Interview with Ian McElhinney
Ian McElhinney plays Lance Byrne
Published: 8 May 2017
The tragedy? It's something the family all carry, but life goes on and would have gone on but for the fact that the Moons’ come to town
What sort of place is Redwater?
It's a small community. Its seems that the Byrne family is the family that dominates the village because everywhere you look there’s a connection to the Byrnes. There’s four generations that we meet in this story. You get the sense that it’s a small village and they’re all very close-knit. They all know far too much about each other, yet they all have secrets that they don't want to reveal. You do get the feeling that they are THE family of that village.
What is Lance’s role in the Byrne Family?
Ostensibly he’s the patriarch, the daddy, grandaddy and great grandaddy of the clan, but actually I think he’s quite weak. The one who really rules the roost and is the matriarch is his wife - he’s quite happy to be a character in the town with the kind of respect that comes from having been around for quite a while being the ‘grand old man’ of the village.
What are his responsibilities?
I don’t think he has a lot to be honest. In his time he probably did have to work the farm and probably worked hard, but at this stage of the game he's happy to be a figurehead and do his own thing. He doesn’t exactly graft as far as the farm’s concerned. He’s quite happy riding his horse and going swimming everyday, having a few drinks in the pub and being the sort of person that comes out with pieces of wisdom when he’s so inclined and has a few drinks on him.
Events will happen that make him feel now that he should take a responsible action, but as has always been the case in his life when it comes to family matters, whatever he may think or decide, if Agnes is not with him, it ain’t gonna happen! In this particular case, he confronts her about a situation where they agree to disagree but for once he does feel that he must do something. But even so, he has to steel himself to do it, you can see in some ways and certainly in relation to her he’s quite weak. He does take it upon himself to act, but having done it, it has all sorts of consequences.
What impact does the family tragedy that happened 30 years ago still have on the Byrnes?
They’ve got on with their lives for years; this is something they all remember and carry because it affected them directly, and life goes on and life would have gone on, but for the fact that the Moons’ come to town and all of this stuff comes to the surface again.
Everybody is very deeply troubled by it and most really would rather not have to go back there. There are some that feel they should leave it be and not try and deal with what happened again, and there are others that feel that since we are in the situation we are in, perhaps we are obliged to deal with old ghosts, and that’s where Lance sits. Lance more than the others does have an empathy towards the newcomers [Kat and Alfie]. He’s a good bloke, these people come in and he’s very happy to embrace them.
Lance seems to have a strong connection with his granddaughter Adeen?
She’s not the youngest, but she’s the youngest kid old enough to appreciate him so there’s a connection and special bond. She’s obviously got a bit of a character on her and I think he feels that in some ways she’s a chip off the old block. She’s a kid and a wild child and in truth Lance is a bit of a kid and I’m not sure that he’s ever grown up. Lance has enjoyed living his life and being a lad and ok, he’s been married and had children and all the responsibilities that come with that, but the real responsibility of running the farm seems to belong to Agnes and in his time he’s played around himself and I think that the kid in him likes the kid in her.
Any challenges playing Lance?
I’m a man of his age and only a couple of years younger than he is. So it’s not like I had to age up and I like to kid myself that I’m moderately fit for my years, but probably not as naturally athletic as he seems to be. One of the main challenges of this part was on getting the character breakdown, where it was very evident that there were skills involved. Like horse riding - I’m not a horse rider but I’ve done plenty of horse riding necessary as part of my history as an actor so fair enough with that. Boats - I like boats and that sounded like fun and in fact it was fun and a bit hairy at times. The one that I wasn’t really looking forward to was swimming in the sea at this time of year, I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to swimming in cold water!
