Derry Girls creator announces new show – and it already sounds brilliant

Were you devastated when Derry Girls ended? Don’t worry, as Lisa McGee has a whole new comedy series in the works, and it sounds amazing!

The new show is titled How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, and is set to land on Channel 4, and follows a group of friends, Saoirse, Robyn and Dara, and their lives in their 30s. Sounds a little like if the Derry Girls gang grew up, right? But wait, there’s more! 

The official synopsis reads: “The eight-part comedy series will follow Saoirse, Robyn and Dara who have been friends since school. Now in their late 30s, they lead very different lives. Saoirse a successful writer with a compulsion to hit the self-destruct button, Robyn, a sweary, stressed-out mother of three young boys, and Dara, a full-time carer of an elderly parent, who hasn’t managed to move out of her teenage bedroom. 

© Photo: Channel 4

“When the women each receive an email informing them of the death of Greta, an old classmate they were once very close with, there’s clearly some unspoken, unfinished business.  The friends decide to attend Greta’s wake and discover all may not be quite as it seems. They soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and twisted mystery. It’s absolutely terrifying. But it’s also…. utterly thrilling.

“These women are about to embark on the most exciting adventure of their lives. An adventure that will take them from their native Belfast, a city full of ghosts, the pain of the past plastered on every mural, to the mythic wildness of rural Donegal and right across Ireland, as they attempt to put the pieces of the puzzle together and uncover the truth. Even if their own complicated, chaotic and messy lives often get in the way. Not so much a ‘whodunit’ as a ‘what the hell happened.’” 

© Photo: Channel 4

Chatting about the new show, Lisa said: “I feel so incredibly lucky to be making another show for the phenomenal Channel 4 and to be doing it with Hat Trick Productions again and the creative team behind Derry Girls, the mighty Liz Lewin and Caroline Leddy, is just a dream. I’ve wanted to make a comedy thriller set in Northern Ireland for SUCH a long time.  I cannot wait to share these flawed funny women with everyone.” 

© Photo: Channel 4

Charlie Perkins, Head of Comedy at Channel 4 added: “This is huge. We couldn’t be prouder that Channel 4 feels like this extraordinary show’s spiritual home. Getting to know the multi-hyphenated talents of Lisa, Liz, Caroline and their collaborators at Hat Trick Productions has been one of the greatest pleasures in my first year as Head of Comedy. We can’t wait to bring Lisa’s next world to life for all those who already love her work and many more to come.”