17 February 2024 , 17:58
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It seems Fool Me Once actor Emmett J Scanlan has a softer heart than some of the characters he plays.
For the star of BBC’s Kin and the hit Netflix Harlan Coben thriller admits to being a massive fan of cosy '90s comedy Friends. And he reveals he and Fool Me Once co-star Michelle Keegan even bonded over their love of the New York show.
Emmett, 45, who plays Shane Tessier in the crowd-puller – watched by 85 million people worldwide – says: “Michelle really deserves whatever success comes from [Fool Me Once]. She messaged me recently. Her and Mark smashed Kin and had nothing but nice things to say about it.
Emmett has a busy family life with wife Claire Cooper (Emmett J. Scanlan/Instagram)“Michelle and I are both complete Friends junkies. So the lion’s share of our communication is through Friends GIFs.” The Irish actor, who has also starred in Peaky Blinders and Game of Thrones, says the outpouring of love from Fool Me Once fans has been “just insane”.
He’s been recognised in the most unusual of places, confessing: “The most uncomfortable time was standing up [at] a urinal.” Emmett is back on screens this week in returning gangland drama Kin 2 as Jimmy Kinsella, whose underworld crime family faces an even bigger threat from an international drugs rival.
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He may be used to playing tough guys but in real life the star is unnerved by the most unlikely of things – soft play centres. The dad of two – who met actress wife Claire Cooper, 43, on the set of Hollyoaks at the start of their careers – says: “Soft play is almost like a phobia [for me].
“They’re a f****** jungle, a cocktail of sleep-deprived parents, sugared-up kids, the greatest hits of everyone’s least favourite band, bacteria.” Aside from visits to the dreaded foam-filled activity halls with kids Ocean-Torin, four, and Fiain-Luna, two, he reckons he and Claire have juggling work and life down to a fine art.
He says: “We go with the flow. We don’t have a game plan. It’s just the way it kind of happens. But we are a very good team.... We champion each other and hold each other up.”
*Kin S2 is on BBC1 on Tuesdays from 10.40pm and on iPlayer