George McMahon Shares Real-Life Inspiration Behind Mondo’s Trial Storyline
Fair City actor George McMahon has shared how his real-life experiences have influenced his portrayal of the character Mondo, whose storyline is set to take a dramatic turn in the upcoming episode. The RTÉ soap opera will see the conclusion of Mondo’s trial for murder after he accidentally killed Anto Collins in a one-punch scuffle last Halloween. McMahon revealed that he was able to draw on lived experience in preparing for this bleak storyline.
The Celbridge, Co Kildare actor told that during his upbringing, there was a friend of his whose brother died from a similar incident—just one punch and it was fatal. He described the time as “a shocking time” and emphasized the difficulty families face when seeking justice in such cases.
McMahon recalled that the incident happened on O’Connell Street in Dublin around 20 years ago. He highlighted the stark reminder that life can be taken away at any moment, noting that Mondo is not a big or tough lad.
He said he has tried to bring a bit of sensitivity to Mondo’s end of things with his approach to the storyline. He explained that Mondo was angry with Anto at the time but never meant to kill him. The actor aims to show this to the audience, especially to Hayley and Sharon, Anto’s daughter and wife, to convey that although they didn’t get along, Mondo never intended for this to happen.
The long-serving soap actor continued: “It’s a really tricky thing, I think, for families who are seeking justice, because they’ve lost a loved one at the hands of somebody else, but it was never intended. So that was a bit of a tricky one to navigate.”
McMahon first appeared as Mondo in 2002, shortly after his breakthrough role in the RTÉ/ BBC children’s show Custer’s Last Stand-up. Over the years, his character has become a fan favorite, though recent developments have seen Mondo slip into more objectionable territory. The actor noted that this has been reflected in his interactions with the public.
He was approached by a fan on a plane to the Canaries last week with his wife, Rachel, and young children in relation to Mondo’s trial. The fan leaned across and whispered, “I thought you were in prison,” before walking away. McMahon laughed it off, but the man sitting beside him started getting nervous, thinking he was sitting beside a prisoner being transported.
Such interactions are sometimes “so bizarre that I think they must be messing,” McMahon said, but some are “genuinely dead serious.” He mentioned visiting a daycare center in Tallaght, where he had a bit of fun with residents and service users. Some of them take their Fair City very seriously, to the point where all their loved ones know when not to ring them because they’re watching Fair City.
He also got accosted by a few of them over Mondo’s recent tryst with Melanie, with some calling him a “dirty dog” and expressing disappointment in Mondo’s actions.
The 40-year-old admitted he keeps abreast of fan reactions on the Facebook page Fair City News and Spoilers, which has just under 18,000 members. He breaks the rule of not reading online commentary about himself, stating that he gets roasted all the time. He believes most comments are fair unless they are mean or cruel. The curiosity gets the better of him, and he always checks how the show is faring.
The dad-of-two said a sudden departure is “always in the back of your head” as a soap actor. He calls the stage school he set up with his dancer wife in 2008—Glitz Performing Arts in Julianstown, Co Meath—the family’s “bread and butter.” Things were quiet at the time, and he had to figure out a way to put food on the table. He realized they were good at it and started nurturing it. They now have a cool little stage school with talented kids, some of whom are auditioning for Netflix shows. It’s a labor of love, but it was a labor of necessity at the start.
