‘Derry Girls’ star Siobhán McSweeney: ‘I’m judgmental, chippy and bolshy when I’m off TV!’

Siobhán McSweeney insists she’s nothing like her friendly TV persona on the likes of ‘The Great Pottery Throw Down’.

The 44-year-old actress, best known for playing Sister Michael on Channel 4’s ‘Derry Girls’, added she has flaws including being “judgemental, chippy and bolshy”.

She told the New Year issue of Radio Times magazine: “When people see me on telly they see me at my best because I’m having fun and I’m interested and curious, so they think I’m like that all the time.

“I can assure you, I’m not. I’m judgmental and I can think badly of people. I can sniff out a lie.

“I’m argumentative and chippy and bolshy. I have no patience whatsoever when it comes to snobbery.

“Like, I’m a telly fan. If you’re snobby about stuff I’ll deliberately, provocatively go the other way.”

She added about the positives of her “bolshy” side: “I don’t think I’d be where I am today if I wasn’t stubborn and bolshy.

“Those things have brought me here and they have served me well but maybe I should put them aside now. Pottery makes me feel more peaceful.”

Siobhán added about the reasons she went into the entertainment business: “I became an actor to live as many lives as possible.

“I was a bit bored growing up and among the many things I am now – including exhausted – I’m not bored.”

Siobhán also talked about how she gets fan messages for showing off her cures.

She said: “I’m a plus-size woman, like the average woman in this country. I get hundreds of messages saying, ‘I’m your size, I would never wear that, but you looked lovely, where did you get it?’

“I make sure everything I wear is from the high street; everybody should have access to these clothes.

“We’ve been told our bodies are disgusting. We’re fed a lie that only white, nubile, unlined, uncurved bodies are deserving of love and sex and sensuality… I am sexy.

“My personal style is probably a little less colourful, a bit more gothic. But I love how I look on ‘Pottery’ and on the red carpet.”