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

They are all standalone books ,you dont have to read them in order for them to make sense each book focuses on one sister.

It spoils itself. Awful acting

The TV version of Watermelon was terrible. It had a pregnant woman called Claire and that’s about it - it didn’t follow the plot of the book, ditched half the characters (only one sister), changed names of others. I don’t really know why they called it an adaptation of Marian’s book!

However it did have Brenda Fricker playing the Mammy Walsh character! (Not that she was called Mammy Walsh in this version).

Watched the 1st episode tonight.
Thought Claire was well portrayed except for pretending she didn't have a child - the book Claire would demand someone accepts her for exactly what she is.

Maggie is portrayed well too.
Feel sorry for her husband. In the books the rest of the family despise him because he's sensible but he's emphatically not mean. However, he does come across a bit mean in this.

Why isn't Helen dazzlingly good looking? She is in the books and gets away with a lot because of it.

Mammy Walsh - ugh! Just wrong 😕

I think they did the best they could with Rachel. The book worked so well because she was an unreliable narrator and I was about 20% or so into it before I thought "Bloody hell! She's a steaming addict!". I suppose Anna thinking Luke was overreacting at the beginning helped muddy the depth of Rachel's problems a bit.

I laughed out loud once. I can't remember the line but it was new and not from the books.
I'll continue to watch it as I'd read the reviews so my expectations were tempered, hence it wasn't as madly disappointing as it might have been, and I'm curious to see how the rest of it is handled.

Not sure of the way the do group counselling /therapy's

I remember the group counselling from the book. It's absolutely brutal.

In the book Rachel gets on with Neil and sees him as a mate. The friendship is developed more in the book before the shock reveal. Then she realises in the group therapy that he abuses his wife and her judgment is completely thrown.

having read most of MK books, I was looking forward to this series. Thought the casting was all wrong, and the sisters appear a lot older than in the books. No on screen chemistry, and why leave out friendships and NYC?!! aGot up to episode 3, won’t be watching anymore so disappointed

I really hope that group therapy in rehab doesn't involve putting DV victims at massive risk like they showed in tonights episode. Forcing that wife to sit across from her perpetrator seems insanely dangerous. I have no idea why I am still watching this series its shite

I read the book years ago and I may be wrong but I thought he died in the accident but Anna thinks he was alive /didnt reliese he was dead and would see /imagine him

I didn’t expect to see him in the hospital and them chatting. Tho end looks like he will die

You're right that in the book he died in the accident and Anna is in denial, still wants to believe he's alive and sees him, writes to him and leaves messages on his phone. All of which go unanswered obviously. So it's a bit weird seeing Aiden talk to Anna in hospital.

Knew I wasn’t going mad 😂

I've read all of the books, most of them several times over, and just watched the first 3 episodes of the series. Mammy Walsh is awful, they've made her into a completely different, and really unlikeable, character. Mr Walsh's role so far seems to be a cash dispenser.

Maggie, Claire and Rachel are OK, but the casting and characterisation of Helen and Anna is way off too; all of the books make a big thing of them both being these tiny little black-haired creatures, Helen is head-turningly gorgeous and Anna is ethereal and hippyish, at least in the first few books. Anna in particular just seems all wrong. Also agree with pps that Luke Costello should be dark, brooding, manly and a total ride, so far in this he's coming across as more of a feathery stroker.

I read all the books years ago & loved them & have watched the first 3 episodes of this. I’m really enjoying it. More drama than comedy & none are like their book characters looks-wise, but watching it as standalone & it’s brill.

The only thing particularly annoying me is Aidan’s rubbish American accent. Truly crap!

I like Marian Keyes' books, but the Walsh ones are my least favourite of hers - pretty much all of the sisters are so flipping annoying and self-centered, and don't seem to learn anything as the years pass. In real life, I don't think we'd want to be around them, so in that sense the series is pretty accurate!
But I agree that it's hard to recreate the tone and humour of the books, and Mammy Walsh should definitely be much more like Mrs Doyle 🤣

The casting is terrible. Maggie is far too old. Mammy Walsh is nothing like she is in the books. I don't understand why they don't follow the descriptions of the characters in the books knowing how many people have read them and loved them. It totally ruins it for us!

Not what I thought it would be and pretty disappointing. Loved the MK books back in the day, this is just so cheap!

Maggie in the tv show is acted by Stephanie Preissner.
She also cowrote the screenplay and was an executive producer alongside MK, her husband and others.
I’d love someone to ask MK directly what she thought of how Mammy was portrayed.
I’m not blaming Carrie Crowley the actress. I’m sure she was following directions.

I’ve finished it now - thought it was excellent. Different to the books (obviously!) but if you watch it at face value & don’t compare, it’s brilliant & they make great sisters / family!

This is how I see it - a family with issue and being there for each other

tho only seen e2 as tv paced

No spoilers from me @Blondeshavemorefun(I’ve been around long enough on your threads to know better ) but just watch and enjoy, no comparisons!

😘😘

Anyone realise that Luke is played by Jay Duffy, Keith Duffy's (boyzone) son?

Yes

yes, it's literally why I can't fancy TV luke, even when I fancy literature Luke because I fancy his dad!

I'm 2 episodes in and to be honest, i am enjoying it.

It's different, but I knew it would be. Mammy Walsh is absolutely wrong in every single way possible but the sisters themselves are decent. Rachel is exactly what I thought, as is Claire and Maggie. I think Anna has been less 'away with the fairies' and Helen doesn't seem quite as snarky/difficult as in the books.

But as someone on here said, it feels like I'm catching up with an old school friend who has changed a lot since I knew them, but still feels familiar. Does that make sense?