80’s nostalgia was in the air this afternoon, as IFTN sat down with a crisp sambo’ and red lemonade to speak with RTÉ’s married duo Bridget & Eamon ahead of their new comedy series starting Monday night at 9.30pm on RTÉ 2.
The showbiz couple will be appearing on tonight’s ‘Late Late Show’, taking viewers back in time as they resurrect the RTÉ quiz Quicksilver for one night only. When asked about bumping shoulder pads with other guests on tonight’s show, Jennifer Zamparelli answered “Bridget & Eamon probably share some similar views with Katie Hopkins they are both small minded, people with notions and say stupid things so they are in a way a satirical version of her.”
The pair had a lot to discuss from smoking bans to Red Dwarf, “I just think the whole nostalgia of the 80’s is a big character in the show. It brings us back then we realise, wait have we even come that far? It’s great to look back and think oh my god the whole smoking thing, driving without seatbelts, the drink driving thing, having millions of kids it’s kind of unbelievable in a way,” said Jennifer.
When asked about the reaction they hope to receive from the new series, Jennifer said “It’s a very Irish programme for Irish people so I really hope people like it.”
Bernard O’Shea who plays Eamon said: “I’m delighted that Bridget & Eamon is back for another series. Eamon is even grumpier and Bridget wants more stuff like hairdressing and talking. It’s always nervous building up to a first episode and I hope people enjoy it as much as we did making the series.”
In the new series Bridget & Eamon are still stuck in the mid-midlands with their 6 to 8 kids with only cigarettes, alcohol and choppy changey hair to get them through it. Across the 6 episodes they’ll run for election, open a hair salon in the house, go up to Dublin to a fancy restaurant for the first time ever, lose their minds when they miss a phone call, solve a murder case, play a dangerous game of sunburn roulette, get a visit from the Mafia and may accidentally kill Eamon’s Mammy.
Speaking a bit about her character Bridget, Jennifer said “A lot of people ask me if Bridget is based on my own but she’s not solely based on her, for a start my own mam’s not a chain smoker but she is definitely a bit of my mam, a bit of my sister, my neighbour, I think she’s inspired by a lot of the females in my life that happened to be around at that certain time.”
Other guests featuring in the second series includes Katherine Lynch, who will appear as Eamon’s Mammy and will be chain smoking, with big glasses and big hair. Also appearing during the series is Anne Gildea playing Sister Donna Cora Loaney, Joe Rooney as local DJ Phil Erup, Kevin McGahern as hotel owner Dessie and series one favourites John Colleary and Pat McDonnell as IRA men Jimmy and Martin.
The IFTA award winning series will offer viewers six spanking new episodes and a Christmas special to enjoy.
The first episode will air on Monday 14 November at 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and will see Bridget and Eamon make instant new best friends with a visiting American couple Mikey (Mark Huberman) and Barbara (Aoibhinn McGinnity).