Creator of Derry Girls says they are ‘still eejits’ as they take on their final adventure

The cast of 'Derry Girls'. Picture: PA Photo/Channel 4 Television/Peter Marley

The creator of ‘Derry Girls’ says the gang will experience some personal development throughout the third and final season of the show.

Speaking as the Channel 4 hit comedy is set to air on Tuesday night, Lisa McGee said it will see Erin, Michelle, Clare, Orla and James take on their final adventure.

"We've really tried to push it, it's a bit bigger and bolder I think.

I've been describing it as 10% personal development, 90% chaos.

"So they do grow up a wee bit, but they're by no means left enlightened at the end of the series.

"They're still eejits, but they do have to make some more adult choices I would say,” Ms McGee told Newstalk Breakfast.

“It’s been six years of my life, and I’ve loved it, it’s been very good to me, but we are very tired and need a holiday.

“This has been like saying goodbye, but it’s not often you get to do exactly what you wanted to do.”

Moving on

Writer Lisa McGee in front of a Derry Girls mural in Derry, ahead of the premiere for the third series of Channel 4's Derry Girls at the Omniplex Cinema in Londonderry. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, who plays Michelle, says it is natural that the show moves on and characters will have grown up.

"I think that's a natural progression, when you go into the third season of a show - especially with this sort of age group.

"We've had to grow up, especially because of the climate that we lived in in the '90s as teenagers.

"There was no choice but to grow up because of what was happening around us socially, and that's all incorporated in those scenes.

O’Donnell, who is from Derry, said she feels really proud, and lucky to have got the part of Michelle.

“I'm really proud that I got to do them, I feel it's something that I really appreciate that I got to tell.

“The fact that it has been received so well, such an honest portrayal of Derry, is something I’m really proud of,” she said.

Looking back at the impact the show had, McGee described her pinch-me moment as when Derry Girls was referenced in The Simpsons.

“I was a big Simpsons fan in the 90s, so it blew my mind, I can’t believe that happened. That and the mural (in Derry) were my two moments,” she told PA.

The stars have even been immortalised in a mural on a gable wall in Derry.