C4’s new six-part comedy Derry Girls takes a warm, honest and funny look at life in Derry during The Troubles…
If you’re fed up of seasonal specials and 2017 recaps, C4 have a new comedy, Derry Girls, to help welcome in 2018 with a bit of craic!
Sitting somewhere between Father Ted and The Inbetweeners, Derry Girls is fresh, six-part, coming-of-age comedy. Set in 1990s’ pre-ceasefire Northern Ireland, Derry Girls charts the misadventures of teenager Erin Quinn, who's an endearing mix of confidence and confusion. The city may be hostage to bomb scares and British army patrols, but these pale in comparison with Erin’s struggles to stop her oddball cousin Orla reading her diary, daily battles with her Mam, and getting dreamy David Donnelly to notice her…
“I can’t wait for viewers to meet the everyday people of Derry. These are people we all know, wherever you’re from in the world,” says Saoirse Jackson, who plays Erin. “It’s a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody - and Erin can’t get away with sneaking into a nightclub at 16!”
In a time when The Cranberries topped the charts, Erin and those closest to her are getting on with life in the eye of the Troubles. Providing counterweight to Erin and her friends’ antics are stars Tommy Tiernan as Erin’s dad, Tara-Lynne O’Neill as her mam, and Ian McElhinney as Granddad Joe.
“Tommy and Ian were brilliant. Myself and Louisa Harland, who plays cousin Orla, got really attached to Ian, as if he was our granddad, because he’s lovely and hilarious,” explains Saoirse. “I’m from Derry but the casting was done in London and they just happened to find a couple of real McCoys! I’m very proud to be from Derry so I’m extremely happy there’s a comedy set in Derry.”
Saoirse also revealed that writer Lisa McGee (Being Human, London Irish, Indian Summers) drew on some of her real life experiences for elements of the plots:
“There are definitely a few episodes that are true stories to some extent, and all the girls are based on Lisa and the friends she grew up with, which makes it even funnier!”
Derry Girls starts on C4 on Thursday 4th January 2018 at 10.00pm.
