What To Expect From The Walsh Sisters, According To The Cast

Launching on BBC iPlayer on Saturday 21 February is The Walsh Sisters, a moreish new Irish comedy-drama based on the beloved series of novels by Marian Keyes. C&TH sat down with Marian, screenwriter and star Stefanie Preissner plus stars Louisa Harland and Caroline Menton to get the inside scoop on the series.

Helen (MÁIRÉAD TYERS), Claire (DANIELLE GALLIGAN), Maggie (STEFANIE PREISSNER), Rachel (CAROLINE MENTON) & Anna Walsh (LOUISA HARLAND) in The Walsh Sisters. (BBC)

The Walsh Sisters: Everything To Know Before You Tune In

‘In the same way me and all of my classmates had the same maths textbook, at some point as an adult, you’re just given a Marian Keyes book,’ Stefanie Preissner says. Having come to Keyes in her 20s, Stefanie is now the screenwriter behind The Walsh Sisters, a six-part Irish comedy drama finally launching on the BBC this weekend following success across the Irish Sea at the end of 2025.

There are five Walsh sisters – Anna, Rachel, Claire, Helen and Maggie – and beloved author Marian has penned (at least) one novel from the perspective of each woman across the last four decades, from her 1995 debut Watermelon to the most recent instalment My Favourite Mistake in 2024. If you are a fan, don’t worry: the action isn’t all squished down. Instead Stefanie, who also stars as Maggie, drew on Rachel’s Holiday (1998) and Anybody Out There? (2006) for the plot, resetting the action in 2025. 

And that’s possible because, despite starting to publish them in the ‘90s, Keyes’ novels remain incredibly relatable, the writer-actor explains. ‘I remember feeling a little bit shook that my mom had been reading these books and related to them, too,’ Preissner says. ‘I was like, “Oh, that’s so weird. Why do I relate to something that my mother also related to?”.’

‘I was very grateful that they were contemporary,’ Marian adds; the author did not play a part translating her novel to the screen. ‘It would have been kind of weird, I think, to try and recreate the ‘90s and the ‘00s. I suppose I feel that all of the sister stories are eternal – what happens to them has happened to human beings since the dawn of time. So I really like that they are up to date. Things like mobile phones had to be added – and no drunk driving! But I could not be happier with the finished product.’

The Plot

‘It’s the five Walsh sisters from the books, all aged between their late 20s and early 30s, and each one of them is going through stuff,’ Marian explains. ‘But we focus mainly on Rachel (Caroline Menton) and Anna (Louisa Harland). Rachel is an addict who doesn’t think she’s an addict. She is in the denial that accompanies addiction. She has a lovely boyfriend that she treats very badly and she’s functioning, doing her best to keep people on side. Then Anna has a lovely new fiance who has come as a surprise to the rest of the family, and let’s just say something happens with the lovely fiance that leaves Anna dealing with grief. 

‘The other three sisters all have their stories as well,’ Marian continues. ‘Claire (Danielle Galligan) has just got divorced and is embracing life as a single mother – though she wishes she was actually just a weekend dad. She finds having to take care of a child on her own very constricting, and also sexist; she wants to be like James, the dad who gets to see Kate once every two weeks. 

‘Every single one of them is dealing with something taboo, really,’ Marian adds. The sisters are joined by Mammy (Carrie Crowley) and Daddy Walsh (Aidan Quinn) who ride the rollercoaster with their ‘five incredibly dramatic daughters,’ Marian quips. ‘There’s real sorrow at times, but there’s an awful lot of warmth and humour, too,’ the writer summarises.

Rachel Walsh (CAROLINE MENTON) in The Walsh Sisters. (BBC)

This sorrow comes up in one of the favoured scenes of both Stefanie and Louisa Harland at the end of episode five – ‘one of my favourite scenes on the page, and to shoot,’ Louisa says. ‘It’s a scene between two very close sisters who are both not well in themselves, having a conversation. And it was the very first scene that I shot!’

