Bad Sisters filming had to be shut down after death of Sharon Horgan’s father

Sharon Horgan says the production of the second season of Bad Sisters had to be "shut down" for a time, as she found it difficult to deal with her grief after the death of her father.

The London-born Irish actress and writer, who created the Bafta-winning comedy shows Catastrophe and Bad Sisters, said last year that her father, John Horgan, died at Christmas 2023.

Horgan, 54, told the podcast How To Fail With Elizabeth Day how Bad Sisters dealt with "grief", and her younger brother, the podcast host Mark Horgan, sent her a message about a scene that was "filmed after dad died".

She added: "Mark, he said that he loved the episode, but (I) found it really difficult to watch.

"And I was saying, well, because everything I was feeling went into those scenes, you know? So in some ways it’s great and it’s cathartic and you can connect with your feelings and you can express them.

"But in other ways, it feels so weird because essentially, you’re using your emotions and it feels strange and a bit wrong."

She also said that she has this "weird muscle memory" from being an actor where "you’re experiencing, you’re playing heart, heartache, grief, all these extreme emotions, and you’re living them in that moment, you’re putting your body under this incredible strain, and that’s what I was feeling at the funeral."

"I sat with an actor playing my dad’s dying before, and that really blew my mind," Horgan added.

"This can be a bit unhealthy this job. It was weird going back to work. In the end we had to shut down the production because I couldn’t."

She also spoke about how more confident she feels after reaching her 50s.

"I think hormones are driving me, I’m on everything so, but I hate the visual representation of aging, it really bothers me because of natural vanity, but also because I don’t feel like that, and I’m sure everyone says this, but it’s why the number feels weird because inside I have puppy dog levels of energy," she said.

"I would say scary as well, there’s a weird connection with your mortality when you lose a parent, and you start thinking about things in a different way, and that’s why I’m very kind of particular about what I work on and who I work with and how I spend my time."

She also said it "really is very, very recent that I’ve allowed myself to feel like I know what I’m doing."

Horgan added: "There’s a confidence there that I really appreciate actually, because it’s not great to be walking around feeling like you’ve sort of snuck in and no-one’s noticed so far that I’m winging it.

"It’s exhausting. It’s much better to feel like you should be in those rooms."

She also confirmed she is seeing someone, after her separation from her husband, the businessman Jeremy Rainbird, in 2019, during the interview.

In Bad Sisters, siblings try to help their sister Grace (Anne-Marie Duff), who is in a controlling marriage. Grace’s husband is played by Danish actor and Dracula star Claes Bang.

He dies mysteriously, and the sisters, played by Horgan, Eva Birthistle and Sarah Greene, are among the suspects.

At the 2023 Bafta TV awards, the Apple TV+ series won Duff the supporting actress gong, and the best drama series prize.

Horgan is also the creator of HBO comedy-drama Divorce, which starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church, and the comedies Motherland and Pulling.

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is out now.

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