who's going to be...

Who's going to align with the picture in everybody's head.

And then once we make our peace with

that, I think Jay is fantastic.

I think he embodies an awful lot of the characteristics of Luke.

I was interested in what you said about when you were doing your book

tour in Australia and so many of your fans were so excited about

Daddy Walsh being Aidan Quinn. That's so funny.

And I'm wondering if it's because 28 years ago, Aidan Quinn

could have been Luke. Yes.

Well, he could and he couldn't. Why?

Because he's very light blue eyes. Okay.

Luke has dark blue eyes.

But no, it was very interesting because for me, the most

important casting was Luke. I know.

And I mean, I was so delighted with everyone who was cast as a sister.

But I did say to Dixie, Dixie is our producer,

whatever you do with Luke, do not fuck this up. I know.

Because I just thought we'd be lynched.

And I know you were really attached to him having dark hair.

And we did try, Jay, with dark hair.

And he's not as blonde in the show now that it's graded as his

audition tape, where he was quite blonde.

But then I'm not going to sacrifice an actor at the altar

of their hair colour. Yeah.

And he's got the same. It was lovely.

He was very asking for advice beforehand.

Because I think he felt the pressure.

He really wanted you to be really happy. He did.

And when I found out that there wouldn't be leather trousers,

on the one hand, I was relieved.

And on the other hand, I thought, my God, another mutiny might

occur amongst the faithful.

But he did ask.

And so it was that thing of like, he's just a really

decent good fella. He is.

Oh, my God. And around set.

And he's so generous and really coming in set on his days off

and watching performances and then giving feedback.

Like, you're amazing. You're great.

Just such a lovely, lovely boy.

Yeah, such a lovely boy.

Man, man.

But yeah, so on the tour in Australia,

I was telling them who he was, and they were all a bit...

Quiet appreciation.

But then I mentioned Aidan Quinn, and I swear to God, people

were like losing their cool. Yeah.

And I mean, Aidan Quinn is just gorgeous in this.

I love him so much. So do I.

He feels like he came in a while back and the director, Ian,

offered him the chance to watch the end of episode 6.

And he sat down and he watched the final scene of episode

6 and he started crying.

He was like, I just feel so warm towards all of you. And he does.

He feels like around set, we'd be like, Hi Dad.

How's it going? He's lovely.

And he plays the part with such sweetness and care.

He's obviously the most experienced of anyone in the cast

in terms of what he's done.

So we were all a little bit, not terrified,

but a little bit like, okay.

Awestruck or? No.

Just, while we might be casual about

things, and he's very much like, there's someone in my

eyeliner over there.

I need no one to be looking at me, catch my eye, that thing.

There was one time Aidan and I had one initial moment that was quite

tense, which I'll tell you about in the episode when Aidan joins us,

because he is going to join us in each episode.

We'll have a different guest, and I'll tell you about

that very tense moment.

One of only two, I think, in the whole shoot. Go on.

Everybody kept saying it was the nicest shoot they'd ever been on. I know.

And everybody did seem really lovely anytime I was on set

or whenever I met anyone.

You're here, but I just want to say You and Garve.

I love the pair of you.

You're both such great and lovable actors.

The couple that is Garve and Maggie in the show, you're just lovely.

I was just going to say, like coming back to the books,

that there's an awful lot of sex in these books, which is great.

But there isn't. That doesn't translate.

There's a bit of sex in the show.

And I was like, it's really ironic that I'm the one having sex.

Which if I had known I was going to be playing Maggie, I probably

wouldn't have written it that way.

But look, we are where we are.

We can talk about that when we get to episode...

I think it's three. Three, yes.

It's a really good sex scene.

Steven Mullen plays my husband Garve,

and I just think he is so funny.

And the way the girls treat him with such.. Contempt.

Casual contempt and disdain and how Maggie doesn't stick up for him.

But they do really like each other.

And it's nice, I think, to see a couple who both love each

other and like each other because it can be quite rare. Yes.

It is a very heartening relationship, the way

they are with each other.

So what else?

Maybe we should take a break here.

And when we come back after

the break, we can discuss...

What would you like to discuss next?

I mean, if that's okay, I would like to go to the highlights.

My highlights of the first episode. There's an awful lot of highlights.

Let's do that. We're back after this.

Welcome back to the official Walsh Sisters Podcast.

You know what we haven't done yet, Marian?

We haven't played any clips from the show.

Oh, right. Okay.

Well, I'm assuming that everybody who's listening saw the show.

But in case you didn't, or if you did and you need a reminder,

let's listen to the first part where we meet Luke. Okay.

What are you doing?

Hey. Hey.

Are you okay?

I couldn't wake you. Sit up.

She's fine. She's fine.

I called an ambulance.

You what? What?

No. Of course, I called an ambulance.

They're going to have to take your vitals, Rachel.

I was shaking her. She wasn't breathing.

