The Derry Girls phenomenon is set to take to the streets of the Maiden City as plans for a walking tour of the places made famous by the hit TV comedy begin to take shape.

Tourism NI is joining forces with Derry and Strabane District Council and Visit Derry to develop a series of visitor experiences based on the Channel 4 show.

The award-winning comedy, penned by local scriptwriter Lisa McGee, has just completed its second series, and a third has already been commissioned.

Tourism NI said: "Tourism NI is delighted with the success of Derry Girls and has been working in partnership with NI Screen, Tourism Ireland, Visit Derry and Derry City and Strabane District Council to use the momentum to promote the city of Derry-Londonderry to visitors.

"With the very positive response to the second series and early viewing figures suggesting its continued success, along with the fantastic news of a third series being commissioned, we anticipate strong growth potential for Derry-Londonderry amongst visitors to Northern Ireland."

Visit Derry's Odhran Dunne said that because Derry Girls had been picked up by the giant Netflix entertainment network, international visitor interest in the city was ramping up.

"Because of the Netflix deal, we're getting Derry into the international market and that's a unique opportunity for us to maximise he potential. The pick-up has been amazing for only one series going on to international streaming, and because of it we've had a lot of showbiz and entertainment journalists engaging with us, whereas we are used to travel and tourism journalists.

"The target audience for the programme is younger, which is not usually our demographic of visitors to the city, so it's definitely given us additional hooks to attract people here, which is fantastic."

Belfast Telegraph