A former star of hit TV series Mrs Brown's Boys is to make his debut in Carrigstown at the weekend.
Actor Rory Cowan is joining the cast of RTÉ soap Fair City and his first scenes will air on Sunday night.
Cowan will play John 'Bosco' Walsh. He will arrive in Carrigstown from Galway with his mother, Rose, who has dementia.
"Bosco is originally from County Galway, and in his teens, he went to work in London, where he lived for about forty years," Cowan said.
"He came back home to live in County Galway with his sister, Molly, but he missed the pace of life in the big city, so he moved to Dublin. I can't wait to see what he gets up to in Carrigstown."
Bosco arrives at the O'Briens' house with Rose in tow because as Rose's dementia has progressed, Molly can no longer care for her.
The dementia storyline is particularly poignant for Cowan, whose own mother, Esther, also suffered with the condition.
"For a good few years, when I was touring the world with Mrs Brown's Boys, I lost touch with what was happening in Carrigstown. But when I left Mrs Brown's Boys to care for my mother, who had dementia, I got back into watching it again," he said.
"Myself and my Ma used to watch the omnibus on Sunday afternoons. I've lovely memories of those Sundays with my Mam watching Fair City."
Cowan said he is "over the moon" to be joining Fair City.
"If you're going to join a show, after you've been in a huge TV show already, then what's better than joining the biggest drama series on Irish television," he said.
The 60-year-old left the cast of Mrs Brown’s Boys two years ago after 26 years playing Agnes’ hairdresser son and said the style of acting involved in Fair City is "totally different".
"In Mrs Brown's Boys, Rory was a huge character with big camp reactions to any given situation. And on stage, his reactions had to be even bigger. In television drama, you've got to bring everything back and make your performance as real as you can for any number of situations your character finds himself in. The timing and pace is different. It's another skill altogether.
"So acting in Fair City is totally different to acting in Mrs Brown's Boys, but that's what I find so interesting about it. If I'd been asked to go into another situation comedy I probably would have said no, but being offered a role in Fair City was never going to be something I'd refuse."
Cowan's Fair City debut airs Sunday on RTÉ One at 8pm.
