There's no point giving out about Alzheimer's and you need to just go forward, Bryan Murray has said.

The Fair City actor revealed he was diagnosed with the condition back in 2022 and continues to work on the soap opera.

He was speaking ahead of the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland's Tea Day, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary on May 2nd.

Bryan told The Pat Kenny Show being an actor was good preparation.

"It's a bit like being an actor all the time; you have this thing in your head that sometimes is there and sometimes it isn't," he said.

"So, there's no point in giving out about it and just go forward with lots of endeavour."

Pat Kenny, Una Crawford O'Brien, Bryan Murray and Samantha Taylor, head of Dementia Advisory Services for the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland. Image: Newstalk

Bryan said learning lines is second nature to him.

"I've been so long in the business now it's a bit like you just get the page, read it down a few times and get to know what it is," he said.

"The words that the writer would put down is less important than what it's actually doing in the drama that's going on."

He is being fed the lines through an earpiece, which he called "fantastic".

'That's the scary bit'

Bryan said he remembers his diagnosis which he described as a 'bad period'.

"It's something inside in yourself that you want to kind of make it work alright - I think that's the important thing," he said.

"I remember that particular bad period and it's a while ago and that's the scary bit.

"But from my point of view it didn't go away but it didn't get any worse."

Bryan said you can choose how to deal with the condition.

"The great thing about being an actor is actors play different parts," he said.

"They're well used to playing somebody who's really upset because it's so bad having Alzheimer's - or else somebody who says, 'Who cares about Alzheimer's?'

"That's what this is about I think.

"It's not the end of the world".

Last year Bryan performed a play at Dublin's Abbey Theatre that dealt with Alzheimer’s disease.

'An Old Song, Half Forgotten' ran for just over three weeks on the Peacock stage.

Bryan Murray and Matthew Malone perform in 'An Old Song, Half Forgotten'. Image: X/@AbbeyTheatre

His on-and-off screen wife, Fair City actress Una Crawford O'Brien, told the show every night was like the first night.

"He'd ask me when we were going in, 'What are we going in for?' and that's the truth of it," she said.

Una herself is not unfamiliar with the disease.

"My mother had dementia and she had Alzheimer's, so I knew what was ahead," she said.

"When I heard the diagnosis it was a shock.

"Bryan's biggest love is acting and the fact that that could be or would be affected was terrible knowing that, so we didn't say anything for a couple of years.

"Then when we finally did come out and say it it was the best thing we ever did.

"People are very accepting of it now".

 'Learning to live in the present'

Una said there are workable solutions around the diagnosis.

"It's not a diagnosis that you have to say, 'Right that's the end' - you can go further," she said.

"If you think of the bigger picture it's workable".

Una said the crew on Fair City have been "fantastic".

"They have somebody there to feed him the lines," she said.

"The way we do it is we will do all the outdoor scenes, we will do all the indoor scenes - so it's disjointed and what people don't realise is that Bryan will forget what scene he did before.

"So, coming to a scene it's all new again and you have to explain to him what he did or what happened, what emotion he has felt in the last scene.

"Bryan lives in the present and I'm learning to live in the present, one day at a time," she added.

More information on Alzheimer's Tea Day can be found here.

Listen back here:

Main image: Bryan Murray and Una Crawford O'Brien at the launch of the 30th anniversary of Alzheimer’s Tea Day, 12-3-24. Image: Sasko Lazarov / © Photocall Ireland