Dervla Kirwan plays Claire Maxwell
The second series of 55 Degrees North finds ballsy CPS lawyer Claire
Maxwell walking a tightrope, juggling motherhood with a busy career.
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And it's a balancing act that couldn't be more apt for Dervla
Kirwan. Last year, just after signing on the dotted line to
play Claire, the Dublin-born actress discovered she was expecting her
first child by her partner Rupert Penry-Jones, star
of ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ spy drama Spooks.
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Her real-life pregnancy was promptly written into the script and a
year on, Dervla is the proud - but exhausted - mum of Florence - while
her on-screen persona, Claire, is adapting to life as a working mum
with her baby, Emmy.
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"It's great that the writer [Timothy Prager] has tapped
into what has been happening in my life and transferred it onto the
screen. It's very nice to actually be utterly knackered and to be able
to play utterly knackered on screen as well.
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"I didn't need any make-up or anything to look like a worn out
new mum, because that's exactly what I am," laughs Dervla.
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"I don't think Claire deals with having a baby as well as I do. Yes,
I'm very hard on myself and I'm always doing things wrong, but I also
understand that you aren't given a parenting manual when you come onto
this earth and you've got to try and learn from your mistakes.
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"Claire totally misses that point. She is the absolute personification
of an uptight perfectionist, and full of her own self importance. She
doesn't cope very well with being a mum and then hates that about herself."
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Having her own mother, Jocelyn, to stay (Dearbhla Molloy),
doesn't make Claire's life any easier. She has always put her career
first, but her new baby has added confusion to her life, albeit welcome
confusion.
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Rather than helping Claire, Jocelyn only makes her daughter feel guilty
about being a working mother. "Claire has always been very driven when
it comes to her career and I can relate to that.
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"I mean, I wouldn't push another actress down the stairs in order
to get a job, but I do want to be the best that I can in my own profession
and so does Claire. Who wants to be crap at their job?
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"But having her mum around knocks Claire's confidence because Jocelyn
is constantly niggling away at her about going to work, implying she
should be staying at home with Emmy.
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"But she's a single mum, someone's got to pay the bills haven't
they?" points out Dervla, who has rarely been off our screens since
her first TV role aged 15 in the hard-hitting ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ drama Troubles.
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But it was Goodnight Sweetheart and Ballykissangel that made her a
star - and more recently she has been seen in Casanova, The Deputy and
Hearts & Bones.
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"Theirs is a typical mother and daughter relationship and as the series
progresses Claire and Jocelyn have some very funny scenes together.
At times they're very similar to the way I am with my own parents -
you know, where they wind you up so much you just fly off the handle
and let rip.
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"There seems to be an unwritten rule that you can rant at your
family in a way you would never do with your friends. Especially in
an Irish family, where you're lucky to get a word in edgeways."
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Someone Claire doesn't want to be one of the family is Emmy's father,
Wren (Brian Protheroe), whom she's determined to keep
at a distance.
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Explains Dervla: "She totally freezes him out. She doesn't want his
money, his interference, or him in her life, which is a pretty tough
deal I think. Obviously when she was having an affair with him - a married
man - she hadn't realised the profound effect it was going to have on
her life."
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When it comes to her relationship with Nicky (Don Gilet),
Claire blows hot and cold. She still has a deep affection for the handsome
cop but we're never quite sure what ambitious Claire wants out of her
romantic life.
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One thing's for sure though, she has put her job and her baby first
and doesn't have time to commit to anyone else, even if she wanted to.
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"It seems to be circumstances that are keeping them apart. Nicky has
a lot going on in his home life and she does have a newborn baby with
another man and that's a big thing for him to take on board.
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"Errol is very suspicious of her and I can understand that. Claire
Maxwell doesn't do herself any favours. She's not the warmest of women
and she very rarely smiles. Errol just doesn't want Nicky to get hurt."
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After six months filming in Newcastle, Dervla is staying nearer to
home in London for her next job. She'll be fulfilling a lifelong ambition
to appear at the National Theatre this summer when she stars in the
Brian Friel play Aristocrats, alongside Gina McKee.
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And with her days free, it means she'll have more time to spend with
baby Florence.
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So, is her daughter showing any early signs of following in her parents'
thespian footsteps? "Well, she can't speak yet - which is always a bit
of a drawback when you want to become an actor!" laughs Dervla.
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"If she did end up having a talent for it then I'd want her to go
into it with her eyes open. It's a very tough business if you're deluding
yourself about your ability. At this stage I just want her to be happy,
enjoy life and be a good, fully-rounded, functional human being."
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Dervla reveals: "I was chucked out of my convent for wanting to be
an actress, which was a terrible form of rejection. It says an awful
lot about Ireland in the Eighties that acting was not seen as a respectable
female profession. But as I get older..." she adds, with a big grin.
"I think they were right - it's not!"