IRISH comedian Tommy Tiernan is set to star as a father of a teenage girl in new Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls.
The six part series set during the Troubles is the latest comedy from London Irish and Indian Summers writer Lisa McGee.
The cast includes Saoirse Monica Jackson as 16-year-old Erin Quinn, with Tara Lynne O'Neill as her mother and comedian Tommy Tiernan as her 'long-suffering' father.
Belfast-native Ian McElhinney also stars as Erin's grandfather 'Granda Joe' whose love for his daughter and granddaughter is only surpassed by his contempt for his son-in-law.
Set during The Troubles in the early 90s, Erin is used to seeing her country on the nightly news and speaking in acronyms like the IRA, UDA, and RUC.
While it's a time of armed police in armoured Land Rovers and British Army check points, it’s also the time of Murder She Wrote, The Cranberries, MJ and Lisa Marie, Doc Martens, bomber jackets, The X Files, Nirvana and Wayne’s World.
And while The Troubles may hang over her home town, Erin has troubles of her own.
Derry Girls is the new comedy from Channel 4 based in Derry during the Troubles. (Picture: Channel 4)
'Warm, funny and honest, Derry Girls takes a look at the everyday lives of ordinary people living in extraordinary times,' according to Channel 4.
Writer Lisa McGee, who grew up in Derry, said: "I’m delighted to be able to tell the stories of real people living through The Troubles.
"And now, with the delicate political ecosystem of the country about to be tested by The Conservatives and The DUP, it seems well worth reminding ourselves how things were not so long ago, and what better way to do that than through comedy?”
Head of Channel 4 Comedy Fiona McDermott said: “Lisa’s warm and brilliantly observed writing coupled with our fantastic cast has created a very funny, very original sitcom that pits the everyday lives of our Derry Girls against one of the most extraordinary backdrops in our recent history.”
The area around @BishopsGtDerry entered a #timewarp yesterday with @Channel4 filming a new series called #derrygirls pic.twitter.com/ybvEDwfsta
— The Derry Walls (@thederrywalls) June 16, 2017
The six part series is still on location in Northern Ireland, filming scenes and re-enacting armed patrols and Orange Marches in Derry during the 90s.
'Orangemen' march through street in West Belfast @BTNIPPA @PPAI_IRL @OrangeOrder #derrygirls pic.twitter.com/vwyST6knV6
— Justin Kernoghan (@JustinKernoghan) June 19, 2017
What to expect from Derry Girls...
Terrible with boys and convinced nobody understands her, Erin would love to be a rebel, and sometimes flirts with the idea of standing up to those in authority, like her principal - the eternally unimpressed Sister Michael, played by Siobhán McSweeney, or divorcing her parents, à la Macaulay Culkin, but she never quite has the nerve.
She has grand ambitions to become a famous writer and thinks of herself as thoroughly liberal and worldly, yet she’s never ventured further than Buncrana.
The bane of Erin’s existence is her 15-year-old cousin Orla McCool, (Louisa Harland), who lives next door with her ditzy mother Sarah, (Kathy Kiera Clarke).
Whimsical, unpredictable Orla orbits her own planet and thinks nothing of reading her cousin’s diary or borrowing her knickers.
Equally responsible for Erin’s inability to better herself are her two best friends - Clare Devlin (Nicola Coughlan), clever, ambitious and, when faced with Sister Michael, an enthusiastic grass, and Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), mouthy, man-hungry and unashamedly offensive.
Last and, as far as the girls are concerned, very much least, is Michelle’s cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn) - 'The English Fella'- who’s just moved to Derry and is the ultimate outsider.
Amid concerns that his English accent may cause trouble for him at the boys’ school, James is forced to attend the all-girl Our Lady Immaculate College.
But as he quickly discovers, the boys’ school would have been a much easier ride.
