Childhood friends of Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee have spoken of the “mindblowing” success of the show ahead of the opening of a new exhibition.
The new Derry Girls immersive exhibition, which opens to the public in the Tower Museum in Derry on Monday evening, features props and set pieces from the Bafta-winning sitcom which follows five teenagers living in Derry in the mid-1990s during the final years of the Troubles.
Fans of the show will be able to view parts of the original sets, including the Quinn living room and kitchen, as well as props like Spice Girls costumes from season three, the Child of Prague statue and Ma Mary’s rosary beads.
Sister Michael’s office and Erin’s bedroom are digitally recreated with facts about the show and production built into the displays.
Shauna Bray and Aoife O’Neill are childhood friends of McGee’s and said to be the inspiration behind the fiery and rebellious Michelle Mallon and the good-natured but chronically worried Clare Devlin.
Ms Bray said as much as they could see themselves in the characters, there was a universal appeal in the Derry Girls group.
“Every single friend group has the mad one and everybody has the panicker who’s worrying in the background, and you know, you have the creative one and then you’ve got the absolute lunatic, do you know what I mean? So I think it’s got that universal appeal that everybody can see elements of their friend group,” she said.
Ms O’Neill added: “And the family dynamics, most people would say my uncle Colm would be whatever, we went on like that with the chip shop order and that’s something universal.”
Derry Girls premiered on Channel 4 in 2018 and is the channel’s most successful comedy since Father Ted.
It has received wide critical acclaim, including best scripted comedy at the 2023 Baftas, with Siobhan McSweeney winning best female performance in a comedy programme for her role as Sister Michael.
Ms Bray said they could tell the show would be popular from the first premiere viewing.
“Literally within five minutes of watching those two opening scenes I knew exactly which each of the characters were and I just felt this real like bubbling excitement in my belly because I was like this is going to be massive, we kind of knew that it was going to be huge,” Ms Bray said.
A mural depicting the five main characters was unveiled on Orchard Street in January 2019 and has quickly become a popular tourist attraction in the city.
Ms O’Neill said the show’s popularity beyond Northern Ireland was “amazing”.
“But as soon as you watched it you knew Derry people would love it but I didn’t even think it would go beyond that because of the Derry accent and loads of the jokes, I was thinking is that our craic?” she said.
“But it was amazing then to see within one series, by the time it came to the second series premiere it was like, red carpet, the whole Guildhall, big function.”
Ms Bray recalled how the friend group reacted as the characters, who shared a lot of their personality and experiences, became known to millions of viewers.
“We’re all still in a group text and the first night that it was screened on TV we were all ‘Twitter’s blowing up, hashtag Derry is trending’ and ‘oh my god look how many people tweeting about this’, we just couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Ms Bray and Ms O’Neill said the Derry Girls Experience was a tribute to the show.
“I’ve been absolutely blown away by the museum and by how well they’ve managed to recreate, take the show and recreate it all here. You know, it’s absolutely fantastic,” Ms Bray said.
Museum curator Roisin Doherty said the exhibition was a homecoming for the show which has now been viewed by audiences across the world.
“I think it’s a real celebration of the city, I think it’s a celebration of the people, it’s a celebration of the humour and wit of the people here,” she said.
“And it’s coming home, it’s coming home to the city, so we’re really proud of it.”
The Derry Girls Experience will be at the Tower Museum until July 2024.