Another one to look out for, Stefanie teases, is in episode six – scene 637, to be precise. ‘It’s my favourite scene that I’ve written, and it was my favourite scene to film, too,’ she says. ‘When we wrapped, the team gave me a clapper board as a gift with the scene number written on it. It’s in the final episode, and we are all sitting around the dinner table after a big event – I won’t spoil it. But after the event is over, the glasses are half full and half empty and all of the sisters are sitting around the table, and there’s this conversation where everyone has a bomb to drop. I just loved filming that, and I love watching it. I could watch it over and over.’

‘When I read Stefanie’s script and I was getting ready to audition, I already felt so connected to the material,’ adds Caroline Menton, who plays Rachel and has four sisters and a brother of her own. ‘We’re so individual – we couldn’t be more different if we tried – but we have this really strong sisterhood,’ she reflects on her own siblings. 

‘I’ll never forget filming a lunch scene, and everyone was talking over each other, overlapping, overlapping,’ Caroline recalls. ‘And I was like, “oh my god, this is so triggering!” I felt like I was with my own family – but that’s how authentic the dynamics and relationships felt to me in The Walsh Sisters, having grown up in a very similar kind of family dynamic.’

Rachel (CAROLINE MENTON), Claire (DANIELLE GALLIGAN), Maggie (STEFANIE PREISSNER), Helen (MÁIRÉAD TYERS) & Anna Walsh (LOUISA HARLAND) in The Walsh Sisters. (BBC)

The Cast

The Walsh Sisters we know and love are brought to life by the following Irish stars:

• Louisa Harland as Anna 
• Caroline Menton as Rachel 
• Danielle Galligan as Claire 
• Máiréad Tyers as Helen 
• Stefanie Preissner as Maggie

On creating their sisterly dynamic, Caroline says: ‘From the get go, it felt really easy. The chemistry was always really organic. We had a week of rehearsals before shooting, which is rare and was such a gift as it gave us the opportunity to really spend time together and also flesh out our characters together.’

‘When Caroline and I had our chemistry test, I remember our casting director Maureen Hughes asked us how we know each other,’ Louisa recalls. ‘And were we like, “We just met outside!” It was meant to be.’

The five sisters also had a mock therapy session in character, Caroline says, set up by director Ian FitzGibbon. ‘He would just ask us questions, and it was such an enlightening way to deepen those relationships,’ Caroline says. ‘There was also so much craic. We became a really tight family.’

Claire (DANIELLE GALLIGAN), Maggie Walsh (STEFANIE PREISSNER) & Helen Walsh (MÁIRÉAD TYERS) in The Walsh Sisters. (BBC)

As soon as they got together, ‘all five of them were talking like they’d known each other their whole lives,’ Marian adds.

The author picks out Máiréad’s performance as Helen as a favourite, because ‘it was literally like she had walked out of my head and into life as a real person,’ the author says. ‘Helen finds life so incredibly annoying. Everything is irritating. Everything is disappointing. And the first time I saw Máiréad acting as Helen, just the minute you look at her, you know something is off. Her trousers were a little bit too short – there was too much ankle and sock on show. She was wearing a little bomber jacket, and her hands were in fists in the pockets, and you could see the knuckles. She was looking around with this attitude like, “This is pathetic, this entire world is pathetic”. But, honestly, each of the actors are just fantastic.’

Mammy Walsh (CARRIE CROWLEY), Daddy Walsh (AIDAN QUINN), Claire (DANIELLE GALLIGAN), Rachel (CAROLINE MENTON), Maggie (STEFANIE PREISSNER) & Helen Walsh (MÁIRÉAD TYERS) in The Walsh Sisters. (BBC)

They’re joined by the following: 

• Carrie Crowley as Mammy Walsh 
• Aidan Quinn as Jack ‘Daddy’ Walsh 
• Jay Duffy as Luke Costello 
• Samuel Anderson as Aidan 
• Debi Mazar as Chaquie 
• Gina Moxley as Josephine

Release Date

The Walsh Sisters commences at 9.15pm, Saturday 21 February on BBC One.

All six episodes of The Walsh Sisters will land on BBC iPlayer on Saturday 21 February.

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