The Derry girl who created a comic gem
P
eek around the corner of Badgers Bar in Derry and you’ll see the largerthan-life faces of Erin, Clare, Michelle, Orla and James plastered over the wall. As far as signs of a show’s success go, they don’t get much bigger than a five-metre-high mural. From the moment the profane and brilliant Derry Girls burst on to our screens last year in a haze of teenage escapades, nostalgic music and 1990s artefacts – such as pastel printed wallpaper, Baby-G watches and armed soldiers on the streets – it captivated its audience. The first episode drew in 2.5 million viewers and prompted a commission for the second series that is currently airing on Channel 4. “It still hasn’t sunk in,” says writer and creator Lisa McGee. “It was supposed to be a niche comedy, but now, when I go round Derry with the cast,
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Screenwriting
Breakout comedy hits are rare, but Lisa McGee wrote one. She explains to Shilpa Ganatra how she did it it’s a shock how famous they are. They’re stopped all the time. It’s different even for me – I was in TK Maxx with my husband recently and someone stopped me and asked me if I wrote Derry Girls. It’s very strange.” Straight-talking and focused, she is a Derry native who began her wordsmith career writing for local theatre companies. Acquiring both an attachment at the National Theatre and an agent, she moved to London, where she is now based.
“In Derry, putting on plays in pubs doesn’t earn you anything, so I did odd jobs when I could. When I moved to London and got my first writing project, that was me, I didn’t need another job – but I was so lucky,” she reflects. “Being able to write full time is so rare, and it’s getting rarer, I understand from talking to younger writers. “The National Theatre thing was so amazing. They just went, ‘You don’t need to worry about earning money, we’re going to pay you and give you a space, and you have that time to get something written.’” It was at this point that she wrote her first TV scripts. They included RTÉ’s restaurant drama Raw and the recently revived play Girls and Dolls. From there, she turned her hand to episodes of The White Queen, Being Human and Indian Summers. In 2013, Channel 4 premiered her own series, London Irish. Set in the capital, the show about a group of Irish