Hot Press speaks to Nika McGuigan of Can't Cope, Won't Cope

Eight-point-six-seconds. That’s precisely how long it takes Nika McGuigan’s character, Danielle, to drop the first f-bomb in the new series of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope.

“We’re picking up exactly where we left off,” laughs McGuigan whose invective is aimed at Seána Kerslake’s character, Aisling. “The opening sequence is 30 seconds long and has three f-words and a ‘shit’ in it, which is pretty impressive.”

Served up in flashback form, the scene reminds us of Danielle and Aisling’s monumental falling out at the end of Season 1.

“Danielle un-friends her on Facebook, so it’s really serious!” Nika chuckles again. “Even though she’s gone to Vancouver the hostilities are still on-going and actually worsen in the first episode when she discovers that Aisling has landed her in it with their old landlord.”
As chucklsome as it is profane, Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope was a major ratings-grabber first time out not only in Ireland, but also in the UK and the States where it’s been picked up respectively by BBC3 and Netflix.

“Myself and Séana went to a London West End play, Misty, the other night and it was crazy how many people came up to us and said, ‘We love you in that show!’ I’m thinking, ‘How can you understand what any of us is saying when the delivery’s so fast and it’s such a strong accent?’ I’ve had the same thing in America where you’d totally expect them not to get it. Television is such a global thing nowadays and totally on a par with film in terms of the calibre of actors that want to be in series now. It’s really carved out its own artistic niche.”

Having lived in London since she was five, was Nika familiar with Copper Face Jack’s where most of Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope’s more hedonistic scenes are set?

“No, I hadn’t previously sampled its delights. Luckily, when I was doing my research, I had a cousin at university in Dublin who I was able to call up and say, ‘Can you give me some down-low on Coppers and do you have any videos?’ He was like, ‘I’ll tell you about it but I’m not showing you videos of me in there ever, ever, ever.’ I had a little sneak around Coppers myself before we started filming, so I knew what to expect!”

How would she describe the show to those who’ve yet to pop their Can’t Cope… cherries?

“I ought to have a handy sound bite prepared but I don’t… er, it’s a story about a co-dependent friendship and learning how to make decisions and generally cope with life when, as a woman, you reach your mid-20s. It’s very fast-paced, funny in a non-obvious ‘Here’s a joke’ way and essential Monday night viewing for the next six weeks!”

Before bagging her Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope role, Nika got a close-up look at Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench at work courtesy of her respective roles in The Secret Scripture and Philomena.

“You can learn so much just from watching people like that when you’re on set,” she reflects. “You can also learn a lot from watching them when they’re not working. The way they take absolutely everything in their stride. I didn’t get to meet Vanessa, but I did meet Judi Dench who was everything you wanted her to be – wise, funny and very, very supportive.”

McGuigan learned the intricacies of the acting trade at The Factory, the film production centre in Dublin Docklands that has become the go-to place for casting directors looking for young talent.
“I knew I was in a room with some very special people – the energy really was magic – but I didn’t sit there alongside Barry Keoghan thinking, ‘One day you’re going to be eating meatballs in an Oscar-nominated film with Nicole Kidman.’ I didn’t know that Paddy Gibson was going to end up in The OA or that Jack Reyner was going to become this huge Hollywood star. The fact that we were all broke and there were holes in the ceiling probably kept us grounded!”

McGuigan and Kerslake are bezzies in real life as well as on screen.

“We forget how manic we get when we’re together,” she smiles. “Peter Campion, AKA Father Peter from Derry Girls, had to do his first scene when he joined for Season 2 with myself and Séana and at the end of it looked completely shell-shocked. He was thinking to himself, ‘What the hell have I let myself in for ?!’ We’re palling around even more now that Séana’s over living in London.”

The reason for Ms. K’s relocation being her starring role alongside Ben Chaplin in Mood Music, the new play from the nib of Sunny Afternoon and Blue/Orange man, Joe Penhall, which has just opened in the Old Vic.

Asked whether there was a showbiz element to her Clones Cyclone dad, Barry McGuigan, being WBA Featherweight World Champion, Nika immediately shoots back: “God, no! It’s glamorous for the people sitting ringside in Vegas, but you’re training twice a day in a sweaty old gym. My childhood smelt of jockstraps and, with my mum running a salon, hairspray. The gym taught me to look after myself because I was the only girl there, and I respect the talent and dedication these people have, but it was the polar opposite of glamorous.”

Whilst admitting to not being as well-versed on the subject as Séana Kerslake who’s previously nailed her colours to the Repeal mast in Hot Press, Nika will be voting “Yes” on May 25.
“Because I grew up in London I don’t perhaps feel it as acutely as Séana does, but it’s a fantastic movement that I 100% support.”

Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope airs every Monday at 9.30pm on RTÉ2