Northern Ireland's Conleth Hill continues his hilarious 'The Power of Parker' show

The 1980s were a time when yuppies ruled the world and money seemed to be everywhere, you just had to have the knack of getting your hands on it.

However, with that boom came bust, just a few short years later – and that’s the situation we found the formerly upwardly mobile Martin Parker when this sitcom, written by Sian Gibson and Paul Coleman, began.

The story takes place in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in 1990, just as the flashy businessman – who models himself on Alan Sugar and slick politician-turned-broadcaster Robert Kilroy-Silk – started having serious financial and personal issues.

“Martin Parker is a man who seems to have it all and more; beautiful wife and family, beautiful long term mistress, impressive detached home, successful chain of electrical goods shops, the confidence, the suits, the cowboy boots and car,” explains Conleth Hill, who plays him. “But all is not as happy and successful as it seems. He has made bad business decisions and is against the clock to sort the whole mess out.”

What he doesn’t realise is that his wife Diane and mistress Kath have joined forces to bring him down. They should hate each other, of course, but they’re sisters as well as love rivals, so it seems that when it comes to plotting his downfall, blood really is thicker than water.

For Hill, whose CV includes Game of Thrones, Magpie Murders and Holding (as well as a guest role as a female supermarket employee dressed as a Smurf alongside Gibson in an episode of Peter Kay’s Car Share), being taken back in time during filming was nothing short of a joy.

“I was in my twenties and started acting in 1986/7 so I loved it all; football, music, movies, and great TV!” he grins. “In 1990 I was working in theatre in Belfast and funnily enough filming in Manchester on a series called Medics. Love Manchester, me.”

When asked if he and Martin have anything in common, Hill smiles and states, “we both have great hair.” However, it wasn’t their shared coiffeur that attracted him to the project: “The script and the writing is what made me want to be a part of the show. Paul and Sian did all the work creating the story and we got to play wonderful scenes with great lines and excellent actors.

“Filming was really hard work but great fun. All departments in the crew were at the top of their game and that helps, so I genuinely enjoyed every scene.”

He also describes the story as “brilliant, suspenseful, awkward, funny, sad and engrossing,” so we’re guessing that, as we head into the penultimate episode, there are still big revelations to come.

But for now, we get to see what happens when Diane sends Kath on a secret mission – and if it involves keeping a low profile, you can bet it will be disaster.

No doubt Diane would prefer to do it herself, but she’s having to accompany Martin to dinner at Sandy Cooper’s, where he hopes to talk himself into a role that will enable him to get his hands on some much-needed cash…