Life after Glenroe - Creativity continued for Isobel Mahon who spent 16 years on the soap

Glenroe was the highlight of many people's weekend with storylines that often got the country talking and Isobel Mahon who played the barmaid Michelle, had one or two controversial ones over the years.

The soap was a spin-off from the show Bracken and followed the lives of those living in rural Ireland.

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It ran from 1983 until 2001 leaving its Sunday night catchy tune in your head, the one that made you realise you didn't have your homework done for school the next day.

Emmet Bergin as Dick, with Maria McDermottroe as Venetia, in Glenroe. Pic: Collins Dublin

Approaching nearly 23 years since we last stopped by the vibrant Wicklow village, Isobel Mahon spoke to EVOKE about how the show never seemed like work.

'Behind the camera, it wasn't a very austere working environment. It was fun. It was family. We all went for our lunch. We had a community and you felt safe in the series.'

Looking back she said Emmet Bergin (who played Dick) was hilarious and would often say, after finishing a scene 'I've done all my lines. Now I am going to sit at the back and mess...he was a messer.'

The cast of Glenroe. Pic: RTÉ

As the cast became friends over the years, it never dawned on them in the earlier years just how popular the soap had become outside Ireland.

Isobel said she remembers 'I was living in Dublin and you were in your own little bubble. You went in you did your show and your shopping. It was only when you went down the country did you realise. People in Dublin didn't really watch but in two-channel land, people would follow you.'

Laughing she said they'd 'talk about you saying 'Oh look at the size of her she's tiny, because I am very small. The assumption was everyone thought you were deaf, so they'd talk about you as though you didn't exist... they could be incredibly, incredibly friendly and lovely.'

Filming of the television show Glenroe outside Kilcoole Church, Wicklow, circa October 1986. (Part of the Independent Newspapers Ireland/NLI Collection). (Photo by Independent News and Media/Getty Images)

While many fans of the show were kind, often there were times when they forgot the difference between fiction and reality.

When her character Michelle got pregnant out of wedlock in the late eighties this was certainly a scandal in Catholic Ireland.

Isobel said while out one day 'A man followed me down on the train calling me 'a dirty aul thing.'

Isobel Mahon. Pic: Supplied

While Isobel's character was renowned to be somewhat an 'airhead' or 'blonde bimbo,' nothing can be further from the truth when it comes to the actress.

When the soap came to an end Isobel turned her hand to writing and wrote six plays, such as Ideal Place and Party Face, which have been produced in Ireland, UK and US, including off-Broadway.

Still drawn to the world of soaps she joined Fair City but this time working behind the camera as a writer for three years.

Pic: Isobel Mahon and daughter Jessica: Supplied

Just after Glenroe came to an end, the star found out she was pregnant with her daughter, Jessica. 23 years later Jessica has chosen a very different path from her mum, getting ready to do a Masters in Quantum Physics at Trinity.

But while Glenroe may be sitting on the shelf gathering dust, Isobel's creative side will never be at rest.

Currently, in the middle of writing her third book, she looks back with fond memories of spending 16 years on a show that many Irish families couldn't wait to catch on a Sunday night.

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