Chapter Twenty-Eight
ONE MONTH LATER
INT: DONNELLY’S PUB / EXT: CHARLEMONT STREET
I’ll always remember where I was when Ma Cusack made her triumphant return to Charlemont Street.
That’s what I tell myself as we approach the Donnelly’s pub set on a Sunday in July, where the cast and crew of Northside are gathering to watch the live broadcast of the two anniversary episodes.
The taps at the bar have been set up to serve actual beer, there are tables full of wine and snacks, and a huge screen has been set up where the camera crew usually are.
The place is already buzzing when Art and I arrive, half an hour before the episodes are due to air.
My stomach starts to churn. What if everyone hates it?
What if Ma Cusack’s comeback is a giant flop? What if …?
My grip on Art’s hand tightens and he immediately knows what’s happening.
‘You’ve got this,’ he says softly. ‘You know what to do. Deep breaths. One, two, three, four …’
I follow his count and feel the panic fade away.
‘Are you ready?’ he says.
‘As I’ll ever be,’ I say.
He kisses me and we walk onto the set.
‘Well,’ says Art, ‘we’ve come a long way.’
He’s right. I think of the first day when I couldn’t even face the canteen. And now …
Now this place and these people feel like home.
There’s Simon and Nora chatting with Róisín and the actors who play Sarah and Sam. Des and Susan are deep in conversation. I spot Adam Pender talking to Lainey the production assistant. He has the grace to give me a sheepish little nod when he catches my eye, but he soon goes back to holding forth.
And Honoria, resplendent in a loose sequined jacket, is behind the bar, pouring out glasses of what I initially assume is prosecco but turns out to be actual champagne.
Triona Clancy must be very happy with the response to the Northside changes so far.
A lot has changed in the month since our guerrilla shoot.
Gina is on sick leave but when she comes back she’ll be moving to one of the IBC talk shows.
There were questions about why she didn’t come forward sooner, but it was generally agreed that she was under a lot of pressure.
Working with Bernard wasn’t easy. And at least she did the right thing in the end.
Bernard is gone, of course. Given what Gina recorded, he could have been fired.
He should have been fired. But whether it was from a desire to avoid any big scandal or an act of kindness to a miserable, lonely man, the powers that be decided to let him take early retirement.
Which is more than he deserves, but I’m trying to be noble about it.
After all, we won.
Of course, the reaction to Honoria’s comeback might be Bernard’s worst punishment of all.
‘Irish TV hasn’t created very many iconic characters,’ said one Irish Times article.
‘But Ma Cusack is definitely an icon. And while bringing her back to the beleaguered show as a regular cast member might look like a retrograde step, the fact that IBC are bringing in a new Northside showrunner, Susan Halloran, shows a determination to make this Irish institution move with the times.’ Social media, of course, is full of Ma Cusack memes, some of them made by people with no memory of her earlier reign.
There’s even a TikTok account that turns clips of her classic dialogue into dance tracks.
Will it work in the long run? Who knows. But right now, Northside and its crew live to fight another day.
And to celebrate.
‘Darlings!’ cries Honoria, beckoning us over from behind the bar. ‘What are you drinking? Please say it’s champagne.’
‘Of course it is,’ says Art. ‘We couldn’t toast a goddess like you with anything else.’
‘Oh, you ridiculous charmer.’ Honoria winks at me. ‘You’re a very lucky girl, Annie.’
‘I keep telling her that.’ Art puts his arm around me. ‘But she doesn’t believe me.’
My phone vibrates and I see a bunch of new messages.
People have been texting me all day. My parents are in Laura’s house to watch the episodes and she’s been sending me regular updates (‘Mam just spent twenty minutes explaining Mozzer’s entire back story to Tadhg.
He’s been very sweet but I think he’s losing the will to live’).
The Frog Boyfriend Gang announced they’re taking me out for a celebratory dinner on Friday.
