What on earth could be more frightening than spending your teenage years in a literal war zone? Just one thing – that agonising countdown waiting for your exam results. Our four Derry Girls, and honorary member James the English lad are back for the delayed series three and speeding towards the end of their teenage years (good job really, given the age of the cast).
Nicola Coughlan is prissy Clare, whose hysterical panic about their inevitable academic failure is added to Sister Michael’s (Siobhán McSweeney, playing one of the greatest comedy creations of the past decade) melancholy pronouncement “Try to enjoy what time you have left girls”. It’s too much to bear. The sitcom-y course of action is to break into school to find the results and end up aiding and abetting a robbery. This is all so stupid, and so exactly in keeping with their characters, please add my name to the list of people worried about their intelligence.
Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, relishing all the best lines) can of course give a detailed description of the suspect’s arse which Liam Neeson’s Inspector is about as happy with as you’d expect. She also has the unique ability to come on to the Inspector while grilling him about how many Catholics are on the force. (The answer is three, if you count that nice Jewish fella). Liam Neeson looks like he’s enjoying every moment of this fleeting cameo, and big names like his (used sparingly, we trust) are another indicator of how massive a success story Derry Girls is.
The Line of Duty interrogation continues with forthright Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) making her points repeatedly “for the tape” which doesn’t exist. Deadly dull Uncle Colm is their saviour, a safe paternal figure to call in a pinch, wearing the cops down with his uniquely boring stories; psychological torment the RUC was not prepared for. The jokes are smart and snappy; Erin whines “We’re too delicate for prison!”; Michelle replies “We go to convent school. We’ll be grand”. The storyline at home sees Granda Joe take in a stray cat hell-bent on a killing spree. The disposing of an innocent furry body by night in a remote shallow grave is a beautifully sinister cinematic moment.
The script and the jokes make this smart enough to watch twice; there’s always more detail to spot. The soundtrack is second to none, not just for the nostalgia of The Cranberries, Ace of Base and Take That in their prime, but how the clever little stings of familiar beats hit at the exact right moment, elevating and never overshadowing the action.
There’s so much to appreciate here; even the fact that this is the last series is admirable. For a successful show, knowing when to bow out is increasingly rare. Personally, I didn’t find the second series quite as engaging as the first, but maybe that’s because living up to series one was an impossible task. It’s sad that Nicola Coughlan must take a back seat in future episodes due to her Bridgerton duties, but wise not to carry on, maybe replacing her with another actress. And so the teenagers are allowed to move on with their lives and not remain in high school purgatory forever, like Bart Simpson.
The intelligent and thoughtful blend of comedy, teenage dilemmas and landmark historic moments have always been played with great pathos and integrity. This is thanks to writer Lisa McGee’s real-life upbringing in Derry. She’s turned the absurdity of being a teenager up to eleven, reflecting the particularly strange absurdity of life in 1990s Northern Ireland, which saw domestic life plodding on as normal despite political unrest and the very real threat of extreme violence. I’ve always thought The Troubles was a rather demure name; oh, we wouldn’t want to trouble you with a more accurate description of the time!
With the IRA ceasefire at the end of series two, and Derry’s chance to change for the better perhaps there’s fewer ridiculous situations to be mined for comedy. With this opener it feels like Derry Girls will end on a high, right in the character development sweet spot. The girls and their extended families aren’t comedy caricatures, but in refinement we never lose sight of broad, appealing comedy that makes it such a pleasure to watch.
