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Derry Girls

Started by magval, January 16, 2018, 10:38:42 AM

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magval

Channel 4 sitcom set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Quite silly with a few central weird performances but the 'normal' girl is clearly the standout. Haven't seen it mentioned much on here. Are youse not enjoying it? Have had a good few laughs myself but I'm not sure how much of that is nostalgia and familiarity.

Might sound lazy to say 'for fans of Moone Boy' although there's more shared DNA than the obvious.

Utter Shit

I've been meaning to watch this for a while, having enjoyed the unjustly unloved London Irish from a few years ago. Obviously I'm being a great big racist saying that because there might be no connection beyond them both being Northern Irish (although I believe there is some sort of debate on this?), but it's enough for me to give this a go.

magval

I didn't watch London Irish but I've just now remembered my screenwriting lecturer at university mentioning it when it was about to start. Her whole push for NI screenwriters was to write about NI, as it was much easier to get ideas funded if they had a local interest angle.

shh

Is it set during the Troubles? I managed to watch a whole episode (2nd) and presumed it was set now.

Maybe not unlike another CH4 sitcom (Raised by Wolves) which was meant to be set in the 80s but they didn't have the budget.

Zetetic

#4
'94, I believe.

(Which I guess serves to justify the sampling of "Insane In the Brain" so much.)

Small Man Big Horse

I quite enjoyed the first episode, it's not got the charm of Moone Boy (yet, at least) but it's certainly watchable with a good few jokes.

Porter Dimi

I quite like it, yeah. It's got a bit of the Inbetweeners about it.

3S96

I've been really impressed by it. Unpredictable, subversive and really well-performed. I don't recognise the younger members of the cast, does anyone know if they've done much comedy before?  If not, there's some great natural talent.

The trying to pass off an alcohol-related fire as an IRA-related van theft, replete with radiator binding was really great writing. I look forward to getting sick of this show as it becomes more popular.

3S96

Quote from: shh on January 16, 2018, 07:52:09 PM(Raised by Wolves) which was meant to be set in the 80s but they didn't have the budget.

Was it? I always thought it was supposed to be, but could never quite work out if it was.

Jockice

The Inbetweeners was originally meant to be set in the 80s too. And called Baggy Trousers.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: shh on January 16, 2018, 07:52:09 PM
Is it set during the Troubles? I managed to watch a whole episode (2nd) and presumed it was set now.

Maybe not unlike another CH4 sitcom (Raised by Wolves) which was meant to be set in the 80s but they didn't have the budget.

I take it the presence of armed British troops on the streets, plus the '90s fashions, cultural references and soundtrack didn't tip you off.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Sorry for being a smart-arse. I can't sleep, so I'm in a bad mood. It's quite obviously set in the mid-1990s though.

bobloblaw

Quote from: Utter Shit on January 16, 2018, 12:52:22 PM
I've been meaning to watch this for a while, having enjoyed the unjustly unloved London Irish from a few years ago. Obviously I'm being a great big racist saying that because there might be no connection beyond them both being Northern Irish (although I believe there is some sort of debate on this?), but it's enough for me to give this a go.

Same writer. Though reportedly much better (I've not seen London Irish)
It feels like a labour of love and so far has struck a fairly decent balance between Inbetweeners-esque larks, escalating farce, specifically Irish jokes (Beckett, nuns, etc) and at least one character worthy of Father Ted (the uncle in episode two).

magval

I love Kevin McAleer but I wouldn't say the uncle was worthy of Father Ted. He was a direct lift of two others - Fr Stone (the situation) and that other priest who can't stop talking (the dialogue).

shh

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on January 17, 2018, 02:23:27 AM
I take it the presence of armed British troops on the streets, plus the '90s fashions, cultural references and soundtrack didn't tip you off.

Must have missed the troops somehow. As for fashion, I remember visiting a small town in Ireland as a child (Ulster, early 00s). All the young people were wearing flared jeans. I have always assumed after this that Ireland lives in its own sartorial time-slip.

