Farrah Phelan

Farrah Phelan (now Clayton) is a fictional character from the Irish television soap opera, Fair City. The character has been portrayed by four actress in total. The character first appears onscreen in 1998 play by Fiona Glascott, however the character left the series to go to London. On her return in 2000, Sinéad Keenan was cast in the role. The character left the series for a second time and when she returned for a third time, the role went to Denise McCormack. The character again left the series to take up a photography course in London. In 2014 Caroline Harvey brought back the character after her father Christy Phelan had a stroke.

Storylines

The Phelan family have been part of Fair City since the series began in 1989. Farrah's Uncle Hughie was the first Phelan in the series. As that character left the series his mother Eunice Phelan was introduced to the series and later her older son Christy and his wife Renee. Farrah was the first of the two Phelan siblings to be introduced, later her brother Floyd was introduced (he was also played by two separate actors). She also has a half-sister who Floyd unknowingly dated.

Background

As Hughie and his wife left Fair City, the writers wrote in his brother and his sister-in-law as replacements. The Doyle's were also a major family in the series who were growing up so it was thought the series need a new family. This introduced teenage daughter Farrah to the series, the Phelan's would later take over Doyle's shop, now Phelan's Spar.

Appearance

The character has had several different styles over the years. Each of the actresses who have played the role have brought their own vision to the role. Fiona Glascott played the role as a hippyish guitar playing teen, later Sinéad Keenan would have a more comic approach to the series, Denise McCormack became the longest serving Farrah, Denise was a more grounded Farrah. The new Farrah has been met with some mixed opinion with The Irish Times stating "While Caroline Harvey has clearly decided to copy Denise McCormack's Farrah she just fails to reach the rich vision that Denise provided to the role". The Irish Independent also concluded that Caroline Harvey brought Denise's Farrah back, but noted the clear comic timing that was missing from the role under Denise's time.

Reception

Farrah has been largely accepted by the audience, though as the new Farrah was announced at Comic Con Dublin, she stated "It's a dream of a lifetime, to take over the role from such luminaries is one of the best jobs of my career, its hard to know if I can really bring back the essence of the character that Fiona, Sinéad and Denise brought to life for so many fans of Farrah".

References