Siobhán Cullen finds herself drawn to graveyards – not out of morbidity, she says, but because of the stories they tell.

Her fascination started long before the Dubliner’s lead role as the prim small-town obituarist Elvira Clancy, who reappears on screens this month in the second season of Obituary, RTÉ’s dark comedy.

“I love walking through a cemetery,” she says. “They’re really beautiful spaces to walk around in and get little snippets of people’s lives. I find it really interesting what people choose, or what their families choose, to have written on their headstones.”

At home in London, Abney Park Cemetery is a Cullen favourite. Highgate – the resting place of Karl Marx, George Michael and Christina Rossetti, to name a few – is close behind. The tours of Glasnevin Cemetery, in Dublin, also get the stamp of approval.

“You often see people are buried with their pets, or it’s a family plot, and you just create little narratives and stories. I think it’s a fascinating way to tap into history. If there’s one available nearby, pop into your local graveyard and have a look,” she says, laughing.

Strolling through graveyards isn’t the only way Cullen gets into character. For the first season of Obituary she made mock articles as parting gifts for the crew.

“At the end of every block when we were losing crew members, I’d write an obituary for them. A bit dark, a bit weird, but, I think, very in keeping with the tone of the show. Sometimes then I’d be looking on RIP.ie to get some inspiration.”

Playing a brooding journalist is not unfamiliar territory for the actor, who also stars as one in Bodkin. In the Netflix thriller her character works with a wide-eyed American podcaster to document a mystery in a town in west Co Cork.

[ Bodki