You don’t have to be in your teens to love E4’s teen drama My Mad Fat Diary. Set in the ’90s and based on the real life of author Rae Earl, the show explores everything from sex, friendship and families to the most serious and scary aspects of mental health.
The final episode of the second series airs tonight, so we chatted with Sharon Rooney, who stars as Rae, to find out what the heroine has learned over the past few weeks, why she’s being so mean to her mates and exactly what it’s like to be at work and talking about fingering with Nico Mirallegro. Warning – this interview contains surprise nudity and an even more surprising use of fake fur…
**The Debrief: Could you describe Rae’s second series journey?
**Sharon Rooney: It’s quite a rollercoaster of a journey for her – she’s in recovery, and recovery is a hard thing. She’s making some not very good decisions and her behaviour isn’t great, and the way she’s treating people isn’t great. She’s trying so hard, but it comes out to the people she loves in a way that’s not very nice. Especially with her mum, she’s not very nice to her mum.
DB: It looks like Rae is hurting the people closest to her to see how much they can take. I think a lot of teens do this – do you think Rae’s age has anything to do this, or is it something we all need to watch out for?
SR: It’s true what they say – you always take it out on the people you love the most, and Rae’s obviously a teenager so she’s got all these hormones and emotions, and then she’s got her illness on top of all that. I think everyone argues with their Mum, Dad, Gran, Grandpa, whoever, we all have those moments, but this series has quite a lot of those moments!
DB: Sometimes it’s quite distressing to watch Rae and her Mum. Is it weird to play those scenes? There’s so much emotion, and it’s hyper real – does it get quite intense?
SR: They’re always quite intense when you’re doing them. The ones with Claire [Rushbrook, who plays Rae’s Mum] get really rough, and there are times when I think, 'I cannot believe the way I’m treating you, this is horrible.' There’s a scene in episode six when Rae comes home and she’s stayed out all night. Her Mum has specifically said to her: 'Don’t do that, you have to come home and let me know where you are,' and she comes in, and she’s a bit drunk, and the way she speaks to her mum is just horrible. But then, the way she speaks to Rae isn’t any better. The day we did that scene, the atmosphere on set was quite tense! It was horrible, I felt really horrible doing that scene. It wasn’t nice to be that blunt, and for Rae to talk to her Mum like that…
DB: You’ve said before that you know Rae isn’t there to be liked, and you can’t like her all the time. I think I’ve really felt this during this series, when thinking about her relationship with her mate Chloe.
SR: Rae sometimes forgets that other people go through stuff too. For her to see Chloe in that way, well, I think it’s a big shock when we go into Chloe’s diary and see everything from Chloe’s point of view. I think everyone’s a bit guilty of sometimes just seeing things from their own point of view. It was really nice to see things from someone else’s perspective. It was interesting as well, because you think: 'Who is telling the truth?' I'm really glad we did it.
DB: More generally, what was your favourite day of filming during the second series?
SR: There’s a scene in episode seven, and I can’t say too much, but it was so raw and real, and there were so many emotions, it was great. And I loved the day we had the funfair, that was so much fun. I got to hang out with the guys, and there was rides and stuff. It was a really good night.
DB: And what was the weirdest day?
SR: There’s a scene in episode six where Rae’s singing, and she imagines the audience naked. The actors who came in were amazing. I assumed we wouldn’t see them, but the director said: 'OK, we’re going to go into the next part of the scene,' and they all just took off their clothes! They were brilliant, they just got on with it! I thought, 'Wow, that’s professionalism!'
DB: Did you have to hold back a giggle or did you keep a straight face?
SR: I just got on with it, because I was so impressed. They all proper shocked me! I would have gone off set and asked if I could get changed there!
DB: Can we talk about Finn and Liam? Which of the guys do you think you’d be drawn to, in real life?
SR: It’s too hard, because I know them in real life! I couldn't pick either! They’re both not just handsome guys, but lovely guys. They’ve got great personalities. You bond really quickly, and trust is really important. Sometimes you have to work on these friendships, but I didn’t need to with those two, it was instant. It was great, I was very lucky to be doing scenes like that with friends.
DB: There are some fairly…intimate scenes with Nico (Mirallegro, who plays Finn). When you’re close in real life, how do you stay professional?
SR: I think that makes it easier. Because you do know each other, you know you’re both going to be there for each other and be kind to each other. But I do try to wind them up and play tricks on them. When me and Nico had to do the whole ‘fingering’ thing in the first episode of this series, I decided to go and raid the costume truck. I found some fur, and stuck it, on to… areas, to wind up Nico. He said it felt like a baby lion!
DB: Have you now renamed your lady parts ‘the baby lion’?
SR: It hasn’t come up yet, but I might just claim it before anyone else does!
DB: We love Rae, but sometimes she makes decisions that really wind us up. This series, if you could choose one moment to have an out-of-body experience and give Rae a good talking to, when would it be?
SR: It’s difficult to pick one, there have been so many this series! I would have really, really wished for her to have gone to that scan with her Mum. And the moment that will forever haunt me is when Finn says, 'I don’t have a reason to stay, do I?' and she just looks at him. When we were filming, I kept finding myself wanting to go: 'Um…oh…er!' and the director had to tell me to stop making noises and saying it with my eyes. I had to talk about it on Twitter, because everyone was saying: 'Why didn’t she say something?' and I was like, 'I tried, but Rae wouldn’t listen!' Hopefully in episode seven, she’ll learn how to do it right.
DB: I wanted to talk to you about Archie’s storyline. You think of the ’90s as being a reasonably progressive time, so I was really shocked and taken aback by the fact that not everyone was accepting or positive when he came out. Did that shock you?
SR: Dan, who plays Archie, is just stunning. The way he’s done it is so real, and there’s something so magical about that performance. And when Finn says: 'I knew, but it’s none of my business' you think, 'That’s friendship'. And what difference does it make? It shouldn’t really matter whether you like boys or girls. But I think the way Dan has played that storyline is amazing.
DB: Obviously as an actor, there’s more to you than Rae, and you’ve appeared in Sherlock. Do many fans touch you so they can say they’ve touched Benedict Cumberbatch by proxy?
SR: Erm, no-one has so far! Most people touch me so they can say they’ve technically touched Nico!
DB: What would you most like to do next?
SR: I’ve been working on a few different things, but my dream project would be to work with Olivia Coleman. I think that would be the ultimate dream. Comedy or drama, I’d love to do both! Really, anything would be amazing.
DB: Finally, do you have a Twitter crush?
SR: I haven’t had any Twitter crushes, but I am one hundred per cent in love with all the Mad Fat Diary fans. They’re all brilliant. I wish I could reply to everyone, their support has been amazing, so I’d have to say they are all my Twitter crush!
The final episode of Season 2 of My Mad Fat Diary is on E4 tonight at 10PM.
Follow Daisy on Twitter @Notrollergirl
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.