Okay, look, can we all just calm down, please?

I need to find my phone. Where's my phone?

You're just a lightweight.

I actually love watching it so much.

Is that weird? No, it's lovely to watch.

So what we were trying to do, what I was trying to do there is...

So when Rachel goes to rehab, she has these things called ISOs,

which are meetings that include the whole group plus

an Involved Significant Other.

So when you're in rehab, maybe your boyfriend would come or your

parents would come and basically talk to you in front of the group

about how awful you are and how your addiction has impacted them.

And something really interesting in the narrative style of Rachel's

Holiday is that Rachel thinks that Luke is overreacting for all

of it until in her ISO, she finally gets a chance to see

things from his perspective.

And because Rachel is an unreliable

narrator in the book, and once you put something

on screen, you don't get that.

wanted to start with something where if you imagine the Gogglebox

sofa, some people will be like, that is excessive.

What the hell is he doing calling an ambulance?

And other people will be like, no, obviously he needs to call an

ambulance if she's not breathing.

And so that we set up this dance of like,

is he being controlling and a hypochondriac or is she

really in a bad position and she is a serious in denial addict?

And also to place Anna firmly on one side of that, which

is like, okay, Luke, she's fine.

The ambulance was unnecessary.

So that we can also pull that veil back from her as Rachel's

is also pulled back.

So that is how scene came to be the first one.

I mean, I found it very sad.

Appropriately. Yeah.

Sad because you know Rachel's story and you know what

Luke is trying to do. Yeah.

And also because it just reminded me of me.

When I was in active addiction, just the the careless way

people behave with themselves.

The chaos they create for other people.

Yeah, exactly. And like his worry.

And then Anna's need for it to be okay, for it to not be a problem.

The way that addiction affects everybody who knows the addict.

And it's done so well with that opening scene.

You have to remember as well that Anna has just

gotten engaged next door.

She's also like, for God's sake, can this just be done?

Yeah, because I have happy news.

I have happy news, and I probably want to go

and have sex with my new fianc�.

Yeah, my fianc�.

But the chaos that Rachel creates... Yeah, it doesn't allow

her to have that moment.

But she's not resentful of it at the moment because she's so,

I guess, used to it. Yes.

But then the way Rachel makes fun of Luke and calls

him a lightweight. Yeah.

You know, talk about adding insult to injury.

I do think there's.. Very addictive.

There's another scene later where Rachel and Anna are

in the hospital.

It's the one with the doctor and all of Rachel's injuries.

You've been here a lot.

Last month, there was the shoulder.

That was the cobblestone, I remember.

Oh, yeah, no, no. I was there for that.

There was a really drunk man within a cordium.

No, that definitely wasn't her fault.

We've had a dislocated kneecap, a glass shard in the hand,

two sprained ankles.

There was a slippery stairs.

And the glass in the hand was...

I can't even remember.

Customers break glass and work all the time.

And the ankles...

I'm just clumsy.

I think maybe this time you should speak to our

psychiatric Department. How would that sound?

Ridiculous. Psychiatric Department.

We are advising some rehabilitation and support for you.

Sorry.

Like, rehab?

What you heard there is as it dawns on her, she's looking at Rachel

for the first time questioning, Hang on, are you a traitor?

Are you telling me everything?

She's having just that first moment, and there's no lines

with it, there's no dialogue, but it's in the script,

it's action beats of something is starting to dawn on Anna.

She's questioning whether Rachel is lying to her.

You can see it because she does say it later on that, I live with you,

and I don't know about a lot of these injuries.

But it's nobody wants to think that about somebody they love

and that they're really close to, that they're an addict,

because it changes everything.

It changes the dynamic of your relationship.

It makes you wonder about what kind of person you are that you didn't see. Yeah.

And then it just makes life incredibly difficult because

somebody's going to have to do something about it.

And then Rachael says back to her, you just see what you

want to see, Anna.

Fianc�s, drug addicts, just throwin.. Oh, completely, like

weaponising Anna's beautiful news.

Let's take another clip this time of two girls in the car.

I have something to tell you.

Why are you turning it on the radio and being so dramatic?

Are you dying? No.

Are you pregnant? No.

What?

I know, he put it in a croissant this morning.

Who? Aidan? Obviously.

This is absolutely not obvious, Anna.

You only met him a few weeks ago. Months.

It's been months. You barely know this man.

I do know him, and I know that I love him.

I actually might announce it at lunch today.

I don't even know why I care, because this is never

actually going to happen.

This is just another one you're notions.

It's definitely happening.

First of all, can I say how much I love Rachel's jumper?

Do you love Rachel's jumper? I love it.

I used to call it her Christmas jumper.

Oh, it's beautiful though, those blues and everything.

Really nice.

Oh my God, talk about the solipsism of the addict.

Everything is just funnelled through.

How does this impact me?

What way is this going to make my life harder?

