Love/Hate’s newest star Johnny Ward cancelled his screening party for friends – after fearing he’d be like Poochie The Dog.
The Dublin actor – who plays Paulie in the RTE series – was extremely nervous before watching the first episode.
The 27-year-old’s character is sent from Spain by his drug boss Uncle Terrance to keep a watchful eye on Nidge who he gave a hefty loan to.
But Johnny told Goss.ie that he feared coming off a fool like Homer Simpson when he screened the Itchy and Scratchy episode.
Fear: Johnny thought he’d end up as Poochie the Dog
He said: “I was going to have a huge party with all my friends and family and about an hour and a half before I cancelled it.
“I got very very nervous. RTE had just shown an episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets the part of Poochie The Dog.
“And he invites everyone in Springfield to come and watch it and it turns out to be a disaster.
Series: Johnny is taking over Love/Hate | RTE
“I started to have these mad dreams and I thought I have to cancel that. I watched it with my girlfriend and my sister and I was absolutely bricking it.”
However Johnny did go well with fans – and has found an intense change in his life.
He told Goss.ie: “It’s been crazy in the last week. A lot of kids coming up to me saying, ‘Alright Paulie ya rat, get in a photo there will ya’.
Co-star: Johnny’s character is looking over Nidge | RTE
“But it’s all positive everyone’s been really nice, myself and my girlfriend were in our gym and I was stopped going up the stairs and asked for a photograph, its funny.”
But it all could have been quite different – with Johnny revealing he was actually asked to audition for the first season.
However no-one knew that it was going to be such a huge success, and didn’t think it was as important as his other role in Dollhouse – with Jack Reynor.
New attention: Johnny is even being mobbed in his gym | RTE
He said: “I was asked to audition for the first season and I was raging because I couldn’t I was doing another project.
“I watched a bit of season one and two but I became a real fan of it during season three and four. It completely differs from everything I’ve done before.
“You walk onto the set feeling like the new boy in school, everyone knows each other, they’ve spent years together and developed their characters and they’re such high profile characters.
“I was devastated I couldn’t audition for the first season, nobody knew the success it would have.
“At the time it was just a pilot and maybe four episodes or something and then it just exploded and I thought, ‘Oh I’d love to be a part of that.'”
