'˜Derry Girls' a '˜no brainer' for Tommy Tiernan

Carndonagh native, Tommy, who plays the father of main character, Erin, praised the sharp writing of the much anticipated new show, the first epiosde of which will be screened on Channel 4 on Thursday, January 4 at 10.00 p.m.

In an interview for Channel 4, he said: “It’s set during the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland in the 1990s and what’s really interesting is, that like a lot of people that have suffered, one of the way you cope with suffering is through humour.

“ I think that for Irish people to undermine whatever trauma they are experiencing by trying to laugh at it is part of our natural response. What I am excited about is how people in England will see it. The strength of the comic writing in the piece means that it should transcend the situation that it is set in.

“As soon as they send me a sample episode of this I was like ‘jeez this is brilliant’, the writing is so sharp, the girls are fantastically sarcastic and funny. It was a no-brainer for me to do it.”

Tommy said he loved filming in Derry and Belfast for the show and was “very proud” of Derry Girls “as an Irish story and for the first time for people to see the ‘Troubles’ on screen in a way that shows the spirit of the people was bigger than the situation that they were in”.