Irish author Stefanie Preissner tackles the problem of adapting bestselling writer Marian Keyes’ novels into the BBC’s new six-part drama, The Walsh Sisters. “You are not ambivalent a couple of Marian Keyes e book,” Preissner states. “You keep in mind the primary time you learn it, the place you had been sitting, the way you felt about it, most likely what you had been carrying and who you had been relationship on the time.”
Storyline and Setting
Set in Dublin, the collection tracks 5 sisters—Anna (Louisa Harland), Rachel (Caroline Menton), Maggie (Stefanie Preissner), Claire (Danielle Galligan), and Helen (Máiréad Tyers)—as they face the ups and downs of their 20s and 30s.
Stefanie Preissner’s Private Connection
Preissner, a 38-year-old mom of two who additionally stars within the collection, attracts from her personal miscarriage and motherhood journey to painting the characters. The story delves into timeless themes like heartbreak, grief, and motherhood.
She carefully identifies with Maggie, who desperately tries to conceive. “Maggie and I overlap on a Venn diagram,” Preissner explains. “I’ve had 5 miscarriages, two failed IVF makes an attempt and, like Maggie, have needed to introduce a intercourse schedule into my marriage in an effort to try to get pregnant.”
Preissner notes the isolation many face: “I’ve hung out on these trying-to-conceive web sites, on these boards the place persons are nameless and attempting to hunt assist as a result of no person of their household is aware of what they are going by, and I really feel like that is very relatable to extra folks than will admit it.”
Motherhood Struggles By Claire
The collection highlights motherhood pressures by way of Claire, a single mom navigating divorce, portrayed by Danielle Galligan. “Claire’s storyline might be the one which’s closest to my coronary heart as a result of I finally did handle to have kids and I discovered the maternal load and the expectation on moms to be completely barbaric,” Preissner shares.
She provides, “I feel that motherhood is a relationship and fatherhood is a relationship. The expectation on these two issues is totally not the identical and it must be. It isn’t truthful. I am actually enthusiastic about beginning that dialog with Claire.”
Tackling Dependancy with Rachel
Co-star Caroline Menton, who performs Rachel, addresses her character’s habit battle. “She struggles massively together with her psychological well being, and I feel some persons are higher at masking that than others,” Menton says. “She comes from a comparatively good background, and he or she’s not had something massively traumatic occur to her. Dependancy can have an effect on anybody. It would not matter the place you’ve got come from, or your financial state of affairs. I hope folks might need a bit extra compassion for folks battling habit.”
The Walsh Sisters premieres on BBC iPlayer at 6am on Saturday, February 21, and airs on BBC One from 9:15pm that night.
