Armagh native Colin Morgan's star just keeps on rising as Taragh Loughrey-Grant discovers.

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Colin Morgan

Colin Morgan won't forget the shoot of award-winning Irish film Parked in a hurry: "We had 21 days, which was initially the main challenge for everyone. We were filming in January 2010, which, as people will remember, was one of the coldest winters we've ever experienced."
Cold weather aside, it was a wonderful experience for the Armagh-born actor: "We had a great group of people. Darragh O'Byrne the director is a very passionate guy, he had worked on this project for several years with his friend Ciaran Creagh. As I read it, I fell in love with it too, I felt passionate about the characters and getting the chance to work on it was fantastic. When you love something so much and you get given the chance to do it justice, hopefully, you have got to grab it with both hands."
Morgan plays Cathal, a drug addict, who along with Colm Meaney's character, Fred, is living out of his car. He explained how he prepared for the role: "Prior to filming, we had done a lot of research; Darragh and myself went to a drugs rehabilitation centre and got a lot of the technicalities about drug users and drug use. So when we got started up, we felt that we were pretty much on the ball."
"Getting to work with Colm was for me a huge delight. He's an acting legend and working with him in such close proximity was fantastic and we worked really well together. It flew by, it was such a quick shoot - tough and challenging but in the end I think it was very successful."
Parked is wonderfully timed, set just as the crown slips from the Celtic Tiger: "Undoubtedly the story is so current, I would not be surprised to hear of anybody in that situation at the minute. These guys are homeless, they can't get welfare and it's a pretty dire state. That is a very bleak starting point but the film is much more than that, it's about what they do in that situation - their personalities and how they spark off each other.
"It's the characters that really drew me in because they're fighting to survive and fighting to have a home because that's so important, especially to Irish people. When Fred [Meaney's character] returns to Ireland and he can't get that feeling of home, that's the whole drive of the film. Cathal does that for him - he brings back the importance of feeling truly at home to him."
Morgan agrees that while it's a universal story, the humour is very Irish: "Definitely, it's that Irish thing: the darker your situation the more you strive to make it bearable through humour. But what's been interesting, as we've taken it around the world, is how that humour translates internationally. It's amazing, I couldn't believe it, sitting in a little theatre in Italy with all these people laughing and when we were in Germany as well, the humour really translates, maybe that's part of the Irish charm."
Morgan is currently working on the fifth season of Merlin and he's still enjoying every minute: "I love it, it's a fantastic show, they keep getting better and better each year."
However he can't give anything away: "I'd be lucky if I get the script three days in advance. It's pretty up to the wire, we don't get the script until they're 100% finished. There's no rehearsal, it's just straight in and we'll get the first three episodes and then it takes about two and a half weeks per episode to shoot. Once we're coming towards the end of those episodes, we'll get the next three, we only ever know on a three-episode basis."
As to the future of the show, he reveals: "They always had a five-year plan, so I don't know if this will be the end for them or whether they'll want to continue. It'll only become clear to me when I get those final three episodes! That's when I'll know."
Merlin has featured a number of Irish guest stars: "Charlene McKenna was fantastic. She's brilliant and she's got a real endearing look. One of my favourites to work with was John Lynch. He played my father in one of the episodes and he was just amazing. He's someone I'd love to work with again because I learnt a lot from him.
"They could probably cast the whole of Merlin in Ireland because there's a real Celtic influence there and certainly the Celtic look is very much part of that story. It's great to see so much Irish talent, not only working at home but getting opportunities elsewhere as well."
* Parked is available now on DVD; Series five of Merlin will air on BBC One in the autumn.