Talking Derry Girls top the Apple charts

The podcast, which is hosted by Pauline Moore, Marie-Louise Muir and Jeanie Messenger, discusses Derry Girls and the hosts’ experiences of growing up in the city.

Pauline told the ‘Journal’ how they were ‘surprised but delighted’ to see that they were number one. She said: “We were in the top five during the week and then it was number one before we even knew it!

“You build up a following and it’s nice to have. We’ve had people say that it’s like having the three of us sitting round the kitchen table for a chat. That was a man in Canada who said that and it was nice because he said that during lockdown, he felt like he was chatting to friends. Someone else once said that it’s like sitting on the bus in front of the three of us and you miss a few stops just to hear us chat.

“One woman messaged us recently to say she had to stop listening because she was in America and she didn’t want any spoilers, so we told her we’ll still be there when she’s able to listen. She sent another message after the second episode to say she had caved, she’d been listening!

“We all worked together in the ‘90s in Radio Foyle so we would have always chatted like we do.

“It’ll be two years now in June since we started the podcast and it was brilliant to have that during lockdown. It gave us something to focus on and get obsessed by.

“You can watch Derry Girls time and time again and every time you find new things. You could watch it once and look out for Sarah, then watch again for Granda Joe or Orla and pick up on different things.

“At the minute, the podcast is focused on our reaction to the episodes. We have loads of followers in America so we want to revisit it when we have the full series and when it’s on Neflix and we’ll watch each episode in the context of the other episodes, so we can pick up on the wee hints. We picked up on a few hints already on things we know are coming up.

“We were extras in the series too, so we know a few things that might be happening.

“We recorded episodes about us being extras and we talked to other extras, the extras coordinator and the costume people but they can’t go out until after the series ends because they do contain some spoilers.

“We haven’t told anyone what scene we’re in and we won’t until it’s aired. We don’t know the details of our scene, anyway. We deliberately don’t want to know because we have so much fun speculating about it!

“It’s brilliant writing and casting and the story and structure of it all are just fantastic. Lisa McGee just gave us the gift of something to talk about which is connected to us and our time in the ‘90s.

“In last week’s podcast, we talked about James in the beginning of the episode talking about Catholics ‘risking their lives’ to go to Portrush. I remember as a journalist in the ‘90s, working on stories where people in the north were going to places they had never been to before.

“Catholics were going to Portrush on the train for the first time and the police were going to Donegal for the first time in their working life. I think what Lisa is doing, in a very funny way, is showing that the Good Friday Agreement and all the issues around it are never too far away.

“Lisa came on the Podcast and said she wishes she had listened to us before she wrote series three because some of our stories are cracker and she also said we should keep at it, which we plan to do as long as we can.”

The Talking Derry Girls can be found at thebiglight.com/talkingderrygirls.