FORMER Mrs Brown's Boys star Rory Cowan has revealed that he was "terrified" on his first day on the set of Fair City.
Rory, who plays Bosco on the long-running RTE soap, landed the role around September of last year after losing his mum to dementia.
Rory, who plays Bosco on the long-running RTE soap, landed the role around September of last year after losing his mum to dementia.
Rory said he was nervous his first day on set of Fair City
His mother Esther passed away in November of 2018 and the actor was glad to land a role in Fair City that would raise awareness about the illness.
But it wasn't plain sailing for the telly star who told how he was nervous his first day on set.
He said: "The first day I was there I was terrified because everything I had done on Mrs Brown's Boys, none of it mattered in Fair City because that's drama and Mrs Brown is comedy.
"Comedy is timing and drama is completely something else. My attitude to everything is I'm a student and everybody else in the whole world is my teacher. I'm going to learn something from everybody.
"So I go into Fair City and I ask everybody questions and they are delighted. They're so generous with their time and so generous with their advice.
'THE DREAM'
"I used to say, 'No, no I'm not actor I just filled in for Rory and ended up doing it for years'.
"I am an actor now in Fair City. You've really got to work at it and I love it. It's just a fabulous show to work on.
"I could do all the interviews I like talking about dementia and trying to raise awareness of it and none of it is going to raise awareness as much as Fair City will.
"I'm over the moon to be part of that. It's the dream. Of all the gigs I've had, this is the best one. Without a shadow of a doubt.
"Fair City is the best acting gig you could have in Ireland. I would say that to any actor."
He spoke about how he bagged the role of Bosco who helps look after Rose suffering with dementia, who is played by Geraldine Plunkett.
Rory plays Bosco on the RTE soap
BAGGING BOSCO ROLE
Rory told co-star Ryan Andrews on his 2nd Chance podcast: "I went out to Brigie de Courcy who is the executive producer on Fair City, the big boss, she's lovely.
"I said, 'I have an idea for a thing could I go out and discuss it with you'.
"So I went out and I explained the character to her and I could see her eyes glazing over at the idea I had in mind, whatever it was.
"But two or three days later she rang me and she said, 'Rory we're not going to go with the idea of the character you wanted'.
"But she said, 'There is another character that we're doing and it might be a bit close to the bone for you. It's a dementia storyline'.
"I said, 'I'll take it'. I didn't know whether my character was going to have dementia or what it was.
'LOVE IT'
"She said, 'No it's somebody who cares. I know you did that with your mother but we are doing a storyline about dementia'.
"I thought if I hadn't have asked, somebody else would've gotten that role.
"I asked about something else but I put myself in her mind. I couldn't think of a part that I would want more."
And the 61-year-old added that he's not worried about his future on the show as he's happy with the work he's done.
He said: "You never do the same thing twice, every day is different.
"It's wonderful. I love it, I absolutely adore it. I don't know how long it's going to last, I hope it lasts ages.
"Even if they say to me, 'OK your character has gone as far as it can go', I'll go away happy because I've had a great time."
Rory previously opened up about how relieved he was that his mum didn't have to endure the spread of coronavirus while she was ill.
Reminiscing on his time at school, the Ballyfermot native told how Esther would consistently visit him in class to keep tabs on him.
MUMS KNOW BEST
It explained that it wasn't until much later on his life that he understood her reasons for doing so.
He said: "From the time I went into second class up until sixth class, two or three times a week she'd be coming down to the school.
"I used to go, 'For f*** sake'. I could see her getting off the bus with her bag of messages and she'd be walking over to the school.
"I used to think, 'Mam nobody sent for you, what are you doing down here'. I'd be mortified. I said it to her years later.
"I said to her, 'Mam what were you doing? You embarrassed the life out of me'. She said, 'Rory we all knew the rumours back then, the abuse of kids'.
"Now it never happened to me. It never happened as far as I know in any of the schools I was in.
"But she said, 'We all knew the rumours, there was nowhere you could go, where could you go with a worry like that?'
"So she used to go down and say, 'How's Rory doing with his maths?' and the Brother would say, 'He's doing well, he's doing fine'.
"'Are you sure? Because last night he was telling me that he was having a problem with his sums that he was doing'.
"And he would say, 'No he's doing OK'.
"She said, 'I was letting them know you talk to me'. And she said, 'If they were even thinking of doing anything, they wouldn't pick you because you talk to your mother.'
"And this was years later.
"She just wanted to make sure her child was safe. So when she was embarrassing me, she was actually protecting me."
Rory with his late mum Esther
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