Last year, on Thursday, January 4, Channel 4 launched what would become one of their most popular comedies to date. All anyone could talk about was Derry Girls… ‘Are you watching Derry Girls?’ ‘You must watch Derry Girls!’ ‘It’s got Tommy Tiernan as the dad! Tommy Tiernan!’
The raw, rampant gra surrounding Lisa McGee’s creation was so huge, it was enough to turn you off watching it all together — which, I’m afraid, something yours truly fell foul of. Indeed, I’d never watched Derry Girls until this commission.
Why not? Perhaps it was just a feeble rebellion, or maybe it was being saved for a mental rainy day. Or, possibly, I just didn’t want to see Tommy Tiernan shouting for half an hour…
Either way — with the transmission date for series two looming — not only am I trying to persuade you it’s worth all the Twitter hype, after finally binge watching it, I’m now convinced it’s not just The Inbetweeners set in a different town, in a different decade — but with added Tommy Tiernan, less vomiting, and only a few passing references to Clunge’s more familiar cousin, Fanny.
No longer do I wonder if the show merely had people guffawing maniacally around their couches because January 4 is generally when most people are in a post-festive doom spiral and, therefore, primed to laugh at anything. Okay so. Here are the reasons why Derry Girls is a bona fide hit.
Fleabag was one of the best television series in years. Based on the one-woman play by Phoebe Waller-Bridge I was lucky to see years ago in the Soho Theatre, it married comedy and tragedy better than anything since the heights of Alan Bleasdale, Dennis Potter, Mike Leigh or Victoria Wood. But those guys were just messing around at the edges compared to the first episode of the second series of Fleabag that has just hit the BBC iPlayer and will be playing tonight on BBC1.
Derry native Lisa McGee’s nostalgic series depicts the lives of a group of teenagers growing up in the Maiden City in the 1990s amid the Troubles.
Delighting both critics and audiences, Derry Girls became an instant classic and Channel 4 commissioned a second series after just one episode.
For the second series, we may not know what’s happening, but we’ve had a few clues.
Will the whole cast be returning?
Yes, Erin, Michelle, Orla, Clare, wee English fella James, Ma Mary, Da Gerry, Granda Joe, Aunt Sarah and Sister Michael will all be returning for the second series.
Ardal O’Hanlon, who is best known for his role as witless priest Dougal Maguire in Father Ted, is set to make a guest appearance as “Eamonn, the awkward, middle-aged mummy’s boy of the Quinn/McCool extended family”.
What can we expect from the new series?
Channel 4 released a 60-second trailer last week, which opened with familiar sights of Northern Ireland in the 1990s – with a cheesy pop tune – and a teaser of the girls – and that wee English fella – heading off on a possible cross-community venture.
Despite Ma Mary’s warning that there’s to be “no funny business with those Protestant lads,” we can’t imagine that rebellious Michelle will be able to stay away.
Actress Nicola Coughlan, who plays Clare Devlin, confirmed on Twitter that there will be six episodes in the second series and “they’re absolute crackers”.
Filming got underway in October when the cast were spotted at the Dockers Club in Belfast, shooting what appeared to be a wedding as extras donned tailcoats and fascinators.
In November, the cast and crew caused quite a commotion when they returned to the Maiden City to film in Guildhall Square where US flags were hung across the front of a corner shop alongside hula hoops, a shop dummy and some tricolours as former President Bill Clinton’s famous visit to the city in 1995 was replicated with exacting detail for the TV comedy.
When will Derry Girls return to our TV screens?
The latest trailer promises that the nostalgic comedy series is “coming soon” to Channel 4 and it has been earmarked for a March 2019 release.
Will love be in the air for any of the Derry Girls?
Series writer Lisa McGee previously told Radio Times she would love one of the characters to get a boyfriend or for Clare, who came out during the last episode of series one, to get a girlfriend.
Coughlan told the Radio Times it would be an interesting story.
She said: “I can’t imagine Clare trying to be like, on a date.
“I don’t know what the hell she would wear, the flat Doc Martin shoes and all this stuff. I was chatting to Cathy Prior, our costume designer, the other day and we were talking about looks for Clare. There’s just so much, it’s such a great period for costumes, as long as I don’t have to wear the ski pants again I’ll be super happy.”
Will there be a third series of Derry Girls?
So far Channel 4 have not looked beyond a second series, but McGee has said she would be happy to do a third, telling Radio Times: “I’d love it to get them to finish school.
“They have three school years left if we do it year by year so maybe, we’ll see.”
