The star of Channel 4’s comedy hit talks fame, facial contortions and globalising Northern Irish slang
In Derry, Saoirse-Monica Jackson’s face is painted across a wall, several metres high, alongside the four other lead cast members of Derry Girls. The mural was unveiled earlier this year to celebrate the second season of the Channel 4 hit comedy, and has been warmly received by residents of the Northern Irish city. They are, it seems, proud of how Lisa McGee’s series has put Derry in the spotlight – and for a more positive reason than those usually depicted in the city’s murals, which traditionally focused on the Troubles.
When I ask Jackson – who grew up in Derry – what she makes of it, she has almost no words, just about managing to say “amazing”.
“I’d love to have a more articulate answer,” she says apologetically, “but there’s a mural in my home town after this show – who could have imagined that would have happened?”
