Casting has been announced for new Channel 4 comedy, Derry Girls. Currently filming on location in Northern Ireland, the series is written by acclaimed writer Lisa McGee (Indian Summers, London Irish, Being Human) who has mined her own experiences to create a candid, one-of-a-kind comedy set against the spectre of The Troubles.
16-year-old Erin Quinn (Saoirse Monica Jackson) lives with her uncompromising mother (Tara Lynne O’Neill), her long-suffering father (Tommy Tiernan) and the fearsome ‘Granda Joe’ (Ian McElhinney), a man whose love for his daughters and granddaughters is surpassed only by his contempt for his son-in-law. It’s the early 1990s, and Erin is used to seeing her country on the nightly news and speaking in acronyms (The IRA, The UDA, The RUC). This is a time of armed police in armoured Land Rovers and British Army check points. But it’s also the time of Murder She Wrote, The Cranberries, MJ and Lisa Marie, Doc Martens, bomber jackets, The X Files, Nirvana and Wayne’s World. And while The Troubles may hang over her home town, Erin has troubles of her own…
Terrible with boys and convinced nobody understands her, Erin would love to be a rebel, and sometimes flirts with the idea of standing up to those in authority, like her Principal - the eternally unimpressed Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney), or divorcing her parents, à la Macaulay Culkin, but she never quite has the nerve. She has grand ambitions to become a famous writer and thinks of herself as thoroughly liberal and worldly, yet she’s never ventured further than Buncrana…
Writer Lisa McGee (Indian Summers, London Irish, Being Human) said: "I’m delighted to be able to tell the stories of real people living through The Troubles. And now, with the delicate political ecosystem of the country about to be tested by The Conservatives and The DUP, it seems well worth reminding ourselves how things were not so long ago, and what better way to do that than through comedy?”
Jimmy Mulville, MD of Hatrick Productions, says “Having produced Father Ted, it’s a real privilege for Hat Trick to be involved with another brilliant, stand-out Irish comedy this time set in the North. Lisa has written a beautifully authentic and hilarious depiction of family life in Derry during the early 90s and, with her, the experienced team of Liz Lewin, Caroline Leddy and Catherine Gosling Fuller has found a simply fantastic cast.”
Tommy Tiernan is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe this summer with a new show, Under The Influence (picture here). He is at the Gilded Ballon from Aug 4 - 27. Tickets and info here.
