Bad Sisters were ‘shut down’ as Sharon Horgan mourned

Writer and actress Sharon Horgan has told how filming for the second series of Bad Sisters had to be ‘shut down’ as she struggled to deal with her grief following the death of her father.

The creator of Bafta-winning comedy dramas Catastrophe and Bad Sisters – whose younger brother is rugby player Shane Horgan – lost his father John at Christmas 2023.

Sharon, 54, told the How To Fail With Elizabeth Day podcast how the Bad Sisters dealt with ‘grief’.

She told how her youngest brother, podcast host Mark Horgan, messaged her about a scene that was ‘filmed after dad died’.

“Mark, he said he loved the episode, but (I) found it really hard to watch,” she said. ‘Cause everything I felt went into those scenes, you know? So in some ways it’s great and it’s cleansing and you can connect with your feelings and you can express them.

“But in other ways, it feels so weird because you’re basically using your emotions, and it feels weird and kind of wrong.”

She also said that she has this ‘weird muscle memory’ from being an actor where ‘you experience, you play heart, heartbreak, grief, all these extreme emotions and you live them in the moment you’re putting your body under this incredible strain, and that’s what I felt at the funeral’.

“I sat with an actor and played my dad dying before and it really blew me away,” added Sharon. ‘This job can be a bit unhealthy.

‘It was strange going back to work. In the end, we had to shut down production, because I couldn’t.’

She also told Mrs Day how much more confident she feels after reaching her 50s.