As Two Doors Down’s Cathy Whyte, actor Doon Mackichan helped create one of the most memorable sitcom characters of the last decade.
However, as outrageous as Cathy could be, Doon has admitted there were moments she felt she had to draw a line.
Last week, the Bafta nominee made an appearance at Hay Festival, where The Independent reported that she opened up about several Two Doors Down scenes that she “refused” to film.
“Some things went a bit far,” she claimed. “Sometimes, gay men writing for women, it pushes it. I felt like I was becoming a kind of drag act.
“[Two Doors Down co-creator Simon Carlyle] wanted me to go further and further, and sort of march up and down and talk about my fanny and I’d just be like, ‘OK, I’m happy to be a gay icon, but I also don’t want to be a reductive stereotype. I want to be real’.”
Doon went on to say she was especially proud of the vulnerability Cathy displayed, recalling: “The Christmas special – where she drinks way too much and it’s actually really grim – is important because she has a problem. You don’t want to talk about alcoholism in a sitcom, but actually, that’s what we’re doing.
“It’s all about fine lines and balance and trying to make her more real than a stereotype.”
Cathy appeared in the first five seasons of Two Doors Down, but the character was written out of the show in 2022 when Doon stepped away from the show due to “availability” issues.
She previously told Radio Times: “There was a lot going on in my life at the time, and it just didn’t work. It was gutting.”
Doon eventually returned as Cathy for the show’s seventh season, saying: “When that had all passed, and, you know, kind of righted itself, it was like, ‘Well, I would love to come back. Can we make this work?’. It was like fireworks in the sky. ‘Yes, yes, yes!’.”
The future of Two Doors Down is currently unclear following the death of co-creator Simon Carlyle in August 2023.
Simon’s fellow writer Gregor Sharp revealed last year: “We haven’t thought about the future too much. We’re not at a point of thinking through what that would be. We’ve obviously got a move to BBC One so we’ll see how that goes and how the show performs. It’s not anything we know right now.”
After the season seven finale, Doon wrote on Instagram: “Sad to see Two Doors Down ending for now due to the tragic death of our great writer Simon Carlyle.
“We love and miss him but what a legacy he has left, incredible man, incredible talent and valued friend.”