Kelly's Irish heroine is signed up for six more years of Boardwalk Empire

Adelina Campos

Kelly Macdonald has been signed up to play an Irish immigrant in the highly anticipated series Boardwalk Empire for six more years.

The stunning Scot, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the first series of the period gangster drama, has reportedly accepted to reprise her role for following seasons.

Boardwalk Empire, described by US critics as one of the best programmes currently on television, is due to make its Irish debut when Sky launches its new channel, Sky Atlantic, on February 1.

The series, set in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the roaring Twenties, was directed by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese and created by Emmy-Award winner, Sopranos producer Terence Winter. It stars Sopranos and Reservoir Dogs actor Steve Buscemi as Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson, a corrupt politician in the Prohibition era.

Lead actress, Kelly (34) plays Margaret Schroeder, an Irish mother-of-two who is unhappy with her alcoholic and abusive husband and turns to Nucky for help.

Margaret is a member of the Women's Temperance League, an organisation supporting the stringent laws regarding alcohol consumption and gambling, that came about during the inter-war period.

The No Country For Old Men actress has admitted she was unlikely to have been a supporter of Prohibition had she lived at that time.

JUICE

"I'm speaking from Glasgow, and Scotland is very, very fond of its booze," she said. "I enjoy a drink in moderation. I'm a bit funny about tomato juice, but somebody made me a Bloody Mary recently, and it was delicious!

"I've never liked tomato juice before, but put a bit of vodka in it and I'm fine."

Kelly has been dividing her time between the States and her hometown in the UK where she lives in a £1m Victorian villa with her musician husband Dougie Payne (38) and son Peter (2), since being told that she would continue working on the HBO series.

"I've not been in the States since it started airing," she said.

"Now I'm going to be leaving the UK just as it starts over here. I'm missing it all over the world."

The Scots beauty had to practise her Irish accent to take on the role but it is not the first time that she has played a native of the Emerald Isle. She worked hard on her Dublin accent for Intermission where she played Cillian Murphy's ex-girlfriend, and she also had to play an Irish character in terrorist movie Alias.

She revealed that she had been anxious about acting in an accent that wasn't hers. "I arrived and said, 'You know I'm Scottish,' but they went, 'It's fine, don't worry about it'."

hnews@herald.ie