Sharon Horgan’s life from rugby star brother to real Catastrophe relationship

Actor, writer and producer Sharon Horgan, who voices a character in Rally Road Racers – out today – draws heavily on her own life when it comes to her work. The 53-year-old mum of two was born in Hackney, London , but when she was four years old, her parents moved the family to County Meath, Ireland , to run a turkey farm. She later used her unconventional childhood on the farm as inspiration for her episode on Sky Arts’ Little Crackers series, The Week Before Christmas , which was broadcast in 2012. The series saw stars create an episode based on an incident in their childhood, and Sharon’s offering also featured a version of her rugby star younger brother Shane, who played for Leinster and Ireland. This wasn’t the first time she drew on her own life for her work, as her 2006 series Pulling also drew heavily on her younger life. Sharon Horgan used her real relationship as inspiration for Catastrophe (Image: Getty) Pre-Girls and Fleabag, it set the tone for shows that would follow. ‘We just didn’t give a s***,’ Horgan told The Guardian in 2017. ‘I had that lifestyle to write about, it was very recent,’ she explained. ‘I lived in Camden for six and a half years and for two and half of those years, I worked in a head shop. It was brilliant.’ One of her most successful series, Catastrophe, is also based on her own real-life experience. At the age of 34 she was pregnant with her first child, having only met her (now ex) husband businessman Jeremy Rainbird six months previously. Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney co-starred in Catastrophe (Image: Channel 4) Changing the relationship timeline to six weeks instead of six months before she fell pregnant, Catastrophe found inspiration from real life events, such as when her character Sharon gives her daughter the Irish name Muireann, even though her American husband (played by Rob Delaney) can’t pronounce it. In real-life, she and Jeremy compromised and gave their older daughter the somewhat easier to pronounce Irish name Sadhbh. The couple split in 2019 after 13 years together and it appears Sharon now wants to draw on this new era of her life for her writing. Last year she told The Guardian she intends to write about ‘a woman starting again at my age. ‘It’s my secret little project, mainly on my phone at the moment. But I think this time in a woman’s life is really interesting, when you’re in your 50s and a sort of madness descends and everything becomes heightened and intense.’