Saoirse-Monica Jackson interview

Irish actress Saoirse-Monica Jackson on swapping London for Liverpool, branching out after Derry Girls and perfecting her scouse accent

Words | Lawrence Saunders

How did you end up moving here to Liverpool?

I feel like I was always meant to live in Liverpool. I have a lot of family that moved here before I was born so I visited quite often when I was a teenager. I went to university in Manchester but I always wished I was in Liverpool! When I met my partner during COVID, I was living in London and he was in Berlin but wanted to come back to the UK. We were looking to settle somewhere and he’s not mad on London, and didn’t want to move home to Glasgow either, so we chose Liverpool.

When you’re travelling a lot for work, it’s nice to live somewhere which is so convenient. I think the two of us being Irish and Scottish as well, [Liverpool] just suits us. I love it here and I love the scousers! I always say Liverpool is like a ‘big Derry’. Much of the city is built around the River Foyle and it feels like a centrepoint for everything that happens there – having the River Mersey here gives me that same feeling.

How did you first get into acting?

I went to an all-girls Catholic school in Creggan, Derry, and I had an amazing drama teacher who helped me navigate the different courses I could enrol on. I don’t think many other girls were applying to do drama at my school. I was looking on UCAS and discovered this course in Manchester that had a comedy module.

I didn’t see [a comedy module] on any other courses across the country so I went for Manchester. I moved to London after my course finished and stayed there for nearly 10 years. I loved living there and still go down there to see friends but I think when you’re a wee bit older you’re like: ‘I need to get out of it all!’

You’re currently filming the new BBC crime drama This City Is Ours here in Liverpool. How has everything been going with that?

I was busting to do a BBC drama and when this came in, it just felt so perfect – I’m delighted to be doing this job. It’s such a luxury working on a TV job and being able to come home to your own bed at night as well! Being able to put a wash on, go to your normal supermarket and regular gym classes. As boring as that all sounds, it’s really great! You do get used to being away from home a lot though, and you sort of settle wherever you go. Actors are generally lovely people and you become almost like a family when you’re working abroad for long periods.

 

 

This isn’t the first time you’ve filmed here in Liverpool though, is it?

No, I actually did two jobs in Liverpool before this. The first thing I was ever cast in was The Five, a Harlan Coben TV series which was filmed here in Liverpool. I also did a short called Liverpool Ferry. This is what I mean, I always feel like I’m meant to be here!

The cast for This City is Ours includes a host of young Liverpool actors. What’s it been like working alongside them?

It’s a real privilege and I was really excited to work with a Liverpool cast. I think there are so many idiocracies that we as Irish people, maybe particularly from the north, share with scousers. At the same time, I felt like I had to nail the accent and I put a lot of work into making sure I was doing it right.

There is a specific mentality and swagger that scousers have, but it has been done wrong [on screen] so many times in the past – almost in a comical way. That’s something I can relate to being Irish because I’ve seen us being done in a derogatory way before as well, so that was the last thing I wanted to do. Being from Derry, I understand how social structures work in a working-class city but it also puts the pressure on because you know how important it is.

The Decameron is your other new show, which is out later this month on Netflix. Can you give our readers an idea of what the series is about?

It’s very loosely based on the 14th Century short-story collection The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. The series centres on 10 leading actors and their different journeys in a high-stakes, high-pressure situation. We meet these characters as they get invited to a villa in Florence to ride out the Black Death. I think we can all relate to this premise somewhat after being through the pandemic.

The show also deals with class structure. The nobles are coming to the villa with their servants, and I play a servant called Misia. Misia’s identity and self-esteem are all wrapped up in being the perfect servant to Pampinea, who is played by the amazing Zosia Mamet.

Misia is quite a complex woman. She’s sort of always on the brink of something, usually a breakdown. She probably has the least self esteem out of all of the characters, but that doesn’t mean she’s not strong. She’s quite strong-willed, and she would really do anything for Pampinea. This all sounds quite dark but I promise it’s very funny at the same time!

 

 

I understand the series was filmed on location in Italy. What was that experience like?

We filmed in a castle in Viterbo, which is about an hour and a half from Rome, as well as at some really famous studios in Rome itself. The sets and costumes were so beautiful. I’d never seen artistry like it. It was fantastic to experience a different culture and see how the creatives work over on that side of Europe – they definitely put people in the UK to a bit of shame! Their work ethic and creativity was just unbelievable.

When Derry Girls finished, did you make a conscious decision to seek out more dramatic and non-comedic roles?

I think originally I maybe wanted to do something else. I don’t think I realised though how lucky I was that I was able to start in comedy. On reflection, I have a bit more gratitude for that because it feels like, at times, there’s more camaraderie in that space. With drama, of course, you are supporting each other emotionally but it feels more singular.

But at the time [after Derry Girls], I really wanted to do drama. You always want to try something else. I feel like now I’m in quite a lucky position where I’ve found a balance between dramatic and comedic roles. I’m very grateful for that.

How do you feel now when you look back on the impact of Derry Girls and its legacy?

I was shocked by how little our neighbouring country knew about the politics of Ireland and the civil war which had happened in such recent times. Without getting too political, it was really an eye-opener for me about the British government. In the north of Ireland, they only teach you English history in school. The Troubles was happening all around us but we weren’t being taught about it.

For Derry Girls to come out and show my peers and contemporaries what was really going on, both sides of the story, was only a positive thing. It’s always good to know what’s going on in the world and I think that’s best digested through comedy. I don’t think [educating people] was necessarily Lisa McGee’s aim when she wrote Derry Girls. She wanted to write a show about girls from Derry, but she couldn’t ignore the backdrop of The Troubles, and then it became almost like its own character in the show.

The Decameron arrives on Netflix on 25 July