Interview: Pauline McLynn

It is no surprise that Pauline McLynn, best known for portraying serial kettle-boiler Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted, puts great stock in the holistic powers of tea cosies. “There is a book out by a New Zealand writer and it’s called How Tea Cosies Saved The World,” she informs me in her cheery, mile-a-minute and instantly familiar tones. “Now, I don’t think they have completely, but they are an important part...”

What I think she’s obliquely suggesting is that, had the Maharishi promoted knitting rather than transcendental meditation back in the ‘60s, The Beatles would never have broken up. “Well you may mock slightly! But I am here to tell you, I was talking to a psychologist and when I told her I knit, she said that’s what they’re recommending to people now. If you’re finding it hard to do relaxation exercises or meditation, knitting is the thing. You can zone out or have a chat with yourself. I find I have a lot in common with me, we have good talks sometimes out loud!”
She lets out a manic laugh that belongs on ‘90s TV. Does Pauline ever argue with herself?
“Oh god yes. I’m a complete pain to hang around with. I’m tired of me, I’m very self-critical. I think it’s time to give me a break, so we’re having a big conversation about that at the moment. The brilliant thing about knitting is that you also have something to show for it at the end. There’s that lovely satisfaction.”
McLynn turned her hobby into a new business when she launched her own range of knitted tea cosies, inevitably-titled The Go Ons. Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews haven’t been bothering you for royalties have they? Surely her immortal catchphrase was all about the delivery.
“I was just a conduit!” she laughs. “The swing-tag does say I was once a priests’ housekeeper on the TV. But I never say ‘Mrs. Doyle’ once. As far as I know, you can’t copyright a catchphrase anyway. Otherwise most of the people on the street who shout ‘Ah go on!’ or ‘Ah you will!’ at me would owe money as well! If people make the connection, that’s lovely. And why wouldn’t they? It’s tea and it’s “Go On!”
It is also the sole bit of retrospection McLynn indulges in these days. The annual TedFest took place on Craggy Island (aka Inis Mór) in February – she wasn’t tempted to meet her adoring public?
“I’ve never gone,” she confesses. “I believe it’s a great weekend away. I’d just be worried that I’d be killed with kindness and come back from the Aran Islands in a body bag! I’m delighted people love Ted as much as they do, I do as well. I didn’t take part in the documentary they did either because I was working in Manchester and couldn’t get the time off. But also, I didn’t feel it could be definitive. Dermot’s gone and so is the original producer Geoffrey Perkins. It wouldn’t have been the same going back. I’m just happy for people to remember that time by watching the show.”
Today, she’s focused on the present. It’s been well-publicised that the recent past, after her shock 2011 exit from Shameless, had been a dark period for McLynn, but she certainly sounds in a good place now.
“I get the blues quite regularly. I talked about depression once on John Murray’s Radio One show and it was like I became a poster-child for depression for a while afterwards! I felt a bit guilty about that, because I wouldn’t be a person who is in a depressive state every day. But certainly after the Shameless thing, that was a dark enough time I have to say.”
There were plenty of rumours regarding her departure, but nothing concrete.
“To be honest with you, I’ve agreed with the company that made Shameless that I won’t talk about why I left. I saw again recently where someone wrote that I quit Shameless because the commute was too bad. I’ve never had a problem with commuting in my whole life. Most of the acting work I do is in England, so of course I’m back and forth on the plane, it’s nothing! That particular piece of, I’m sorry, bollocks, upset me because I don’t want anyone thinking that’s true. And then not offering me a job because I ‘don’t like commuting’. Some day maybe I’ll be able to talk about it and put people straight on exactly what happened!”
The knitting proved to be healing, as did her literary work. She has penned eight novels of straight fiction over the past decade, along with two novels for teenagers. The latest, Jenny Q, Unravelled, is out June 6.
“A writer called Sarah Webb said, ‘Why don’t you try a teenage book? I think you’d enjoy it and be good at it.’ That’s how Jenny Q came along. The thing about the younger readers is that you have to keep that story rattling along. If you’re not entertaining, they will not waste their time. It’s for ages 10 – 14. From 14 onwards, jeepers, you’re into The Hunger Games and kids killing each other. That’s the pitch for my next book: ‘It’s kinda teens killing one another’! When they say it’s been done, I’ll say, ‘But this is in new, unusual and horrible ways!’”
If that doesn’t get commissioned, at least she has acting to fall back on. McLynn is currently filming for Jason Byrne’s new BBC sitcom, Father Figure, in which she plays his “mammy”. Having been down this road before, does she feel like they’re on to a winner? “I think this one’s funny. I know it is. People will really enjoy it. Jason is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met. He retains this almost childlike joy. He is a stay-at-home father in this, and to see him play with the kids is just fantastic. He has two of his own and I’d say he’s a brilliant dad. He’s well on for chasing people around with poo on a stick! There’s one particular episode where himself and myself just beat the crap out of each other. It’s got slapstick in it and great situations.”
Family-orientated and Irish, it sounds like they’ll be going head-to-head with the bizarrely ‘big in Britain’ Mrs. Brown’s Boys. Is she a fan of that critically-maligned show? “There was clearly a gap somewhere for it. It’s old-fashioned, vulgar... and extremely funny.”
The big question is whether she reckons Father Figure can take on Brendan O’Carroll and win. “Oh yeah,” she says without missing a beat. “We have Jason Byrne! Bring it on!”

Jenny Q, Unravelled! is out now through Penguin