Fans of the sit-com Derry Girls will be delighted to hear that filming for the third series of the popular show could begin within the next few months as the coronavirus lockdown eases.
Derry Girls follows the lives of Catholic schoolgirls and friends in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
Viewers have enjoyed the moments of joy and comedy that arise during the lives of the girls as they juggle the political uncertainty in their lives along with the normal day-to-day issues that all teenagers go through.
The show has been a huge hit in Britain and Ireland and fans were recently left emotionally stunned after a dramatic end to the second series.
Although Channel 4 commissioned the series last year, filming was delayed because of the lockdown due to Covid-19.
Now the cast say there are talks about resuming production as soon as possible, albeit with social distancing in place. Nicola Coughlan, who plays Claire, said “tentative dates” are now in place and they hope to go ahead soon.
Speaking to Angela Scanlon on her podcast Thanks A Million, Coughlan said: “We were meant to start filming around now. It was mad because when this all started, I think your brain makes assumptions to make you feel better, like ‘it’ll just be a month, it’ll be fine’.
“But filming has been put on hold for now which sucks, and we’re all really excited to go back and start again and see the scripts because we actually haven’t. “We made the second series back in 2018, so it’s been a long time since we’ve been together filming. There’s tentative dates when we hope to go back but we don’t really know at the minute.”
Creator Lisa McGee 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!
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.”
Fans saw two of the key events in Derry history covered in series two, with the IRA ceasefire and the visit of US President Bill Clinton.
And series three promises to detail the effect the Good Friday Agreement had on the day-to-day lives of normal working people in the city.
McGee told Joe.ie: “Obviously, the political timeline is a bit tricky and I needed to do a lot of sitting down and thinking about how to work the plot out. It was the biggest moment in my lifetime and it was huge for Northern Ireland.”
If you haven’t seen Derry Girls so far, or just want a refresher then here is a YouTube clip of some of the funniest scenes from series one.
Written by Andrew Moore
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