Anway, quite enjoyed it. The person I was watching with reckoned the second episode wasn't as good as the first, so will go back and watch that.

Quote from: magval on January 17, 2018, 02:20:58 PM
that other priest who can't stop talking (the dialogue).

But he was a direct lift from Kevin McAleer.

magval

Fuck, of course he was!

I'm a tube.

Blue Jam


Blue Jam

Also the wardrobe in this is spot-on. As a child of the 90s I was delighted to see a couple of the girls wearing yin-yang chokers. Those were compulsory in 1994.

nedthemumbler

Surprised nobody has mentioned Some Girls yet, from the late BBC 3.  Very similar in almost every way, apart from the accents are NI not London.  (Edit If I was a bit more with it I would have put 'Londonderry not London')  Plus a touch more Moone Boy in tone, whimsical for want of a better word.

Imagine the Inbetweeners, right, but we put girls in it instead?  Yeah?

See also, Drifters.

I enjoyed the first two episodes that I have seen so far though.

Jockice

It's okay, but as has already been pointed out it seems to be made up of all sorts of bits from other comedies. For example last week's weeping Madonna sub-plot has been done before on Only Fools And Horses.

magval

Even the piss-from-church-balcony, specific though it is, was lifted from Peep Show.

That's the problem with this country - largely speaking, it's a creative black hole. I'm not saying NI has never produced anyone truly great, but for the most part our output is derivative and mediocre. It doesn't matter how much it lifts from other shows because it's been commissioned to appeal to a specific nostalgia market, and that's something that'll draw people in no matter what.

The series is starting to grate now. The plots are no good and the girls themselves are wearing thin. Michelle is clearly the best of the bunch but she can't carry this show if we've seen her full range, which it looks already like we have, and Claire (or as everyone I've spoken to has called her, "the wee fat one") is fucking awful.

Here's something to talk about: the English cub, James, only exists as a sort of cruelty avatar. Even the priest had a go at him. The earliest I can remember this thing happening in comedy, where a character exists almost solely to be bullied by other characters, is with Meg in Family Guy. Are there other examples you can think of, and what does it say about us as people that we keep accepting this awful trend in comedy writing?

(That we're cunts is what).

Jockice

Quote from: magval on January 25, 2018, 10:03:09 AM

Here's something to talk about: the English cub, James, only exists as a sort of cruelty avatar. Even the priest had a go at him. The earliest I can remember this thing happening in comedy, where a character exists almost solely to be bullied by other characters, is with Meg in Family Guy. Are there other examples you can think of.

Me. Being the only Scottish kid at four schools in England. Apart from a couple of years when a lass from Glasgow was in my class at secondary school. But she was hard. I wasn't.

The Roofdog

Yeah that third episode was clunky as hell. The supporting characters are still great though even if the girls are starting to ham it up a bit too much.

Cerys

Has anyone else noticed a strange similarity between Saoirse Jackson's portrayal of Erin, and Young Ones era Rik Mayall?

I'm loving it.  Enough to bring me to CC, which is a bit of a giveaway.  SNG missed out on a lot of the humour because he couldn't understand the accents.  Bizarre.

George White

Quote from: magval on January 17, 2018, 07:31:04 PM
Fuck, of course he was!

I'm a tube.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/McAleer+said+no+to+Fr+Dougal%3B+COMEDY.-a0181888777 Apparently, he was offered Dougal in the early process of Ted, AFAIK when Bryan Murray was for Ted.

Porter Dimi

Still enjoying this, though I'd be happy to never see that trope where the music stops and somebody blurts out something ever again.

Seagullsim

I'm still struggling with the fact that these are meant to be high-school girls, yet almost all of them look to be pushing 30 at least....

magval

24,24,26 and 31 according to every single one of the Irish papers' front pages last week.

Depressed Beyond Tables

What was the bonus ball?