Derry Girls is a British-made comedy series that is increasing in popularity by the minute. The show focuses on our main character Erin, her family and friends, as they navigate their lives as teenagers living through the Northern Ireland conflict (The Troubles). It has dark humour, moments that make you feel second-hand embarrassment, constant comedic scenes but also touches on the seriousness of life in that time.
By far, this is a series I will watch over and over again and never get sick of. This show raises your spirits in so many ways, and you feel like you can relate to the characters even though they are based in a time that is 20-30 years ago.
The creator and writer, Lisa McGee is a born and bred Derry girl herself, which honestly makes the show that much better.
The show is produced by Hat Trick Productions, whom are also responsible for ‘Who’s Line is it anyway’, ‘Dinner Date’ and ‘Mastermind’ – shows that are connected to networks such as ITV, BBC and ABC.
Derry Girls is shown on Channel 4, which is a free-to-air network in Britain. The success of this channel is applause worthy, having multiple sister channels and being the place to view multiple popular shows such as Big Brother, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings and The Great British Bake Off.
As for Netflix, the show is streaming internationally and receiving great praise. Netflix has the show available in multiple countries including America, Pakistan, New Zealand and (of course) Australia. For Irish folk they can view it on All4, another massive streaming giant – connected to Channel 4.
So, how has this foreign show become such a large success?
In my opinion, British shows are absolutely my favourite to watch, to the point of people saying I have a British accent (I wish this were a lie.)
As stated in the lecture, British television was the beginning – on par with American television.
The National Science and Media Museum delves more deeply into the timeline of British television showing us the true beginning for them and the great successes over time. The 1920s were the start, and thanks to John Logie Baird and his consistent studies and practical efforts that started in the 20s and went through to the 40s, we (definitely me) get to have an influx of the beauty that is British television.
Ian Burrel, The Independent
The success of this show has online streaming to thank, but also the high demand of British television. Ian Burrel, a writer for The Independent, an online British newspaper, touches on this in his article titled ‘Why British TV rules the world’. While the article is from 2014, it touches on the market demand in America, where in 2012, the UK sale of programmes to the use were worth £475m (roughly $863.6m Australian). Other countries buying into British programmes are New Zealand, India, Finland, Latvia, China and Latin America.
So while Derry Girls in itself is a success and has hype all over the world, the ability of Global reach that British television has been able to hold on to for over 100 years is definitely to thank.
References
Turnbull, S. 2019, Lecture 2: Global Television, lecture slides, BCM 111: Global Media and Culture, University of Wollongong, delivered 5 August 2019.
Burrel, I. 2014, ‘Why British TV Rules the World‘, online article, The Independent UK, accessed 24 August 2019.
O’Reilly, S. 2018, ‘Derry Girls’ Lisa McGee: ‘A lot of stuff about Northern Ireland is very male‘, online article, The Irish Times, accessed 24 August 2019.
BBC News, 2014. ‘What the world thinks of British TV‘, online article, BBC News, accessed 24 August 2019.
Moore, K, 2019. ‘‘Derry Girls’ Season 2 Coming to Netflix in August 2019‘, online article, Whats on Netflix, accessed 24 August 2019.
National Science and Media Museum, originally posted in 2011, continuous updates. ‘A SHORT HISTORY OF BRITISH TELEVISION‘ Time-line, accessed 24 August 2019.
Moore, P, 2019. ‘Here’s what foreign viewers have made of Derry Girls and their takes are an absolute riot‘, online article, JOE, accessed 24 August 2019.
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