By Anne Brodie
Siobhan Finneran was scheming lady’s maid O’Brien in Downton Abbey, an unforgettable performance in a classic series. And her career is on fire. Finneran has played the gamut of roles and characters and goes for broke as the saucy grieving mistress in Acorn TV’s The Other One. She’s Marilyn, the sensual, raw, wisecracking secret partner and mother of the child of a man who has suddenly died. His legal family finds out he led a double life for thirty years and to say are sideswiped is an understatement. The families must join forces to plan Colin’s funeral and things get dicey fast. The original family, Tess and daughter Cathy and his day-a-week family Marilyn and her daughter Cat, have no idea what to do about this awkward situation but are determined to at least throw a decent send-off. The concept is a rich source for comic situations from awkward to poignant, its witty, warm and surreal at times, as it explores what happens when it does. I spoke with Finneran from England about the seductive, Monroe-esque character she plays and the great stories.
Siobhan, you are Marilyn – she’s vampy, sexual and warm; she’s blunt and earthy and a shock to his other wife. Ill bet her mother was a Marilyn fan and she assumed the persona.
I love her. I think she’s the most uninhibited woman I’ve ever come across let alone played, I love that and also balanced with that with this naiveté which I enjoyed playing. She’s very aware of her sexuality and aware of her relationship with Colin and what it was, but she did nothing, never tried to destroy his relationship with his wife Tess. In a normal everyday drama, if she is the other woman, she would maybe be portrayed as a family homewrecker, but it’s not like that. Colin never had the intention of leaving Tess and she didn’t expect it. She gets the best of him, she only sees him one afternoon a week. Maybe that’s the kind of relationship people would like to have!
The set up is that on her father’s death, Cathy discovers he had a separate family, and led a double life her entire life, and that she has a half sister the same age called Cat. Its so outrageous, I have to wonder if it is based on someone’s experience.
I think what happened was a story writer Holly Walsh was told a story. A friend of hers or someone she met said they knew this family that discovered when father died, that he lived a double life. Its unfortunate for the people left behind. I think there are people with secret families all over the world that maybe never were discovered. They never found out. That’s the kind of story Netflix would make into documentaries.
The storyline is so ripe with potential for mining comedy gold. Do you get ideas and pass them on to the writers?
No, I would never think anything I had to offer would be anywhere near the genius they have. We made the pilot in 2017, and I presume that they picked up a few things from the actors that they could explore a bit more. I’m sure that they brought forth their own interpretation of everything I did that was not written down. And they did a brilliant job, it would be rude of me.
The two families are get along, bit by bit but can’t agree on who Colin loved more, or who loved him more. That’s just one of the sensitive issues that come up.
It would be really important to them and would be anywhere and main man is not there to answer questions, he’s not there to be shouted at, he can’t answer anything. Its up to the four of them to answer questions between themselves which is what Cathy is trying to – understand her father. She cares about Marilyn and Cat and understands what her father saw in them. Tess is upset, which is understandable, to realise your marriage was a sham and not have the person there to say if this was this real, or answer questions about every single thing that happened. It difficult to accept that anything you had was shared.
I want to say that the roles you’ve played show an incredible range, from the calculating O’Brien in Downton Abbey, the vulnerable sister in Happy Valley, the extremely capable DCI in The Loch. What does acting give you?
I think its something I’ve always wanted to do if. I was talking to therapist, there is something missing to have to go off and pretend not be other people. I loved stories form being a little girl and have a good imagination and those two combined helped me do what I do now. I love my job, and I’ve had some really great roles offered over the years and I do it to the best of my ability. And to be as real as possible, that’s what I like watching. You get absorbed and into the part so you can’t see the joins. That’s what I aim to do. Sometimes its disastrous!!