Niamh McCormack Talks New Netflix Series, Everything Now: ‘I Wish I Had A Show Like This When I Was Younger’

 

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A brand new Netflix series is about to hit our screens, and one of our very own Irish talents Niamh McCormack is starring in it!

Everything Now is a show that follows teenage girl Mia as she returns to school following a lengthy rehabilitation stint for an eating disorder. Alongside a star studded cast – including Stephen Fry and Talk To Me’s Sophie Wilde – Niamh will play the character of Alison, who is a bold, funny and brutally honest teenager.

We caught up with Niamh to find out a little more about her character, what filming was like, and what we can expect from this exciting new series!

Hi Niamh! What did you think when you first got the script?

How visual it was! It’s written by one of my really good friends Ripley Parker, and it’s very much her. In everything she wrote I could really sense her. It’s also a firsthand account of her eating disorder, her experience of that. So reading it, it was super visual; it had great music, the characters were all very individual and different.

They all come together to create this like, symphony of people. There’s a beautiful mix of light and dark in it as well.

The show has a real ‘coming-of-age’ element. Did it take you back to your teen years?

Yeah, I think everyone can relate to those crazy years of being a teenager! You’re figuring yourself out at that age, and a lot is being thrown at you. You want to be seen, you want to be heard, you want to be understood, and you also don’t really understand yourself. Being back there was really fun, and also just being able to play a teenager and let loose and play around with the character, it’s a good bit of fun.

Can you tell us a little bit about your character, Alison? 

Oh god, Alison! *laughs* She’s definitely one of the comedic reliefs in the show, and I think she’ll always get a laugh, even if she wants to or not. She kind of comes in and you think she’s this like, mean girl who’s quite malicious, but I think as the show progresses you find out she’s multidimensional, and she actually really wants to understand what Mia has been through.

She doesn’t really think about what she’s gonna say before she says it, so she can offend sometimes and she’s quite honest. But she’s just like all the others; she wants to be seen and heard. As it progresses, you get to know the real Alison.

The show deals with some heavy topics – does Alison have to face any difficult experiences?

She’s probably one of the lighter ones, she doesn’t have to go through as much as the others – but she’s very much there when it’s happening. She has a lot of stuff going on that wasn’t really touched on, and hopefully if there’s a season two we’ll get to discover more about her. All the characters are so complex and they all have their individual troubles, and they’re just there for each other.

You’re a model, and you’ve been acting for some time – can you relate to the pressures Mia feels as a young woman battling an eating disorder? 

I think most young girls can. That’s very upsetting to say, but it’s so normalised now to care about your appearance to an unhealthy level, and I think that with social media now everything is so accessible and everything is seen on a wider platform, it doesn’t really escape you.

Definitely as a teenager I struggled with my own issues, so being part of a show that highlights those issues and raises awareness is really, really special. I wish I had a show like this when I was younger to watch.

 

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We’ll see some queer storylines along the way – how did it feel getting to be a part of the queer representation in the show?

It was very beautiful. I think the way it’s done is really real and raw, there’s not really labels mentioned. It’s kind of a fresh take on that. I think most things are always having to put labels on things and [asking] ‘what am I?, who am I?, what do I want to represent?’, but here in the show it’s kind of just people loving people for who they are.

That’s not really the main focus of our show, but it’s there and it’s very beautiful. And raw – I think young people experience, that people just want to be loved and to love other people…and they’ve done a beautiful job of that.

Overall, what was the best part about filming?

The best part, honestly, was the people. They were so amazing, and every time you did scenes you were very inspired by the other actors. And I think we all cared about the show. You know, we had a lot of party scenes to film and they were tough but we had a lot of fun filming them. We filmed a lot of night shoots, and you’re there at like three or four in the morning, all kind of delusional, having the laugh! So really just meeting the people, and experiencing them, that was my favourite thing.

Everything Now launches on Netflix on the 5th October

 

 

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• Everything Now
• Niamh McCormack