Derry Girls: Queens of my Heart and the Wee English Fella

Derry Girls is a coming-of-age British sitcom that follows Erin Quinn and her friends as they become young adults during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. From 1968 to 1998 an ethno-nationalist conflict occurred between Northern Irish Protestants and Catholics as they fought over Northern Ireland’s choice to succeed to the United Kingdom. This conflict even went so far as to have massive walls built across the North of Ireland to separate the two sides, as well as numerous terrorist style bombings on both sides of the division. It is here, in a small Catholic town called Derry (or Londonderry depending on your persuasion) in Northern Ireland, that this sitcom is set.

Derry Girls first appeared on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in January of 2018 before being brought to Netflix worldwide in December later that year. After binge-watching both season 1 and 2, Derry Girls is now definitely one of my all-time favorite television shows. It has earned a place in my heart because of it's well written characters, comedic storylines and references to late 20th century Irish culture that remind me of my own family. I come from a Northern Irish Protestant family on my mother’s side and Southern Irish Catholic family on my father’s side. So, there are many aspects of Derry Girls that I can relate too and find hilarious. I first heard about the show when my Aunt Wendy – who lives in Northern Ireland – worked on the set as a supervisor for the minors. When she heard that the show would eventually be brought to Netflix in the USA, she recommended that I watch it when it came out. Within the first 10 minutes of the Pilot episode I was already hooked.

The five main characters - Erin, Orla, Michelle, James and Claire – are all such completely different archetypes and yet they work together in a way you wouldn’t expect. Erin Quinn, the main character of the group, behaves like she is above societal norms but would gladly chew her own arm off to be popular. Erin's cousin, Orla McCool, is a manic pixie weirdo who never has any idea what’s going on because she’s off in her own world. Their best friends, Claire Devlin – a chronic worrier and goodie two shoes – and Michelle Mallon – a rebel without a cause or a filter – make for an interesting dynamic between the girls. The group is finished off by Michelle’s English cousin James Maguire who is often described as “the wee English fella” since he is typically the awkward comic relief and the butt of all the girls jokes because, well, he’s English. While it seems like these characters would never work together, they somehow make the best of friends because they are all seen as outcasts from the societal norms of their small town.

The thing I love most about Derry Girls is that it shows how even when teenagers grow up surrounded by a society filled with conflict and war, at their core they are all just the same as any other teenagers. The “Derry girls” (as they call themselves within the show) constantly get up to unusual adventures and create accidental chaos. In the first season alone, they are found in a precarious position with the body of a dead Nun, accidentally set a house on fire, become so sleep deprived from studying that they think they’ve seen a miracle, offended a very intimidating Russian girl who was trying to sleep with James, and accidentally help an IRA member across the border; the comedic aspects of this story alone make it worth watching. Although the Derry accents may be a shock for some Americans to understand, I recommend this show to everyone all the time because I love everything about it. Derry Girls now has two seasons on Netflix that everyone who wants to laugh and fall in love with some awesome characters should watch.