Derry Girls New Series

[Taytocrisps]

Counting down the days here.

@DressingGownofDoom
Always wanted to ask someone from Derry what you thought of Nicola Coughlan and Louise Harland's accents ? Or if anyone else is reading thanks.

So the ending of that finished me. So beautifully done, and even more poignant thinking about the contempt the current UK Government is showing it. It made me feel very much that what felt like progress of all sorts in the 90s is being rowed back across the world, and very nostalgic for all the hope we saw in the characters.

Granda and his granddaughter, and Liam Neeson, were superb, but everyone played a blinder. The Irish dancing to Sunchyme was a real joy for us as my daughter is obsessed with that tune.

I definitely agree that this series hasn’t been as excellent as the first two, but it’s had some joyous moments. I also think Sister Michael has been overplayed though. She was far better understated. Having said that, her reaction to ‘God hates us’ in the penultimate episode was wonderfully done.

Yes, I think Sr Michael just hadn't much to work with, in terms of storylines, compared to the earlier series.

I agree she became a caricature. She was brilliant in S1 & 2 because of her believable understatedness - many of us in convent schools at the time could relate.

The adults were broadly, really good in this series, as the kids became more ridiculous. Claire or rather Nicola Coughlan is a disgrace throughout.

The only episode I really laughed at was the one where they went to clean Sr Michael's cousin's house.

It was historical and a reminder of how bad things were and how delicate they are today.
The relationship between the UK, NI, ROI has declined badly since Brexit, prior to Brexit they'd made huge strides.

@EarringsandLipstick - I went to a convent school for 2 years and there were no Sister Michaels there (more's the pity!) but I could relate to Derry Girls a lot because of the convent atmosphere/education. We luckily had no Jenny Joyce's either or if we did they went over our heads.

I was round my mum's house one night when my stepdad was watching this (on catch-up) and he mentioned Uncle Colm and the father being comedians - my uncle Murph is a stand up comedian in Dublin area - I just love the dry, sarcastic humour of them both but it's also great because having both NI and ROI actors in the show so all feel included.

In Ireland Tommy Tiernan who plays Gerry would have been by far the best known cast member to viewers. He's been a standup for donkey's years and has had a prime time chat show for the past couple of years.

In this series Sr Michael’s best line was after Jenny Joyce’s assembly piece where she says something like …. ‘after all of the atrocities of The Troubles we have a further atrocity to add…’

Also the whole eye rolling of the teenagers at everything made me laugh.

In this series Sr Michael’s best line was after Jenny Joyce’s assembly piece where she says something like …. ‘after all of the atrocities of The Troubles we have a further atrocity to add… 🤣
Sr Michael is hilarious, the sarcastic dry delivery of her comments.
I loved when she drove her sports car wearing the sunglasses.
Cracked me up.
Every episode brought me back to the 90's.

I saw Tommy Tiernan's stand up in the 90s. So I was remembering what he was actually like back then!

We luckily had no Jenny Joyce's either or if we did they went over our heads.

If you don't know who it is then it's you....
Maybe you were the Jenny Joyce @GonnaGetGoingReturns ?

4 sure

@GonnaGetGoingReturns, were you by any chance fond of doing a turn during assembly?

@GeorgesMarvelousCalpol - yeah right! There was no way I was the Jenny Joyce as I'm not the same character as her. The only part of character I might be like her is organising events, that's it. I certainly wasn't a stickler for rules. Our convent was private, fee paying but you had a range of girls whose parents struggled to pay the fees and others who didn't need to worry at all.

We had some girls who were a bit like her, but not as extreme. And some who sucked up to the nuns etc but our nuns were so scary they'd probably dismiss a lot of that!

I forgot the winky face emoji on my post 😉
All very tongue in cheek!

@Classica - no - no way! I'm not a stage school kid, wasn't into dancing, singing etc though I could sing. There was no way we were even allowed to perform at assemblies!

Also, I was there late so for the last 2 years of secondary school. I mostly had to fit in or try to, and try to make new friends, not alienate them by being a precocious, performing idiot.

One girl I was at school with, we went on an educational trip away, she sang to us, but she had a great voice. Even then I was wondering what she'd do with the voice as it was great but she seemed to lack confidence sometimes.

@GeorgesMarvelousCalpol - there might've been some girls who'd suck up to the nuns, perform etc but one of them I know who did that (but on the sly) got pregnant by her singing master in 5th year and had to leave half way throughout that year to have the baby.

She was Protestant like me (most were either Catholic or other religions) and used to criticise me/ask why I wasn't attending church on Sundays (like she was...!)

The final series had some funny and poignant moments but I didn't love it anywhere near as much as series one and two.

I like the inclusion and ending in the GFA, and their earlier letter to Chelsea Clinton, but the series two finale was perfect by comparison.

The death of Claire's father, I thought was more practical to explain why Claire would move away in the next episode!

@darisdet I agree re the death of Claire's father, it all seemed to jump around a bit and I agree that series 1 and 2 were far better (fresher material?).

There was always a Jenny Joyce type character at my convent school! Not doing the turns necessarily, but something like it.

Though my private convent school differed in the fee paying, and I remember one family (with one child at the school) who were given no choice but to leave after the mother fell behind with fees after her divorce.

@kayslyre - honestly a lot 'did' go over my head with the Jenny Joyce types. We were just a suburban London convent - basically you either went there or to 2 other fee paying school options, the parents some were wealthy but their girls mostly went there because it was a convent and they wanted the catholic education, I also think it had a better reputation back then too, went a bit downhill. The other fee paying schools were more expensive (not that much more).

I've got no idea what the nuns did with fee paying if people couldn't manage it - I'd have expected them to have been charitable towards girls parents who couldn't pay etc though.

I enjoyed the last episode. Although I thought Claire's meltdown over the lost bus timetable was a bit ott.

Yes I liked that one - and then thought that if they'd stopped there, it would have been ok ,almost like the sister michael of the past, though she'd have been a little more subtle so that you couldn't ever tell for sure if she actually meant something or there was an innocent explanation.

But then she went on to say something like 'after Jenny's truly awful play...', which didn't fit the character at all. I liked her snide, sarcastic, passive-aggressive way of saying things that was really funny as a result.

Yes. And he's brilliant in Derry Girls precisely because he plays Gerry so differently to his comedian persona as well as what he's like himself (which is basically crackers!)

It's amazing how subtly he acts Gerry, as nothing subtle ordinarily about Tommy Tiernan!

Yep, I agree. She went too far a lot of the time in this season. It got too broad.