‘If,’ said Sinéad, ‘you can drag yourself away from the love of my teenage life for one evening. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, ANNIE? ’ Then she texted me directly:
You know how delighted I am for you, right? Mike says he’s never seen Art so happy in his life.
The latest message is from Roo. She’s sent a photo of herself, Francesca and Nadia on our couch, glasses of prosecco in hand, ready to watch the anniversary episodes.
Nadia apologised profusely for flirting with Art the first time she met him, even though I reminded her that he and I weren’t actually a couple at the time.
She’s actually pretty cool once you get to know her.
Someone shouts, ‘It’s about to start!’ and the ‘pub’ falls silent as the Northside credits appear on the big screen. The episode begins with a shot of the street, and when the words ‘Written by Annie McDermott and Art Sullivan’ appear on the screen the entire room bursts into wild applause.
That’s my name against the legendary Charlemont Street cobbles. I’m officially a Northside writer.
The words ‘Directed by Cathy Manning and Art Sullivan’ appear and there’s more applause. Cathy raises a glass of champagne to Art and he bows his head and applauds in her direction.
Then we all sit back and watch the anniversary episodes, the result of dozens of people’s hard, hard work and creativity, the result of so much angst and laughter and panic and kindness and love.
As I hear a room full of people laugh and gasp and applaud at lines I wrote, at lines Art and I wrote, I feel a rush of happiness and pride that makes me more giddy than any champagne.
When Ma Cusack first appears on screen, the room goes so wild I almost worry they won’t hear the dialogue.
Honoria is glowing, and when she catches my eye and raises her glass in a toast, a tear comes to my eye as I toast her back.
When the second episode ends there’s a standing ovation.
Art sweeps me into his arms and, ignoring the whistles of Des and Honoria, kisses me in a way that, under normal circumstances, would be wildly inappropriate for the workplace.
‘You did it!’ he says.
‘We did it,’ I say.
We beam at each other as we clink our champagne glasses together and I suddenly remember Roo drawing the Two of Cups card for me and Art, the card of strong and close connections.
Turns out her tarot deck wasn’t broken after all.
The next few hours are a blur of champagne and congratulations. Even Cian Murphy shakes my hand and says, ‘You did a really good job. Sorry we got off to a bad start.’
‘It’s okay,’ I say. And I mean it. Bernard created such a toxic environment it affected everyone around him. Since Susan took over, everything’s felt a little bit lighter. No wonder the atmosphere is so joyful here tonight.
But at around eleven o’clock I can feel myself crashing, worn out by the heat and the crowds and the excitement.
‘I think I need some fresh air,’ I whisper to Art.
‘Are you okay?’ he whispers back.
And I know he asks because he really cares. Because he knows when I want to joke and when I don’t. When I get overwhelmed and when I’m totally chill. He’s checking in on me.
He’s telling me he loves me.
‘I’m grand,’ I say. ‘But I might have to call it a night.’
‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ says Art. ‘Come on, let’s avoid a big goodbye.’
We slip out of the studio building into the cool July night. The Northside lot is right in front of us. In the moonlight, and from certain angles, you’d never know it wasn’t real.
‘Good old Charlemont Street,’ says Art, with an affection that would have been unimaginable a few months ago.
‘I’ve never been on the lot at night,’ I say.
‘Well,’ says Art, ‘let’s check it out now.’
We walk onto the moonlit lot and I think how much has changed for me and for Art since Susan took me there on my very first day. But Charlemont Street looks exactly the same. There’s the pub. Karyn’s Kafé. The bistro. Mozzer’s house. A whole universe on one plywood street.
And as we walk down Charlemont Street hand in hand, I lean against Art and think of all the stories we’re going to tell in the future about its residents, all the big scenes we’re going to write.
We’ll have scenes that make people laugh and scenes that make people cry.
We’ll have birth scenes and death scenes and fight scenes and action scenes.
And love scenes.
Oh, we’re going to have so many love scenes.