This is Tommy Tiernan’s first major acting role since one of the great Father Ted episodes.
The first episode of Derry Girls premieres tonight on Channel 4 and it looks set to offer the blackest of black comedy with foul language and plenty of 90s pop cultural references to boot.
Following 16-year-old Erin Quinn (played by Saoirse Monica Jackson) as she comes of age during the later years of the Troubles, Derry Girls takes place in 1994 after Pulp Fiction has just landed in Irish cinemas.
Driven up the wall by her life in secondary school, an uncompromisingly tough mother (Tara Lynne O’Neill) and long-suffering father (Tiernan), the pains of growing up are made no easier by the constant sight of armed police roaming the streets and British Army checkpoints on every road.
Still, it all seems to be fine, as Erin’s class is reassured by one kind nun, “Don’t worry yerselves too much about the whole sectarian conflict carry on. There’s really only one thing you need to know… we’re the goodies.”
Clip via YouTube
Written by Lisa McGee (Indian Summers, London Irish), and based on her own experiences growing up in Derry, Derry Girls plays off the Inbetweeners feel of frustrated and misbehaving teens, but adds a strong dose of Catholic humour.
Basically, it’s the role Tommy Tiernan was born to play.
The Navan comic hasn’t acted since he made a brief appearance in one episode of Father Ted back in 1998, but Derry Girls won’t be his last either. He is also set to star alongside Game of Thrones and Love/Hate actor Aidan Gillen in an upcoming biopic on the controversial late-comedian, Dave Allen.
Tiernan also made headlines recently with the return of The Tommy Tiernan Show on RTÉ One on Wednesday night, which has received praise for his irreverent, but brilliant interview with Shaykh Dr. Umar Al-Qadri, the Imam of the Islamic Centre in Ireland.
Again, finding a way of making people laugh and think when it comes to one of the most difficult periods in Irish history, it looks as if this is the start of another brilliant phase in his already wildly successful career.
Check out the trailer for Derry Girls below…
Clip via YouTube
Derry Girls premieres on Channel 4 on Thursday night at 10pm.
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