Ardal O'Hanlon: paradise found

Most writers agree it’s harder to write your second novel than your first. For Ardal O’Hanlon, however, best known as Father Dougal McGuire from the beloved Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted and – more recently – as DI Jack Mooney on BBC One’s Death in Paradise, producing a follow-up to his first, well-received novel The Talk of The Town took 25 years.

How long? ‘I’m easily sidetracked,’ shrugs Ardal, 56. ‘I’m in the privileged position of having this other life where you end up doing TV shows, stand-up comedy, theatre, documentaries. It’s all very seductive.’ After The Talk of The Town came out in 1998, he had a contract for a follow-up book, but was too busy to honour it. ‘Ultimately, I had to give back my advance [fee from the publishers], which was humiliating, especially since I’d just built a new kitchen with that money.’

Come the first lockdown in spring 2020, Ardal – who’d had to cut short a stand-up tour – finally returned to a draft manuscript he’d banged out years earlier but then abandoned in favour of filming Death in Paradise, in Guadeloupe in the French Caribbean – something that took up six months annually of the next four years.

‘When Covid came, I thought, “What am I going to do with my life?” Then suddenly the manuscript was staring me in the face. It was a godsend. I live with such stress all the time – good stress in the sense I’m always adrenaline-fuelled from performing live and travelling every week, which leaves you with a low-level anxiety. But in the pandemic, I didn’t have that. To shut myself away to write was really enjoyable.’

In fact, Ardal’s lockdown at home in Dublin with his wife Melanie and children Emily, 24, who is a doctor, Rebecca, 22, and Red (short for Redmond), 19, who are both students, sounds blissful, even though – as he explains with a wry chuckle – ‘We’re all very strong minded, vociferous, argumentative people.’

He wrote all morning, then in the afternoon, he and Melanie would walk their golden retrievers, Bonnie and Teabag (‘She was originally called Tia, but we didn’t like that,’ he explains, before describing how Melanie bamboozled him into acquiring a second retriever – ‘I love her but having two dogs is a massive disruption’). After rules relaxed, the family played tennis together and in the evenings, they drank cocktails. ‘That could get messy,’ he grins.

‘I showed it to one publisher whose first reaction was, ‘‘could it be more like Richard Osman?’’’

Still, the hangovers can’t have been too bad as Ardal ended up finishing Brouhaha, an accomplished tale about an unsolved mystery in a small Irish town. Are we now going to have to wait 25 years for the next book? ‘I really don’t know. I did get a kick out of writing this one, so we’ll see.’

Brouhaha has black humour, but it’s definitely not the hilarious caper you might expect from such a renowned comedian. ‘I showed it to one publisher whose first reaction was, “Could it be more like Richard Osman? Or Graham Norton?”’ Ardal says, laughing. ‘People may be a little surprised by the book’s very dark tone. In Ireland there’s a lot of piety, and a lot of humility, but there’s this undercurrent of violence and mayhem and I was trying to tap into that. I come from the border region and the humour is grim and the tone is always very flat and deadpan. You’re not quite sure what people mean by what they say.’

Ardal absorbed all this growing up, the middle of six children, in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, where his father was first a family doctor, then a politician who served as a minister in the Irish government. ‘The big thing I took away from my dad was his sense of duty. He just wanted to help people.’

Possibly as an antidote to the seriousness of his father’s work, Ardal decided to be a comedian, performing first in Dublin clubs before moving to London in 1994. Initially, he found stand-up nerve-racking, to the point where he’d vomit before going on stage. He persevered (nerves don’t trouble him now), encouraged by Melanie, whom he’d been going out with since both were in their teens. Have they ever split up?

‘No, we were always very close. When I moved to London it was make or break, but then she followed me – I couldn’t get away,’ he adds, jokingly. ‘So, she was there the first time I stood up on stage. She was always very supportive.’ When Rebecca was born, the couple moved back to Ireland, with Melanie deciding to become a stay-at-home mother, but Ardal has said that in those London stand-up days, ‘she was the breadwinner. She was funny as well. Most people when they meet us can’t believe I’m doing what I do and she’s not.’

