Derry Girls review: a female Inbetweeners – set during the Troubles In many ways, new Channel 4 show Derry Girls is your typical coming-of-age comedy. There’s a love interest for the main […]

In many ways, new Channel 4 show Derry Girls is your typical coming-of-age comedy.

There’s a love interest for the main character, teens rebelling against their parents, a varied and flawed group of friends, a rival set of schoolmates – and a dictatorial head teacher.

Derry Girls’ setting, however, sets it apart.

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The backdrop is conflict torn, Troubles era Derry – “or Londonderry depending on your persuasion”, as central character Erin Quinn puts it.

Quite remarkably, it’s a winning formula.

Echoes of The Inbetweeners

The comedy focuses closely on Erin and her tight-knit group of friends, each with their own defining trait.

Erin herself is the moody and self-righteous one. Orla is the weird one who likes to melt stuff. Clare is the panicky one. Michelle is the rebellious and foul-mouthed one.

The dynamic is similar to that of fellow Channel 4 comedy the Inbetweeners – Will, Simon, Jay and Neil could all slot into the profile of one of Derry Girl’s central characters.

And like the cast of The Inbetweeners before them, each of the young actors play their niche role terrifically.

Particular praise must be reserved for Saoirse Jackson for her turn as outraged and unsettled main character, Erin.

Joining the group of girls is English boy James, who attends the all-girls school for fear of him being beaten up – or worse – by pupils at the all-male equivalent. This is just one example of the dark humour on show.

The elephant in the room

The opening shot of Derry Girls follows an armoured 4×4 past a road sign reading Londonderry – with the sign’s first six letters being furiously scrawled out by vandals.

In the next shot we see British soldiers alongside murals featuring paramilitary fighters.

Viewers are accustomed to this being the setting of gritty independent films – however creator Lisa McGee, who grew up in divided Derry, thought it a fitting setting for a comedy.

And The Troubles aren’t merely a backdrop it.

This opening episode is peppered with jokes about the conflict – and more often than not they hit the mark.

The audience is introduced to central character Erin and her family arguing in the show’s opening minutes. Their bickering is interrupted by news that a bomb has closed one of the city’s main bridges.

Erin’s mother panics and her anxiety is evident, before she quips: “Does this mean they can’t get to school? She’s melting my head!”

Later Erin and her group of friends fear that after claims of bullying they might get expelled.

One of the tight knit group reassures the girls “nobody ever actually gets expelled, Rhonda Gallagher hasn’t even been expelled and she’s in the IRA.”

Speaking to i, McGee said that “sometimes the toughest places to live are also the funniest.”

Derry Girls certainly proves that point.

Derry Girls is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm. Catch up after on All4