Like the total inability to be happy for somebody else,

never mind her beloved sister.

And it might be good I'm going to skip to the next clip as well

because it's a follow-on where they're in the bed,

and Rachel is even more explicit about that issue.

He's the woman, I think.

Why are you so against it?

I don't know.

You're just the only one that really knows me

and doesn't try and change me.

Now you'll be gone. I'm not going anywhere.

My love for Aidan doesn't replace my love for you.

We're sisters.

It's not possible.

What if you get hurt and he breaks your heart and then you love me

less because your love muscle is damaged?

I'm not going to leave you, you looper.

In case your love muscle is damaged.

I think she.. the way I wrote it was like, she knows

that she's tipped over into full on unreasonable narcissism.

And so she makes a joke to undermine it.

But she means it.

But this news is very, very sad for her.

Yeah, it's shaking her world. Yeah.

And that's so...

I think it's relatable, but that's maybe because I have

an addictive personality too.

But I definitely know that sometimes when people tell me

positive news about their life, While on the outside,

I'm saying this is great.

In my inside, I'm saying, how is this going to impact me?

But you know what?

Okay, maybe this is saying more about you and me.

But I think most people have a dual reaction

to the good news of a close person.

I think just most people have learned that you don't say it.

And what is it about Rachel as an addict then that stops her from...

Is it just because it's her sister?

And she's like, hang on, what about Tuesdays

with the Bake-Off and Krispy Kreme and we do everything,

and now you're going to leave me.

I just think she hasn't learned manners.

I love...

So that scene in the bed, that was actually the audition scene.

Really? So I've heard that scene.

It's really good.

Maybe 60 times all different actors, which usually

makes you hate a scene.

And sometimes you can tell an audition scene

when you watch something, but I still really love it,

and I think it gets the crux of their relationship.

So we've talked about your first time on set and seeing physical

actors embodying the characters.

What was your experience like the first time you saw

a cut or a scene?

You sent me a couple of clips, again, because I was

very worried about Luke.

You sent me one of Rachel and Luke quite early on in

their relationship. It's such a weird, fabulous thing.

You've made other telly, but it just is like, oh my God,

it's like a real show.

That's what it felt.

And everybody...

It was just so convincing.

I know that sounds like a weird word, but I can't put

it better than that.

I've said this a lot.

If I wasn't connected with this in any way, I would really watch it.

I would watch the hell out of it.

I would be dying for the next episode.

And I thought, they're all...

I found their clothes really interesting and lovely

and the houses.

And then there's other things, the way Dublin looks in this show.

I'm so proud of it.

It looks so beautiful.

And all along Monkstown and Blackrock and the...

I showed my brother a little bit yesterday, and he was like, Jesus,

that's Blackrock DART station.

I was like, Yes, it is.

It is, Blackrock...

And it's that lovely thing.

Because telly is such a a magic medium,

but it's a magic medium that's Irish and local at the same time.

And there's all these amazing Irish people who are local,

but also fabulous and magical.

Because it's hard to put into...

Because I feel the same when I see it on screen.

I'm like, Oh, my God, this looks like a proper TV show.

Like a proper TV.

That's exactly it.

Because I wrote the scripts, but obviously I watch other telly

and I'm like, Oh, this is what a TV show looks like.

And then I watch this and I'm like, Oh, this looks very professional.

It looks just like one.

It could nearly be one.

It could nearly be a TV show.

So there's definitely an element of that for me as well.

But I guess I've been working on this, trying to make it

that TV show from the start.

And there are still things that when I read the books,

what we did in the TV show isn't quite what my brain

imagined in the books.

But you have done things in the show that I think,

I wish I'd written that.

Like at the lunch where Daddy Walsh says, Where's Luke?

Why isn't Luke here? And he goes, I like Luke.

He's got rizz.

I mean, I would watch that a million times.

I just choke from the laughing every time.

You wrote that, and that's exactly what he would say.

I know. I know. I know.

And there are times where I feel like this is precisely

what this person would say.

And that was a conversation we had of like, so now we're

going into 2025.

Do the Walsh Sisters have a WhatsApp group?

If Daddy and Mammy Walsh are 60 years old in 2025,

what are their hobbies?

Do they have Botox? Because a lot...

Yeah. I have 62 when I have it.

Do you know what way has Mammy Walsh gone in this? Yeah.

And the books were written when, for example, Weight Watchers

and skinnyness was so fetishised.

And I do think that we've moved away from that in

pop culture of late.

I'm in slightly good argument.

I'm not so sure we have.

I think people have become quieter about it, maybe.

But I don't think the thinking goes.

Thank you so much for listening to this first inaugural episode

of The Walsh Sisters Official Podcast.

From me, Marian Keyes

And me, Stephanie Preisner.

Join us again next Monday, wherever you get podcasts.

This will be out and enjoy the show next Sunday night, 9.35 on RT� One.

Subtitles: RT� 2025.

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