Ardal’s big break came when he was cast in Father Ted in 1995 – its final episode broadcast in 1998, yet the programme following the misadventures of three Irish Catholic priests who’ve been banished to a remote island is still adored today. ‘It’s timeless comedy,’ says Ardal. For a while afterwards, he resented being perpetually associated with the show and the endearingly childlike Dougal. ‘I was going on the road as a stand-up and people wanted me to be more like the character of Dougal. But overall, I’ve got nothing but happy, happy memories.’

The day after filming the final episode, Father Ted himself, aka Dermot Morgan, died of a heart attack aged only 45. ‘Working on any TV show the bond is very intense, so it was a shock,’ says Ardal. ‘It was a big jolt to the system; you suddenly realise mortality is impinging on you. You take time out and think, “Oh my God, let’s treasure every moment.” In terms of career, enjoy the ride.’

‘Quitting football has been the worst thing about ageing. It’s been devastating’

That he’s done since appearing in everything from the sitcom My Hero from 2000-2006, to several stand-up tours, to four seasons of Death in Paradise from 2017-2020. ‘I solved 24 murders,’ he says with jokey pride. ‘It was a hugely enjoyable job, but all of the previous incumbents in that role found it was very demanding after a while, in terms of juggling family commitments, but also working in this extreme weather – the heat, the humidity and the hurricanes, and, as a detective, you’re wearing a suit.’

When we meet in the bar of The Dilly hotel in central London, Ardal’s bearded and in jeans; in character, he says laughing, as ‘a scruffy person’ in a show he’s filming but is sworn to secrecy about. He’s most recently been seen on our screens in the very final episode of Channel 4’s smash hit Derry Girls, in which he reappeared as mummy’s boy Cousin Eamonn. ‘It was kind of poignant doing it. I could identify with the girls because I was there with Father Ted 25 years ago, and I know what they’re going through: the joys of being in a hit show and how they’re so excited and giddy about moving on with their other projects.’ (Derry Girls’ Nicola Coughlan now stars in Bridgerton and Saoirse-Monica Jackson has landed a key role in Hollywood film The Flash alongside Ben Affleck.)

Ardal also recently appeared in Channel 4’s Taskmaster, the game show hosted by Greg Davies where, alongside the likes of comedian Judi Love, he had to complete a series of bonkers assignments, such as thinking up a present to give aliens in an invasion situation (Ardal suggested a mirror).

Taskmaster was a big deal for Ardal. ‘It was very liberating. Five years ago, I’d have run a mile. I’d avoided reality shows where I’d have to be myself because I’m quite shy, so I’ve always been happier adopting a role. Even doing stand-up you’re being an exaggerated version of yourself. But with the pandemic, I changed. We had lots of time to think, and I realised being yourself on television is not that big a deal in the big scheme of things.’

But Strictly Come Dancing would be a step too far. ‘I have been asked a lot of times over the years and I’m torn because my family loves the show, I love it. But the scrutiny… it’s a whole other level.’

Physically, he could pull it off; Ardal’s in good nick owing to playing regular tennis with friends in the week and mixed doubles with Melanie at the weekend. But a few years ago, he had to quit his beloved football – he loved playing with his amateur Dublin team whenever possible – after suffering too many injuries. ‘That’s really been the worst thing about ageing. It’s been devastating.’

He played his last-ever full match in Guadeloupe. ‘Because I was the lead character, nobody was allowed to tackle me and I deluded myself and thought I was brilliant, scoring all these goals. Back in Ireland, I thought, “I can still do this” and within minutes, I’d wrenched my abdominal muscles and was out of action for about six months. That was the end for me.’

Yet generally, Ardal’s enjoying growing older. ‘I stress a bit about losing my hair and the baggy eyes. But in your twenties and thirties you’re hustling and competing with other performers, you’ve also got young kids and that’s all a bit of a challenge. By my fifties, I felt as a performer and a human I became more confident in my own opinions. You’re settled, not in a complacent way, but you know your place in the world.’

Brouhaha by Ardal O’Hanlon (HarperCollins Ireland, £16.99) is out now

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