Exclusive: Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’
Katie Gallagher
Fair City star Nyree Yergainharsian is the pride and joy of Ireland’s Armenian community as she celebrates her heritage onscreen in the hit Irish soap.
The actress, best known as Carrigstown’s Melanie, was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and an Armenian father.
Dubbing herself a ‘full throttle hybrid’, Nyree said she is proud to be able to represent both cultures through her character on the national broadcaster.
But not as proud as her father, who is the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Armenia in Ireland and her right hand man for information on her heritage for the show.
She told the Irish Daily Mirror: “It is really great, my dad is heavily involved with the Armenian community in Ireland and he is the Armenian consul here so I know that the whole Armenian community were really excited.
“Because they’ve really integrated into Ireland and some are like me where they are a parent from each or maybe they are Armenians who just moved and emigrated to Ireland.
“And they are just so proud and delighted to see that Ireland’s favourite soap is representing them so well.”
As Nyree was born and raised in Ireland, she isn’t fluent in Armenian, and often enlists the help of the community and her dad when it comes to speaking the language on the show.
She explained: “I ask a lot of them when it comes to information or bits and pieces and every now and again.
“I get bits from him [dad], I never spoke it fluently. It was just very hard in the 80s and 90s there weren’t many Armenian families so even to practice that would have been very hard. “But now it is great I’m able to share that with my dad. And he helps me a lot with including the language in the program.
“So it is really nice to be represented in that way and to represent the community, I know they are really proud,” she added.
Fair City’s Christmas special will see her character Melanie pull out all the stops to create ‘a hybrid Christmas’ with Mondo and the kids, to ensure they are celebrating both Irish and Armenian traditions at the dinner table.
And it seems the episode will see art mimicking reality for the star, who said she has always grown up with a mix of both cultures in her home.
“Our dinners are always a bit of a hybrid so Christmas for us never stood out when there was a mix of dishes. It never seemed strange to us because it was the same all year.
“We would always have the same thing that every family would have had growing up in the 80s and 90s but you would have had a middle eastern twang to everything.
“Christmas dinner we always had homemade hummus on the table and always a little bit hybrid so it wouldn’t be too far from home for me anyway.”
Like many around the country, the star will sit down with her family tomorrow[Sat/Christmas Day] to watch the Christmas special.
“We always look forward to the Christmas episodes because we are all together for them.”
But with a week of ‘trysts, lies, and shootings’ billed for the festive specials she’ll have a job on her hands trying not to spoil the shocks and surprises from her eager family and fans.
“When my scripts come in they are always dying to know what is happening and looking for a bit of gossip before it comes out they think they are ahead of the game.”
Teasing what is to come in Carrigstown in the New Year, she added:
“People think we have much more insight knowledge but actually we love making the predictions as well and I am really excited now because I know next year some of the predictions I have made recently are actually coming true.
“And they are really exciting. I think the fans are going to absolutely adore it.”
Fair City airs on RTE One Christmas Day at 8.50pm, and again on St Stephen’s Day, December 26