Top 10 TV: #2, Derry Girls 📺

Our #1 canine viewing buddy.

Time for another review nobody asked for, years too late to be remotely relevant…! :)

My number one favourite show of all time was easy to pick, and so is the runner up, which might actually end up in the top spot over time and rewatches. It might already be a tie.

It’s hard to know where to start with this one, because again we’re spoiled with excellence.  Like Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley, Derry Girls is essentially perfection, but heavier on the comedy and from the brilliant brain of Lisa McGee.

Her playwright’s credentials are in full evidence from the pilot episode, which is a glorious comedy of errors chock full of heart and culminating in the most perfectly Shakespearean tableau on TV since Frasier – if you’re not laughing out loud as James pees in a waste basket you might not have any more of a pulse than poor Sister Declan.

The Derry Girls. (Image: Rotten Tomatoes)

The show glows with lots of the hallmarks of Irish storytelling – the heartbreaking inheritance of sectarian dogma and violence countered by the heartening warmth of boisterous families and eccentric characters, a keen nose for irony, and wicked-sharp dialogue that strikes utterly true to the ear.  It also achieves that difficult and beautiful feat of lovingly poking fun at the drama of our teenage years without poking holes in anyone’s dignity.

Obviously we’re working with a stellar ensemble cast, who each get to shine thanks to full character arcs traced by a master storyteller (bonus marks for the delicacy of a sweet love story just hinted at). The Northern Irish setting is vividly drawn by dint of gorgeous shooting, archival footage and brilliantly nostalgic costuming.

If you haven’t devoured this show yet, I forgive you, but do yourself a favour and put it away. Plus, it’s the best way to learn how to use the word “hole” properly in a sentence. 🌈