Back in black? Bad Sisters star Eva Birthistle reveals a possible second series

After our chat, Eva Birthistle will head to her son’s primary school for a parent-teacher meeting where, happily, she’s not expecting much in the way of drama.

“I was very nervous when my parents went to these meetings,” she remembers. “I recall that feeling very, very well. Absolute dread. As a parent, though, I’m fairly confident and positive. Thankfully.”

Just as well. Birthistle has perhaps experienced enough in the way of familial mayhem of late, in the form of the series in which she co-stars, Bad Sisters.

The dark comedy thriller from AppleTV+ that has gripped viewers tells the story of the Garvey sisters and the horribly wicked John Paul, played by Claes Bang, husband to one sibling but bane to all of them.

It has black laughs, some violent slapstick and, for John Paul, a death revealed in the first episode. The drama unspools in flashback and fast-forward while the story of John Paul’s demise unfolds over weekly episodes as the streaming giants continue to drift from releasing whole series in one go.

For Birthistle, the decision to drip-feed instalments was part of the reason for Bad Sisters’ success.

“Some people find that frustrating and are maybe used to seeing the episodes of a series all at once but others have enjoyed the suspense,” she says, recalling how viewers have stopped her to give their theories about the show’s plot.

“You get that feedback on a weekly basis so, among the cast and crew, there was a feeling like we were all working towards the finale, with everybody watching; feeling that building sense of anticipation and excitement about it.

“This was because we’re just so used to being able to watch things when we want, how we want now. It helps with this sort of genre, too, the whodunnit aspect. To be building up week after week felt a bit old-fashioned, didn’t it?”

It was a decision that worked. The show is one of the select few with a 100% rating from critics on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes and has been a huge word-of-mouth hit.

That exclusive list also contains British comedy Catastrophe, written by and starring Sharon Horgan, Birthistle’s co-star in Bad Sisters. Bad Sisters was adapted from Belgian series Clan and, as well as taking the role of one of the Garvey sisters, Horgan penned the script and produced the series.

“Sharon can seamlessly glide between all of those roles,” says Birthistle. “When you’re in the scene with her she’s very present as an actor but when we needed to step out of that and talk to her from a writing perspective; she was more than generous with that time as well.

“It’s quite extraordinary to see how somebody does that, and do so with incredible grace. I’m not just blowing smoke, she was genuinely great.

“She’s brilliant. In fact, she’s too brilliant. I don’t trust her, there must be something wrong and I have to find out what it is..!”

Birthistle lives with her husband, Ross, and their two children, a boy, Jesse (whose parents’ evening it is) and a girl, Joni. Post Bad Sisters, her career looks in better shape then ever.

It wasn’t the case pre-2004, until she got a call from acclaimed director Ken Loach. The Palme d’Or winner asked her to star in Ae Fond Kiss, a drama set in Glasgow’s Southside, about an Irish Catholic teacher who falls in love with a young Muslim man.

The movie came at a time when Birthistle, who grew up in Dublin and then Derry before moving to London to pursue acting, needed a break.

Years of smaller roles and bit-parts made her think she’d perhaps not make it; it was Loach’s decision to cast her that became the most important of her career.

“Ae Fond Kiss came when I needed something to happen,” she recalls. “I’d been in London for a few years and had done smaller jobs, nothing major. Getting that role was the major turning point in my career. I still think of it as a job like no other, one of my favourite jobs.

“Not only was I a fan of Ken’s work already but I think any actor that works with Ken Loach has a similar response; it’s not only that he’s just an extraordinary director but he’s a very special person to work with, to perform in that naturalistic style he has.

“I also got to come to Glasgow and work with the late Gerard Kelly. He was so energetic, and a real larger-than-life character. In Scotland, especially Glasgow, the people feel a bit like the Irish. There’s a genuine nature, an openness with you.”

The set of Bad Sisters naturally became something of a sorority, according to Birthistle, which is no surprise given the make-up of the cast, and each of the 10 episodes were directed by three women.

I wondered if that made it easier to dislike the wretched John Paul or, perhaps more accurately, if it made it harder for the women to like the actor playing such a loathsome part.

“I find it easy to step in and out of that…except when someone is genuinely being a p****!” she cackles. “That’s a bit tricky.

“It’s probably harder for Claes because he’s playing that despicable character. We were this group of sisters and there was a big bonding experience that happened between us all.

“He probably felt on the periphery of that just because of the nature of us being a group of sisters having fun.

“Claes lived and breathed that character for nine months so perhaps that’s harder to shake off. He wasn’t walking around being awful to anybody. He was probably having tremendous fun.”

He wasn’t the only one. There’s also a clamour, despite the series being planned as a one-off, to make a second season. The original Flemish series in 2012 had only 10 episodes; it would be difficult to make another, not just because there aren’t any more episodes to adapt but for obvious plot reasons.

Showbusiness has historically found a way of sidestepping these trifling concerns though and, on Birthistle’s part at least, the thought of working with Horgan and the rest of the cast and crew means she would happily do another.

“There was never meant to be a second series. It was a remake of a standalone, one-off thing,” she adds. “We went into it knowing it was probably going to be the case that Bad Sisters was a single series but I think because it’s been so successful, and people have really fallen for the Garvey girls, I think they’re talking about it…”

She pauses to consider what she’s allowed to reveal.

“I don’t have any more information than the next person but I’d love it too, because I’d love to get back with the girls again,” she says.

“Over the years you learn from feedback whether people genuinely like something or not. With the Press it’s difficult. You can’t always tell, perhaps they’re just being polite?

“But with Bad Sisters it seems this time there’s a different feeling, and the Press seem to be really enthusiastic about it. Everyone is really enthusiastic.

“The more people who ask for another series, the better. Keep doing it!”