This week I'm joined by the Irish actress best known for playing Claire Devlin in Dairy Girls, Nicola Cochlin.

Through the power of technology, Nicola and I recorded this episode from our respective homes in different countries last week,

and discovered that there were a lot of similarities between our experiences

of moving to London with big dreams and the reality of feeling really lonely.

One of the things that I love about Nicola is her honesty.

She talks about getting a lot of knockbacks in the industry and why she was actually

working at nopticians and living at her parents' house when an open call edition gave her

big break.

As ever, we talk about the podcast Nicola loves, including Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, JVN, you know, being one of her BFFs, and the mystery show, which made me think of my own mystery, my missing matching socks. Anyone else find that their matching socks always disappear? Enough for me. I hope you all enjoy today's show with the lovely Nicola Cochlin. Nicola Cochlin, welcome to Castaway. Thank you for having me. Thank you for giving me something to do. Thank you for giving me something to do. Where are you? I was trying to think when I first met you and I can't really remember the first time I properly met you. I just feel like I've known you always, even though I think I've probably you three times. I know, but yeah, when you just said that there, I was like, God, I have no idea, but it just feels like I've known you for a really long time. I don't know. Maybe it was at the Irish Embassy. For any of it doesn't know, the Irish Embassy do these, lovely Irish Irish nights as they would do. And you sort of have all these Irish people together in the

room and my English friends do you sometimes make fun and they go, how do you know that person

is just because they're Irish? And I'm like, no. And then think, oh, kind of yeah. What I love about

you is you've got so many different parts to you, so many things that you even say yourself, like you love drama, you love theatre, you're on stage, the old Vic, but you also, you love watching Love Island, you've come on my show after Sun and you love drag race.

I love TV. I think also, I think it's true. I think we are in a golden age of television. And I think, thank

God, because we need it right now. But I, I love all different types of things. Yeah, like love,

love Ireland, obsessed with drag race. This current season is a really good one, actually, thank God.

When you came on, you came on a son this year, which is, went to the green room afterwards for a few drinks.

Oh, God, yeah, you can.

And normally you stay for an extra half an hour, an hour after the show,

just so as a little wine down.

And I just remember, we sat in a corner on a sofa and started talking

and started pouring the wine or whatever was we were drinking.

And next week looked around, no one else was

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