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Charlie Murphy and Sarah Greene talk to IFTN about 'Rebellion'
03 Jan 2016 :
Charlie Murphy and Sarah Greene at IFTA Awards 2015
With new RTÉ 1916 drama series ‘Rebellion’ kicking off on Sunday, January 3rd (RTE One, 9.30pm) IFTN talks to two of the show’s lead actresses - Charlie Murphy and Sarah Greene.

Scripted by Colin Teevan, ‘Rebellion’ covers the events of 1916, beginning with the Easter Rising in Dublin. The fictional protagonists cross paths with well-known figures from history including Padraig Pearse, James Connolly, Eamon deValera and Countess Constance Markievicz. Two of these protagonists are Eliza and May – Eliza (portrayed by Charlie Murphy) is a young doctor in training from a wealthy background that gets sucked into militant activities while May (portrayed by Sarah Greene) is a headstrong yet love-struck receptionist to a married British ambassador at Dublin Castle.

With Colin Teevan’s previous political drama ‘Charlie’ being watched by over one million people when it aired on RTÉ last year, do the actresses feel any pressure about the amount of people that will be tuning into the period drama when it kicks off on Sunday, January 3rd?

“I suppose you don’t really think about it really because our job is done so we can just sit back now and enjoy it like everyone else – it’s a fantastic story with great characters,”, says Charlie Murphy, who won a 2015 IFTA Award for her performance as Siobhan in ‘Love/Hate’.

Co-star Sarah Greene, who won a Rising Star IFTA as well as a Supporting Actress Film IFTA for ‘Noble’ in 2015, adds, “We always knew we were in good hands though as the script was so compelling and then director Aku (Louhimies) was so great to work with. It was also great to work with Charlie again, as well as all the cast who are just amazing.”

An early talking point of the series, intriguing political themes aside, is the strongly written three female protagonists at it’s core (the other portrayed by Ruth Bradley) with Greene commenting that it’s refreshing for women to be put out front and centre in such an important story – with Murphy saying that extensive research into the show included reading books and watching documentaries on 1916.

“It is definitely one of the main reasons I did the show”, says Greene, “It is great to see powerful, strong women out in front especially in this time and place as these women wouldn’t really have been talked about before. As any actress knows, female characters can sometimes only have bit-parts – you know the girlfriend or the wife - so this was very exciting. The characters are so well-written and three dimensional.”

Irish television drama has had recent domestic and international success of series such as ‘Love/Hate’ and ‘An Bronntanas’. Both Greene and Murphy are no strangers to television drama with Murphy making her name as Siobhan in ‘Love/Hate’ and Greene last year cast in the second season of ‘Penny Dreadful’.

“It’s great to see in Ireland because I think television can really give characters a chance to breathe when they are not restricted to a story being told in an hour and 40 minutes”, says Murphy.

Greene adds, “We are a nation of story-tellers, aren’t we? So, it’s great to see us getting more money to tell these stories on television [laughs]. The budgets are bigger and so is the production value and it means that writers like Colin can tell a story like this.”

With US channel Sundance TV, owned by Oscar-winner Robert Redford, coming on board the intriguing period drama, are the actresses excited by the international prospects of this series?

“Absolutely, people I have been talking to in the States are very excited about it. A lot of people over there have Irish ancestors so there is a real appetite for stories like this. The fact that Downton Abbey did so well over there is encouraging too and Sundance TV being on board – I mean they have some really good shows. So, there is a real buzz about it already- among my friends anyway [laughs]. But no, I think the Americans will lap this up, I hope.”<

Both Murphy and Greene are both based in London these days and are two of the most sought after actresses in Ireland, with Greene working on a third series of award-winning supernatural drama ‘Penny Dreadful’ (with Eva Green and Josh Hartnett) and Murphy working on action film ‘The Foreigner’ which co-stars Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan.

“That’s why I love acting – you can go from something like ‘Rebellion’ one minute to doing a fight scene with Jackie Chan the next!”

Five-part series ‘Rebellion’ kicks off on Sunday, January 3rd. Stay tuned to IFTN for further interviews with actress Ruth Bradley, writer Colin Teevan and producer Catherine Magee.

Check out the trailer for ‘Rebellion’ below:





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