Anne-Marie Duff has said she did not have “as much fun” as her fellow Bad Sisters co-stars on set.
The 55-year-old actress starred in the Irish black comedy series which follows the tight-knit Garvey sisters who, after wishing for their toxic brother-in-law to die, are faced with his actual death, turning their lives upside down.
A challenging role
Duff played Grace Williams, the second-eldest sister who is married to the emotionally abusive and coercive John Paul Williams, played by Claes Bang, opposite Sharon Horgan, Eve Hewson, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene.
The role landed Duff the best supporting actress award at the TV Baftas in 2023.
Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Duff said: “I didn’t have as much fun as the other actors.
“You had to be worried for Grace or else the audience wouldn’t have wanted her husband dead.
“I was playing a sort of ghost of a woman and that was a bit sad for me.”
Praise for the series
She added that despite the challenging role, it was “great” that the show portrayed “Celtic women not just trapped in the kitchen in sufferance”.
Duff said: “The sisters were such brilliantly drawn characters – Sharon (Horgan) is a genius who writes like no-one else.
“And the other actresses were gorgeous as hell. Jeepers!”
The series also won the 2023 Bafta for best drama series.
Personal loss and family
Duff, who is also known for starring in 2002’s The Magdalene Sisters and playing Fiona Gallagher in the hit television series Shameless, said she took 18 months off work to be with her family following the death of both her mother and her brother Eddie.
She said: “Grief is a motherf***er. I don’t know where I am with it, but I think that’s probably all right.
“I wanted to be around. I’m so happy that Dad and I were able to be there at the end for both my mum and Eddie. It was hard as hell, but this is midlife. This is loving people.”
Her brother Eddie was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, which she described as “very aggressive”.
She said: “It was desperately sad when his life started to change. Despite that, we had the most extraordinary few years. Once I’d learned to go with the flow, there were no distracting factors, just love and connection.
“We became much closer.”
Duff shares a son, Brendan, with her ex-husband, Scottish actor James McAvoy.
Return to the stage
The actress will soon return to the stage in a new National Theatre play, Some Woman, which she said focuses “in a very forensic way” on how women reduce themselves as they age.
She said: “There’s this notion (in society) that it’s better for us to be good than to be happy.
“What’s the point of art if you shy away from the big issues of the day? Culture is the place where changes are really made. Look at Mr Bates Vs The Post Office.
“Some Woman is a profoundly feminist play in a time when having an opinion around the role of women is very flammable, so let’s do it. Let’s go there.”
The play will run at the Dorfman Theatre from October 7 until November 21.
In 2025 Duff was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle for her services to drama.
The full interview can be read in the October issue of Good Housekeeping UK.
