Father Ted icon explains how her new Coronation Street character answers to the soap's powerful legacy

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

“During my first week on Coronation Street, nobody mentioned Father Ted at all,” says Pauline McLynn, referring to the beloved Channel 4 sitcom in which she played harassed housekeeper Mrs Doyle. “Fair enough, why should they? Maybe they just hadn’t seen it. Then one day in rehearsal, I came into the back room of the Rovers and two characters were sat at the table. I said: ‘Can I get you a snack? A cup of tea? Ah, go on…’ and kind of lapsed into Mrs Doyle. It was just for fun while we ran the lines, and I heard the crew whisper: ‘She’s doing it!’ I thought I’d get it out of the way…”

After 30 years, Craggy Island’s obsessive beverage provider to the clergy remains one of TV’s most unforgettable characters and still follows McLynn everywhere. So why did no one bring it up when she started on Corrie? “I think they were being really tender with me in the beginning so I didn’t get distracted, because you’re dropped in at the deep end here. And if you’ve had a famous role, sometimes people want to move on from it, so you don’t know whether to bring it up.

“I don’t mind at all, It’s always a great compliment if anyone talks about Father Ted. Although I don’t really have a great recall of it, so if I catch an episode, it’s a surprise to me what’s happening!”

Maggie Driscoll, her new character – and the new owner of the Rovers Return – may well eclipse Mrs Doyle on McLynn’s curriculum vitae. The character made an instantly impactful entrance as the matriarch of a blended family, alongside Catherine Tyldesley, who is returning after seven years as Eva Price.

It’s not McLynn’s first soap experience. In 2014 she played nasty Nick Cotton’s wife Yvonne in EastEnders, but that was a guest role whereas Maggie and her clan are, hopefully, here to stay and are firmly positioned at the heart of the show. Were there reservations about committing to a long-term, all-consuming job?

“Not for a second. If anything it was a bonus knowing I’d be doing this for a while. I never expected Corrie to come my way but when the offer came out of my agent’s mouth, I think I said ‘yes’ before the sentence had even finished! The writing is great, the character is great and you get to use all your acting skills.”

McLynn has been performing or as she jokes, “getting away with it” since 1983, has published novels and written plays. Of all her endeavours, joining the world of Weatherfield is already a professional, and personal, highlight. “This is the most challenging thing I’ve done, the sheer amount of work that goes into it. You’ve got to bring all the skills, such as they are, you’ve ever learnt and be prepared to do everything quickly and accurately. I get to cry, I get to be mean to people, I get to shout – and that’s just today! How much you can achieve so quickly is very satisfying.”

Another attraction was the chance to play a formidable woman of a certain age, something the Street has become famed for. “Tony Warren [creator of Corrie] wanted to celebrate older women right from the beginning. Soaps, particularly Coronation Street, are where us older actors can thrive, the parts are huge and brilliant. It’s important we have that space.”

Sharp, witty and with a putdown for every occasion, Maggie is in the mould of erstwhile battle-axes such as Ena Sharples, Blanche Hunt and Evelyn Plummer (McLynn teases the tantalising prospect of a meeting between Maggie and Evelyn, having just filmed a scene with Dame Maureen Lipman). For 63-year-old McLynn, the pace of a continuing drama schedule is better at keeping the mind active than the toughest sudoku.

“It’s busy and bewildering, but as long as there’s an adult in charge telling me where to go, which scene we’re doing and what I’m wearing, I’m fine. It’s great for the brain to be learning so many lines, I honestly think it’s made me more alert.”

Proof of Corrie’s anti-ageing power is evident in Bill Roache, who is still playing Ken Barlow aged 93. “Bill was the first of ‘the legends’ I worked with,” smiles McLynn, a Corrie fan since childhood. “I couldn’t believe the youthfulness of him. He was on the money for every single take, it was inspirational. Working with these heroes of television, it’s pinch-me moments all the time.”

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