Newfoundland comedian Mary Walsh has played many roles in her television career, but she feels she was born to play her current one.
Walsh plays the titular character in “The Missus Downstairs,” a show about a neighbour intruding into the life of the man who lives on the floor above her. The inspiration for the show came from comedian Dave Sullivan’s experience of living upstairs of a nosey neighbour when he just wanted peace and quiet during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dave was determined to have solitude, the missus was determined to have Dave as a close friend,” Walsh told CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly in an interview Wednesday. “The missus won.
“I contacted Dave and said, ‘Look, I was born to be the missus downstairs, we have to do something.’”
The show, filmed in and around Conception Bay, Newfoundland, just released its third season. Walsh plays Mary and Sullivan plays John, and the two of them get into various antics.
“John gets a job at an advertising agency because that’s what he was doing before, you know, it all fell apart very badly,” Walsh said. “Missus is mad at him because since he got the big job, he rose up and…he’s blown up and he’s about to burst and Missus is very angry about it so she decides to try to pay him back.”
Walsh said the show, which airs on Bell Fibe TV, has already been given the green light for season four.
“We’ve been getting great feedback,” she said. “Really, really good feedback and people love it.”
