It’s the smash-hit comedy that introduced the world to cream horns and Sister Michael, catapulted its previously unknown leads to stardom and, most recently, scored a shout-out from The Simpsons. This month, the Derry Girls – and the wee English fella – are back for a third and final instalment; a little older, but none the wiser, according to creator Lisa McGee.
‘I’d say 10% of the show is probably personal development,’ says the writer, who based the Channel 4 sitcom on her experiences growing up in Derry in the 1990s. ‘And 90% is just chaos.’
In the first two series, McGee beautifully weaved the ordinary and extraordinary, with Erin, Michelle, Orla, Clare and James navigating school, ruckuses and raging hormones as The Troubles tore through Northern Ireland. In the final season, as the gang ‘just batter on’, talks are underway to secure peace after decades of conflict.
‘Michelle’s opening line is something like, “I’m so fucking sick of peace.” Because it’s all everyone’s going on about, she’s just over it already,’ McGee says, laughing. ‘But they also do face a very grown-up thing that means they have to make some decisions about what they actually think of the world around them.’
For the writer, the lead-up to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (now back in the spotlight, amid post-Brexit negotiations) demonstrated the huge compromises ordinary people made for peace and power-sharing. ‘I do feel quite strongly about how important that was, and is,’ says McGee, who moved back to Northern Ireland from London during the pandemic with her husband and two sons. ‘Around that time was always where I wanted it to end, because I think things changed after that, for all of us.’
'There’ll never be a show as special as this for us ...But it was the right time and right way to go out.’
Politics aside, the group will mainly be causing mayhem – and eliciting eye rolls from Sister Michael. This mix of teenage kicks, black humour and ’90s nostalgia has made Derry Girls resonate with international audiences and celebrity fans – including Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda and Fatboy Slim, who reportedly makes an appearance in series three. The cast’s careers have skyrocketed since the 2018 launch; Nicola Coughlan barely had time to remove her Bridgerton wig before she was back on set as Clare for the new series.
At its heart, the female-driven comedy is a love letter to McGee’s hometown, her schoolfriends and the resilient, funny women who carried their families through hugely challenging times. As Michelle puts it (in fruitier language), being a Derry Girl is a state of mind; for McGee, it’s ‘someone who stands up for what they believe in, but doesn’t change themselves… we’re comfortable and proud of who we are’.
While McGee has a ‘kind of’ idea for a Derry Girls film, she and its stars are busy with other projects. For now, the bell has sounded. ‘There’ll never be a show as special as this for us,’ she admits. ‘But it was the right time and right way to go out.’
‘Derry Girls’ returns weekly on Tuesday 12 April on Channel 4, with catch-up on All 4
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