Charlie star Tom Vaughan Lawlor has told how he wishes he was a “political anorak” with more interest in politics.
The TV actor plays government press secretary P J Mara in the new RTE drama – but feels ashamed he doesn’t care about politics.
And Tom – who previously starred as Nidge in Love/Hate – found it eye-opening to discover all the scenes from Charlie are real.
Previous role: Tom as Nidge in Love/Hate | RTE
He said: “In the early 90s, I was only 12 or so and was only vaguely aware of Haughey and all that. To my genuine shame, I’m not a great political anorak.
“I watch the news and read the newspapers but I wish that I had a more natural passion for politics. If you didn’t know anything about Irish politics, you’d think that Charlie was a political thriller.
“In fact, the first time I read the script I thought, ‘Is this for real?’ But then you check the history and it is all factually accurate.
“It was an incredibly exciting time and the energy of that time is stitched into the texture of the story.”
Charlie: Tom as P J Mara | RTE
But Tom told the RTE Guide he was forced to very quickly stop telling people that he was playing the spin doctor in the drama.
He added: “Whenever anyone asked me what I was working on and I said a drama about Haughey, everyone had a story to tell or an opinion to impart because it is still so vivid to many.
“So I stopped telling people what I was working on because it raised so many raw and mixed emotions from anger to praise, from love to hate.”
And Tom revealed he based his character on the way Brendan Gleeson played Winston Churchill in Into The Storm.
Wife: Tom and Claire Cox at the IFTAs | IFTA
“The key is making sure that you have the physical characteristics of the character and also making them a human being,” he explained.
“If it tips too far one way it’s just an actor pulling the character into themselves. Brendan Gleeson, when he played Winston Churchill, got that so right but it is a very thin line.”
