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Movies & TV

09th Apr 2019

OFFICIAL: Season 3 of Derry Girls is happening

Paul Moore

Derry Girls Season 3

Cracker! Season 3 of Derry Girls is happening!

Much like Da Gerry’s road trip to Burt with Uncle Colm and Granda Joe, the wait for Season 3 of Derry Girls is bound to feel like an eternity because after that superb finale to Season 2, we’re now facing a long wait without any new episodes.

Well, the good thing is that there will be new episodes because we’re delighted to say that Channel 4 has officially announced that Season 3 of the award-winning comedy has been commissioned!

That news is cracker!

Speaking about the news, Lisa McGee, writer of Derry Girls, has said: “I love writing this show and I’m so thrilled to be able to continue the Derry Girls story, thank you Channel 4, Erin and the eejits live to fight another day!

In case you’re wondering just how big the she is, Season 2 of Derry Girls launched with a consolidated audience of 3.2m viewers for episode one, which makes it Channel 4’s biggest UK comedy launch episode for 15 years. In Northern Ireland, the Season 2 launch was the most watched programme across all channels since the first season.

In case you’ve never seen the show, Derry Girls is the creation Lisa McGee and it’s a candid, one-of-a-kind, family-centred comedy. While Season 1 saw the gang navigate their teens in 1990’s Derry against a backdrop of The Troubles, the second season saw them navigating their parents, parties, love interests and school against the backdrop of a precarious peace process.

Ian Katz, Director of Programmes at Channel 4, has said: “At a time of great uncertainty about the future of the country thank god we have one unequivocally good piece of news to look forward to: the Derry Girls will be back to make our lives a bit brighter and more fun.”

Before the Season 2 finale aired, JOE had the chance to chat with Lisa McGee (writer/creator) and we had to ask her about Season 3.

In the last two episodes, we got to see the IRA ceasefire and Bill Clinton visiting Derry – two seismic events that shaped the city of Derry in the ’90s. With regards to Season 3, McGee does have a very specific event that she’d love to depict in the show, the Good Friday Agreement.

“Obviously, the political timeline is a bit tricky and I’d need to do a lot of sitting down and thinking about how to work the plot out. Hopefully, they’ll say that we can have another go. I’d love that. I’d love to get the story up to the Good Friday Agreement but that’s tricky. You know, we’ve ended Season 2 with Clinton’s speech in Derry that took place in ’95. It’s a bit of a way off but I just need to work all that out. I’d definitely want to cover the Good Friday Agreement . It was the biggest moment in my lifetime and it was huge for Northern Ireland. It would be a shame not to try and tell that story,” she said.

Prior to the first episode in Season 1 airing, JOE had the chance to chat with the cast of Derry Girls and we asked them about a third season and the potential for a film.

“Definitely, I know that we all would return for Season 3,” said Nicola Coughlan.

“There are so many more places that we could go with these characters. I have people coming up to me in the street and they’re like ‘we should do this, that, and the other’. There’s a real hunger for it and we love doing it. We all certainly hope for more seasons.”

Well, now it’s official.

Truth be told, we’re so happy that we’d even contemplate a chat with Uncle Colm!

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