How things roll in Ros na Rún

Young Caherlistrane law graduate behind TV soap’s flamboyant character

CAHERLISTRANE was as close to the Mayo border that one Galway man would settle on to satisfy his wife’s grá for living in a rural area.

It’s part of a roundabout story of his parents that young actor Dara Madden tells among a bustling canteen where steam is rising from mugs of tea and the damp heads that have fallen victim to the squally showers circling An Spidéal.

Sitting in an any-day type sweatshirt as he nods to those who come and go, is a stark contrast to when an hour later he gives me a quick-peak tour of his Ros na Rún character’s not-so everyday wardrobe. It has the fur factor worthy of any Joan Collins cast offs, but with 1970s vintage velvet over-playing any hint of Dynasty dazzle.

Dara has called Caherlistrane home since he was six or seven years of age but for several months of the year, there’s a corner upstairs in the two-storey film studio facing the Atlantic that he calls home. It’s the fictional abode of his character Ché Derrane, who only made his first appearance on the screen in last year’s season, on a TV soap that is now well into filming its 28th run.

Young Dara is one of the relative newbies, but walking about the sets with him, it’s clear that he’s quickly become part of the bulging, bubbly Ros na Rún clan where some 180 people work between August and February each year...

For more, pick up this week’s Tuam Herald or log onto our digital edition HERE