Why stars of dark Irish comedy with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes were left ‘terrified’

The cast of Bad Sisters have revealed the shocking weather conditions that saw them racing to film a pivotal scene for season 2.

After two years off screens, the Irish black comedy created by Sharon Horgan returns to Apple TV today.

It follows the five Garvey sisters – Eva (Sharon), Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene) and Becka (Eve Hewson).

After Grace’s abusive, controlling husband John Paul (Claes Bang) died unexpectedly in season 1, the sisters found themselves at the centre of a life insurance investigation.

The upcoming episodes are set two years after JP’s death and although the sisters are doing their best to move on with their lives, when a past truth resurfaces, they are ‘thrust back into the spotlight, suspicions are at an all-time high, lies are told, secrets revealed, and the sisters are forced to work out who they can trust’.

This season is packed full of shocking twists and turns, but one of the happier moments was marred by drama behind-the-scenes, the cast told in a recent interview.

The clifftop wedding scene that sees Grace appear to finally get her happy ending coincided with the arrival of Storm Ciarán on the coast of Ireland.

Calling the experience ‘terrifying’, Sharon joked that at one point it was like ‘that scene in the Titanic when the band was playing on’ as the ship was sinking.

‘We had this incredible band Goitse and at that one point they still needed to capture the last moment of them playing and the rest of us had gone and hidden from this storm,’ she recalled when speaking to .

Meanwhile director Dearbhla Walsh said the three-day shoot to capture that sequence was ‘absolutely challenging’.

‘At one stage the marquee was going to take off and we had to move a scene from outside to inside,’ she said.

Actress Anne-Marie said the cast and crew were in a jovial mood before the storm rolled in and the ‘sun was shining, and the sea was calm’.

However, the next day that were ‘practically in the middle of the hurricane’ and faced dancing in wet dresses amidst gale-force winds.

‘So, there we were dancing in horizontal rain pretending…but that’s an Irish wedding for you,’ she quipped.

However Sharon did admit the challenging weather conditions made for ‘some of the most authentic and compelling footage’.

Storm Ciarán severely affected parts of Europe from late October to early November last year, killing 21 people in Italy and France.

There was widespread damage in the Channel Islands, where winds up to 100 miles per hour were recorded. Ireland escaped the worst of the storm, but did face heavy downpours.

Although initially conceived as a limited series, Bad Sisters proved such a huge hit – winning the 2022 Bafta for best drama series and being nominated for four Emmy Awards – that it was commissioned for another.

However, Sharon admitted that she felt ‘huge pressure’ to deliver another stellar season.

‘You feel like there is a responsibility there if people have invested in the show and really like loved the characters, it freaks you out the thought of not delivering for them,’ she said.

‘But at a certain point you need to ignore all of that and concentrate on the story you want to tell and forget about people and do what you think is the next best chapter for those characters.’

Although the cast believed the show was ‘well and done’, during the film of season 1, there was a feeling around set that it ‘might have further life’.

‘We would suggest things, but I don’t think any of it was taken on board! I think one of the ideas was maybe JP had a sister who could come back and take revenge against the sisters. We wanted it to come back and were absolutely thrilled when it did,’ Sarah shared.  

Bad Sisters has been praised for having five women at its helm, with Anne-Marie explaining how it was ‘a joy to come to set each day and be supported by women’.

‘What Sharon does great is as well is that there are five female leads at the centre of this which is highly unusual, and they are all incredibly complex, layered and messy people,’ she said.

‘That’s why I think people related to this show and we bonded. We spent eight months together and you can’t not. It was coming to work with your best friends- it was lovely.’

This season of the show also sees the addition of Fiona Shaw, who plays Roger’s (Michael Smiley) meddling sister Angelica, who stirs tension trying to get to the bottom of the sisters’ secrets.