It has been over three years since we last saw the Derry Girls, and while we're just about to be reunited with them, we've already got to prepare to say goodbye again... and this time forever!
The third season of the hit show kicks off this week, but once it has run its six episodes, that will be the end of the much-loved series.
Ahead of the release of the new season, JOE (AKA our very own Derry Boy, Eoghan Doherty) had the opportunity to sit down with the show's creator Lisa McGee about what fans can expect from how the Derry Girls story wraps up, and the surprising impact - including a mention in The Simpsons! - that the show has had around the world.
You can listen to the interview in full right here:
During the chat, we asked McGee specifically about this third season, including how difficult it was to make during the pandemic, and McGee's thoughts on how the whole show would come to an end.
McGee told us the following:
"It was really tough, we were faced with a lot of challenges in production because of Covid and all of that stuff. We're a small show, really, with a big cast and so I think the Covid stuff was tough on us. But we did it and we got the show now, and I think it is the best one yet. And I hope everybody else agrees! I think we've taken it exactly where we wanted to take it, and yeah, I'm very proud of it."
"I think the finale is definitely the biggest thing we've done. And I think the scale of some of the - I call them 'pickles' - that they get themselves into has been a bit bigger and a bit more ambitious. I think as well that the actors know those characters so well now that we were able to really push the comedy. So it felt like the perfect season in terms of storylines and the characters' journeys, because the actors now are so good at inhabiting those characters."
"The last ever episode of Derry Girls is my favourite thing I've ever written. But it is a wee bit different. Because it's the final it is a wee bit bigger than anything we've done before, so I'm a wee bit anxious about it as well. But I hope people like it."
That finale will arrive in May, but before then, the first episode of Derry Girls Season 3 arrives on Channel 4 on Tuesday, 12 April at 9.15pm, with the rest of the season arriving each Tuesday after that.
Clip via Channel 4
