Eileen stars in new Billy the Kid TV drama

Eileen stars in new Billy the Kid TV drama

27 April 2022

IT’S another step back in time for Castlewellan actor Eileen O’Higgins in her new US television series Billy the Kid.

O’Higgins plays the mother of the young gunslinger in this latest take on the famed Western story.

Starring Tom Blyth as Billy, the eight-part series charts the outlaw’s life story from his humble Irish beginnings to his days as a cowboy and his pivotal role in the Lincoln County War, and beyond.

More sinned against than sinning, the series portrays Billy as largely a victim of circumstances, backed into a corner by life until his only option is to come out shooting.

Billy the Kid was actually Henry McCarty, son of Kathleen McCarty (identified often as Catherine in historical sources), and the late Joey Batey who appears to die by suicide in the early episodes.

O’Higgins’ character is much sturdier mentally than Billy’s father and she and her son are very close.  She faces as many challenges as does Billy. 

“It’s not really the best time in history to be female or to be Irish,” said O’Higgins, about the late 19th century in developing America. 

“This was a time when the Irish had arrived in America seeking that American dream. Irish people were arriving in droves, seeking refuge in an America that was seen as a land that was going to be compassionate, a land that was going to have opportunities and a land where people could have dreams and goals and achieve them.”

O’Higgins is known for her period drama work, having starred alongside Saoirse Ronan in Mary, Queen of Scots and the Oscar-winning Brooklyn. 

She also starred alongside Belfast actor Michael Smiley in Dead Still, a black comedy crime drama set in Victorian Dublin, which was aired on RTE in the autumn of 2020.

She also appeared in Netflix’s hit show, The Irregulars, alongside Thaddea Graham from Killinchy, where she played Sherlock Holme’s feisty and mysterious partner Alice. 

She was in last year’s surprise hit film, Nowhere Special, with local actor Niamh McGrady. The film was shot in Belfast starring James Norton about a terminally ill single father trying to find a new family for his son.

O’Higgins loves the chance to go back home when she can to see her parents, Kathleen and Brian, and five brothers and sisters.

A former student of Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch, she remains close friends with Oscar winner Saoirse Ronan.

Billy The Kid can be viewed on Amazon Prime on the EPIX channel.