Tudors television appearance

A well known face in the Athlone area will have a starring role in the next series of the hit TV show 'The Tudors' when it airs later this year in America and it's all due to her willingness to appear bald on screen! Liz Shiel, who suffers from alopecia and heads up the Alopecia Support website and support groups nationwide, including one in Athlone, was picked for a close-up scene with King Henry VII, played by heart-throb Jonathon Rhys Meyers, during filming of the show in Bray back in July. After sending in a picture of herself bald to the programme makers, she received a call to come to Wicklow at very short notice for a scene featuring a group of sick people, an experience Liz described this week as the "best buzz". Although a novice in the acting stakes, the Monksland resident attributes winning the part to her willingness to go bald in the scene and her TV experience after appearing four times last year to promote the Alopecia Support website and raise awareness of the condition, which causes baldness in sufferers. "I was in the crowd outside Whitehall kneeling on the gravel and King Henry walks past and the Bishop asks him to lay his hands on the unfortunate souls, poor people who are sick. I beg the King to help me," she said of her scene. "He lifted my chin and looked in to my eyes, I nearly died and went to heaven!" Liz joked, of meeting her hero, playing the infamous king, who by this stage in his latter years believed he had god-like qualities. "He said by the grace of God I cure you and he put a coin in my hand." Although Liz, already a massive fan of the show laughed that she was sore from kneeling in the gravel for four hours during the nine takes needed for the scene, she was full of praise for the programme makers and in particular, its main star Jonathon Rhys Meyers. "He was an absolute gent, welcoming us all on to the set. At one stage I wandered off to get my bag after filming and he strolled up to me, took my hands and thanked me, giving me a hug and kiss on each cheek," she said. "It was such a buzz. I was in shock for days. I've watched every episode of the show and my daughter is an even bigger fan than me." Having thoroughly enjoyed her brush with fame, Liz is now looking forward to seeing herself on screen via the internet when the programme airs in the US in Spring. And, the part has prompted her to seek further extra or acting work in the future, as Liz told the Westmeath Independent she was fascinated by the whole experience, everything from the lavish costumes to the makeup. An added bonus was raising awareness of alopecia, she said, something the crew and actors were very respectful of. "I think I'm turning alopecia from a negative to a positive. It's nice to use it for something good," she enthused, adding, "I'd love to do more extra work. I definitely try it now, him being there was the best buzz".