The TV show that changed Eve Hewson’s career — before ‘The Perfect Couple’ there was ‘Bad Sisters’

It’s a good time to be an Irish actor.
Think of Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) — soon to be seen in the blockbuster “Gladiator II” — Oscar winner Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Emmy nominee Andrew Scott (“Ripley”) or Saoirse Ronan, tipped for a possible fifth Oscar nomination with her new films “Blitz” and “The Outrun.”
And then there’s Eve Hewson, who is reaping the buzz from starring opposite Nicole Kidman in the deliciously soapy Netflix series “The Perfect Couple.” 
She’s back on the small screen Wednesday in the Apple TV Plus hit “Bad Sisters,” which returns for a second season. And she has a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why Irish actors seem to be everywhere these days.
“It definitely feels like all of a sudden Irish people are sexy. And I’m like, ‘We’ve been sexy the whole time, (also) talented and incredibly creative,’” she said in a Zoom call. “You guys just haven’t been picking up on it.”
In all seriousness, Hewson is thrilled to be back in “Bad Sisters,” a darkly comic drama that concerns itself with the misadventures of five tightly knit, fiercely protective Irish siblings, all but one played by Irish actors: Eva (series creator Sharon Horgan), Ursula (Eve Birthistle), Grace (English actor Anne-Marie Duff), Bibi (Sarah Greene) and Becka (Hewson).
The first season saw the Garvey sisters — and this is your spoiler alert — take turns trying to kill Grace’s abusive husband, John Paul (Danish actor Claes Bang), in blackly comic ways. The audience knew from the outset that John Paul was dead and that Grace’s sisters had played some part, but they didn’t know how, which was part of the appeal. 
Season 2 picks up two years later and sees the sisters seeming to have moved on — until the discovery of the dismembered body of Jean Paul’s father puts them back under police suspicion. The Garveys once again find themselves fighting for Grace, but in a completely different context. There are also several new antagonists to contend with, played by Fiona Shaw (the “Harry Potter” films, “Killing Eve”), Owen McDonnell (“Killing Eve”) and Thaddea Graham (“Sex Education”).
In a separate Zoom interview, Horgan said she felt trepidation at first about extending what was meant to be a limited series, an adaptation of the Belgian series “Clan” — at least until, after a few weeks in a writers’ room, she knew “there’s a story here.”
Hewson said she had no qualms: “I never, ever lost faith in Sharon. She is an absolute genius. And I knew she was going to come up with something brilliant. And she did.”
Greene echoed that in another Zoom call, saying the cast trusted in Horgan, known mainly for creating and co-creating half-hour comedies like “Pulling,” “Catastrophe,” “Divorce” and “Shining Vale,” to find the right mix of dark and light in “Bad Sisters.” “Boy, did she rise (to the occasion),” Greene said.
It helped that the women formed a virtual sisterhood.
“I love my ‘sisters’ so much and we just love spending time together,” Hewson said.
Ahead of the first season, the five actors “spent about a week rehearsing in a hotel somewhere in the U.K.,” said Greene, whom you might recognize from shows like “Penny Dreadful,” “Sexy Beast” and “Normal People,” in which she played the mother of Mescal’s character.
“And a lot of the time we were just kind of hanging around together. We went for a little swim in the swimming pool together. It was just a really lovely group of people, super supportive and caring. And we’re massive champions for each other. I adored going to work with those girls every day.”
Dublin-raised Horgan said she had long been “a little bit obsessed” with making a show set in Ireland and “Bad Sisters” fit the bill.
“As soon as I watched the original (Belgian series), I was like, this is an Irish show because you have the big family and the role that religion plays in it. And  the (Belgian) landscape kind of reminded me of Ireland, the little bungalows and small-town communities,” she said.
Hewson, 33, who relocated to New York City when she was 18 but returned to Ireland during the pandemic, said being back home to shoot “Bad Sisters” felt like “exactly where I’m meant to be.”
“And I know that Ireland loves this show and feels very proud of it. So to be a part of it is a big deal to me.”
But the series had benefits for Hewson beyond making her native country proud.
“It just completely changed the trajectory of my entire career,” she said.
Despite her move to the U.S., Hewson said casting directors often found her too European for the American parts she was auditioning for. She had carved out a career mainly in indie films and TV series that weren’t widely seen, like “The Knick,” “The Luminaries” and “Behind Her Eyes.” 
“When I played Becka, she’s such a quintessential Irish woman, (but ‘Bad Sisters’) put it in a context where I think an American audience could understand, and American filmmakers and TV writers sort of understood me as an actor a little bit more,” Hewson said. “And so that’s just opened up an entire new world for me in my career.”
That world includes “The Perfect Couple.”
“I don’t think producers would have considered me for the lead role had I not had the success of ‘Bad Sisters,’” said Hewson.
She said streaming in general has been good for the careers of Irish actors, with series like “Derry Girls” on Netflix and “Normal People” on Hulu (and on Prime Video and CBC Gem in Canada) bringing international acclaim to Irish talent.
During the pandemic, “audiences all over the world (developed) an appetite for other people’s culture and other people’s lives.”
Another boon for Irish actors has been Zoom — no, really. Both Hewson and Greene said it means they can audition from anywhere.
Before Zoom, “there was this preconceived idea that you had to be in L.A. to make it in Hollywood,” Greene said. “I live in Belfast. It doesn’t hinder your work anymore in the way that it did.”
In the case of “Bad Sisters,” it helps that viewers can relate to and root for the characters, Hewson said.
“You get to see these women in many different facets of their life and being many different people,” she said. “Oftentimes, someone will write ‘This is this character and they live in this box and they serve this purpose to the story.’
“But with Sharon’s writing, Becka can be an absolute bitch at times, but she can also be incredibly vulnerable and lovable and kind. And she can be weak and strong, and funny and loud, and then insecure the next (minute). It’s a real pleasure as an actor to work for someone that understands that kind of humanity and wants to not put you in a box, but show every colour that you have.”
Art also imitated life a little bit for Hewson in “Bad Sisters.”
The verisimilitude of shooting in and around Dublin extended to having the actors swim in the Irish Sea at the famous Forty Foot bathing spot in the suburb of Sandycove.
Greene found it “really freezing. I think we swam in February, which is icy cold waters.”
But “Eve Hewson does it for fun,” Greene added. “She voluntarily goes down there and jumps in that water.”
Hewson readily confirmed this. 
“You can take the girl out of Dublin,” she said, “but you can’t take the Dublin out of the girl.”
“Bad Sisters” debuts Nov. 13 on Apple TV Plus with the first two episodes, with new episodes streaming weekly.