Stars out in force for Derry Girls series three premiere

Derry Girls star Saoirse-Monica Jackson says she still can’t quite believe she has been immortalised by the famous mural of the show in her home town.
The third and final series of Derry Girls starts on Channel Four on Tuesday April 12.The third and final series of Derry Girls starts on Channel Four on Tuesday April 12.
The third and final series of Derry Girls starts on Channel Four on Tuesday April 12.

And she says she now avoids walking past it when she’s back home in case people thinks she’s ‘too up herself’ at the phenomenal success of the show.

The 28-year-old actress - who plays’ Erin in the Channel Four comedy - was in town for the premiere of the third and final series of the show at the Strand Multiplex last night.

“The Derry Girls mural is a strange thing for me - to be immortalised in your own home town is really strange to me,” she said.

“It’s a weird thing because whenever I am at home I avoid walking down that street because I think people will be thinking that I’m just walking past to see my own mural.”

The mural - subtlety altered this week with Michelle holding up three fingers to mark the third series - has become the number one landmark in the city centre with locals and tourists alike stopping to have their picture taken in front of it.

And naturally Saoirse-Monica has done the same.

“Of course I’ve has my picture taken there,” she said. “It’s a Derry tradition - although mine was taken by the Derry Journal.”

Writer Lisa McGee says it is sad to see the television show - which has been a smash hit around the world after being picked up by Netflix - coming to an end, but it has been an incredible experience.

“It’s been six years of my life, and I’ve loved it, it’s been very good to me, but we are very tired and need a holiday,” she said.

“This has been like saying goodbye, but it’s not often you get to do exactly what you wanted to do.”

Looking back at the impact the show had, she described her pinch-me moment as when ‘Derry Girls’ was referenced in ‘The Simpsons’.

“I was a big Simpsons fan in the 90s, so it blew my mind, I can’t believe that happened. That and the mural were my two moments,” she said.

The story follows a group of teenagers growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, around the time of the IRA and loyalist ceasefires.

While the Troubles was an inescapable backdrop, the micro-dramas of teenagers navigating their parents, parties, love interests and school captured the attention of audiences far beyond Irish shores.

Saoirse-Monica puts the success of the show entirely down to McGee and says she hopes that now the show has come to an end, that they can work again together in the future.

“I’m very sad that its coming to an end,” she said.

“It’s been the most amazing experience of my life.

“But I don’t think it’s over, over because it will always be with us. It’s one of those shows that will stand the test of time.

“I have been very fortunate as a young actor to have worked with Lisa McGee and to have a relationship with a great writer from my home town is something you can only dream about. It’s the best thing you can have as an actor is a writer who understands who you are and where you are from.”

The third series of Derry Girls will be shown on Channel Four from Tuesday April 12.

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