THE WALSH SISTERS - sat 9.15pm bbc 1 - TV PACE. NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

New series 6 which is mean to be ace !!

was shown originally in Ireland last year and now bbc have it

Enter The Walsh Sisters, which has been adapted from several of Marian Keyes' beloved novels and introduces us to the dysfunctional but deeply loveable Walsh family.

Featuring five sisters, a devout mother and a bemused father, every family will find something to relate to in the chaos that surrounds them.

Billed as a "comedy about serious things — a pacy, brutally honest and uncompromisingly funny exposé of the realities of being an Irish sister", we meet the five sisters as they’re drifting through adulthood in Dublin and supporting each other as they cope with heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood.

And if it's as good as Marian's books, it's going to be a truly outstanding piece of TV.

The six-part series is part based on two of Marian Keyes’ novels, Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There and introduces us to a group of five loveable but chaotic sisters living in Dublin - Anna (Louisa Harland), Rachel (Caroline Menton), Maggie (Stefanie Preissner), Claire (Danielle Galligan) and Helen (Máiréad Tyers) – as they navigate the peaks and troughs of their late 20s and 30s.

It's a sisterhood full of in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and more than a few old wounds.

But their DNA, history and shared love of power ballads keep the Walsh sisters together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood.

The cast of The Walsh Sisters includes:
• Louisa Harland (Derry Girls, Renegade Nell) as Anna
• Caroline Menton (Oddity) as Rachel
• Danielle Galligan (Kin, Shadow and Bone)

•	Máiréad Tyers (My Lady Jane, Belfast) as Helen
•	Stefanie Preissner (How to Adult) as Maggie
•	Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall) as Jack ‘Daddy’ Walsh
•	Carrie Crowley (Hope Street) as Mammy Walsh
•	Debi Mazar (Younger) as Chaquie
•	Gina Moxley (The Patient Gloria, Here Before) as Josephine 
•	Jay Duffy (Wheel of Time, Northern Lights) as Luke Costello
•	Samuel Anderson (Amandaland (<a class="break-all" href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a69662742/jennifer-saunders-amandaland-christmas-special/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a69662742/jennifer-saunders-amandaland-christmas-special/))</a> as Aidan

@x2boys i wonder if it’s cos I listened to it with Marian narrating?

I’ve read it hundreds of times and I’ve listened to it on audible with someone else reading it before and never picked up on it before, and this was my first time listening through Spotify. Perhaps it was the different narration putting by a different spin on emphasis or maybe it was listenig to it while simultaneously watching it and being influenced…

but certainly the way mammy Walsh kicks off at Rachel for sleeping with Chris and causing her to relapse and then again over the thong and how Rachel was causing shame on the family was an eye opener

Yes I remember that bit and its all subjective
But I alldo remember Helen and Anna saying she would kick off at them too but theu would ignore her as she didnt really mean it

In my mind I always took it that Rachel was very vulnerable at that point hsving only just come out of rehab
And she wasent really strong enough mentally to deal anybody being negative towards her.

I agree with poster above. We’re seeing Mammy Walsh through Rachel’s eyes and we already know that Rachel is far more sensitive to things than her sisters are, so perhaps what Mammy Walsh (and the other sisters) just see as usual family banter, Rachel sees as shouting/bitchiness so that’s how it’s portrayed in the book.

Even if you don’t buy that, there are definitely moments of affection from Mammy Walsh in the book (she says something to Rachel like ‘weren’t you always a dote, the most affectionate of them all’) and that doesn’t come out in the TV series at all.

Finally seen e6. Avoided thread till now

I was sad that at the first hurdle that Rachel drank

she lost luke again

he just couldn’t deal with her drinking and God I get that more than anyone

I really enjoyed this series and hope they do make another one. I loved the books they were based on, but do feel they missed the mark with certain characters (Mammy W, I'm looking at you). But watching it, without the books in mind, it was a good series.
I really felt for Rachel. Feeling as if her mum hates her, and then her mum being so awful about her, despite her trying to do the right thing (swapping dresses with Anna for one).
Did anyone notice the chaperone from the cloisters taking a deep breath when looking at Rachel with the g&t, more as a longing but passing the test type of thing.
I added the intro song to my playlist and it came up today when I was listening to some music today. After only hearing a small bit these past 6 weeks, it's actually a good song in full.

So I've just finished Rachel's Holiday after not having read it for a few years. I've changed my mind re Mammy Walsh in the TV series. She's pretty accurate to Mammy Walsh in Rachel's Holiday. She's cold and nasty about Rachel during the therapy sessions. Even dad is. Neither of them can find anything nice to say about Rachel. Just talked about the other sisters being more beautiful, more intelligent, kinder, funnier. Made me cry all over again how little they seem to care or know about their own daughter and how Rachel is always compared to her sisters.

I also get that this is Rachel's version of Mammy Walsh and she's vulnerable and over sensitive. Mammy Walsh is definitely kinder, funnier and warmer in the later books.

Interesting @PrincessScarlett so for all the replies saying she wasn’t how she was in the book. She was in Rachel’s one

Yes definitely horrible Mammy Walsh in Rachel's Holiday.

I also read Anyone Out There (Anna's story) recently and Mammy Walsh was much more comical and warm in this book. Like two different characters entirely 🤷🏻‍♀️

I read anyone out there but years ago so don’t rem mummy w

its so bizarre isnt it? Having read all of the books, mummy walsh was always fabulous, but I re-listened to the audible of RH and the stark contrast of Mammy Walsh being so mean all the time was unrelenting.

But even in Again Rachel, she was carelessly offering Rachel a sleeping pill that was "in the fruit basket" so she's never been hugely attuned to Rachel's issues

I agree Mammy Walsh appears harsher in Rachel’s Holiday than she does in the later books

However, I still don’t think that Mammy Walsh on the TV series is anything like even the harshest version of Mammy Walsh in the books.

At the end of Rachel’s Holiday she tells Rachel she is the best of all of her children and there is a genuine warmth there.

Even when being harsh she is generally a comedy character in the books.

Mammy Walsh in the TV series never shows any warmth at all. She is horrible to Rachel in the last episode!! She is never remotely funny either. Just really poorly cast.

I’m watching this series, but haven’t read whole thread as on episode 3. Rachel’s Holiday is great, for those of you who loved it too, MK wrote a sequel, “Again, Rachel” which continues Rachel’s story. Just finished reading it, unputdownable!

Shes also written a sequel to Annas story but i struggled to read it and gave up
Whilst i love MK occasionslly i struggle with the odd book
I could never get through Helens story either.

Same @x2boys . Most books are great, but I gave up on Anna’s story too. Suishi for Beginners is probably my favourite. Rachel’s my favourite character though.

I think its telling I've never wanted to re-read Helens' book either. I find Helen is fabulous in small doses, but any more than that and she becomes really irritating and borderline nasty.

I didn't mind my favourite mistake but there was an AWFUL lot of revisionist history in it, which took me out of the canon that Marian had created.

I also never actually understood why there wasn't a scene in Again, Rachel of Rachel talking to Anna about grief, considering Anna's whole story was about grief.

I read that MK suffered periods of depression which may account to why some of her books are less readable than others?
I still love most of MK,s books though

Yes MK has spoken about her own battles with MH and alcohol. I think the reason Rachel’s such a stand out character is because there’s a lot of the writer in the character.