Mad Men star Christina Hendricks has recalled a "scary" experience she had swimming at Dublin's 40 Foot while filming a new TV show in Ireland with Chris O'Dowd.
She and O'Dowd were guests on Friday night's edition of The Late Late Show to tell host Patrick Kielty about Small Town, Big Story - a new comedy series coming to Sky later this month.
Christina also spoke about swimming at the 40 Foot in Dublin. "I said, I'm going to go swimming in the 40 Foot like the Bad Sisters do," she recalled, referencing the Sharon Hogan show.
"I am terrified of the ocean already, and I got my dry robe and I’m going down - then I notice there’s not really a lot of people in the water, and it is kind of rough.
"But I’d set my mind to it and I was slowly lowering myself down and I thought, how is best to get in and before I could think, I was under water and wave just came and dunked me.
"Two or three men were there and they were going: 'Are you okay? Are you okay?’ And [husband] George had looked down to take a picture, and when he came back up I was in the water.
"And it wasn’t like I was smiling . . . I kept getting pulled out to the sea and luckily I got back just in time and he was able to pull me out.
"But it was terrifying!"
Earlier in the interview, Chris O'Dowd explained the set-up of Small Town, Big Story.
"It’s set in south Fermanagh/north Leitrim," he said. "In this little town on the border that’s had better days. It’s gone through the recession and the smoking ban and abundance of nettles keeping the tourists away.
"They decide that they’re going to try ands get some film investment into the town and maybe get some TV shot there, and they compete with this other beautiful town called Boyle in county Roscommon for the honour of hosting this kind of Game of Thrones type show, but it’s about Celts.
"And the producer of this said show is a Hollywood executive played by Christina, so beautifully and wonderfully. She is originally from this town and she comes back. She left when she was a teenager, when her parents got divorced.
"She’s back and she’s pissed off!"
Patrick then asked Christina how she got involved in the show. "It was actually kind of a funny story," she said.
"I was approached to do a collaboration with a clothing line called Joanie. I was doing some research and I saw they did a collaboration with Dawn Porter.
"I DM’ed her and I said, 'Hi, I’m Christina Hendricks. I hope you don’t think this is weird, but I was wondering if you’re open to talk about your experience’ and she said, ‘Come on over to my house. I live in Los Angeles. You can come over and touch the clothes’ and I thought: this woman’s the best!
"So I went over there and I was hanging out with her lovely animals and she mentioned that her husband was Chris O’Dowd and I said: ‘Wait a minute! You’re married to Chris O’Dowd? I think he’s fabulous!’
"Then a week later I get a script sent to me - from Chris."
Chris then took up the story. "I get a text from Dawn saying, ‘You’ll never believe who’s in the kitchen!’ We had her on our list but I thought we’d never get her. And it just felt like it ws some kind of kismet, some mad thing that we just had to follow uo with."
Patrick asked if he was allowed to mention that there aliens and Joe Dolans in the show. To which Chris replied: "There is more Joe Dolan than you’d imagine. Not as much as I would like . . . but it’s beautifully kind of epic and operatic.
"He brings the stakes so high - and that’s why there’s quite a lot of Joe Dolan in it. And there’s certainly some kind of cosmic elements in the show."
Christina then recalled that her husband George saw a UFO when they came to Ireland. "We’re not normally UFO people," she explained. "But we had just come to town and we were having a mattress delivered.
"So George had gone outside to wait for the delivery and he comes back in just white as a ghosted he goes: ‘I’ve just seen a UFO.’ And I looked at him and I thought ‘That man saw a UFO.’
"And he got a picture of it and he sent it to Chris, and Chris . . ."
Chris smiled and gave his side of the story. "I said, ‘Oh yeah - that’s nice!’ It’s kind of in the direction of the Poolbeg towers - but George was 100% sure. And Paddy Considine, who plays the kind of stalwart of the community, had also seen stuff.
"So I think there’s something going on."
Patrick also asked Chris about his experiences when he returns home to Boyle. It would appear that most of the population are ready for their close-up.
"We ahoot some of the show in Boyle and I have noticed that people behave slightly differently when they know you’re in town. Not necessarily because it’s me, they think they might get caught on camera.
"People I know all my life are wearing more makeup, and there’s kind of this lingering in the back of conversations wherever you are. You never know!"
Chris also admitted that when he’s home he stays "in my childhood bedroom. Sure, where else could I stay? She’d have the head slapped off me! It’s great," he added. "I love it."
Patrick then asked Christina if she felt at home in Ireland, even though there’s no connection between her and here.
"I’ve got the red hair so people - especially in the States - constantly say things like, ‘Aw, you’re Irish!’ I’m not. And I’m not a real redhead either, sadly. But I do feel at home.
"We were in Glasthule and we had nice local places and we knew all the people that worked in places. And they are all really friendly and we really enjoyed it."
Christina also spoke about her role in the hugely successful TV series Mad Men.
"It changed everything about my career and about my life," she said. "It was extraordinary and a gift . . . it really changed everything for me."
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