THE DERRY GIRLS HISTORY LESSON
Sr Michael: Hit TV show taught many about North
DERRY Girls star Siobhán McSweeney has said the Good Friday Agreement is now ‘in danger of being attacked through ignorance’, and many people are only learning about Northern Irish politics through the comedy show.
On Wednesday night, audiences said farewell to her character Sister Michael, as the show’s finale saw its beloved characters vote in favour of the peace agreement.
Not only did the final episode of Lisa McGee’s hit sitcom spark emotion among audiences, but McSweeney claimed that it also
‘Good Friday deal was hard-won’
opened many people’s eyes to the political situation in the North.
‘I’ve woken up this morning to, no word of a lie, hundreds and hundreds of messages and at least three-quarters of them are, “Derry Girls has taught me more about the history of Northern Ireland and Britain than anything that I have been taught in school,”’ she told the BBC Radio 4 Today show.
‘I think if you put aside the absolute disgrace it is that there’s such a gap in the educational system here (UK)... I think it shows how good the medium of comedy can be to spread a message, to spread information.’
With Brexit sparking instability in the peace agreement, the Cork actress said the timing of the episode was ‘apt’.
She went on: ‘The Good Friday Agreement was hardwon and now it’s in danger of being attacked through ignorance and again it goes back to
that idea that a sitcom is teaching the people of this country about the history of Northern Ireland. That’s not how it should be. ‘I feel it’s incredibly poignant that we watch the Derry Girls, we watch Sister Michael, we watch Fr Peter, we watch the grown-ups head off at the end full of tentative hope for peace, reconciliation for the future, for the young people and what their future is. And we cut to now and that is in danger and it breaks my heart.’ The cast of the Channel 4 show have been posting tributes to their characters as the show wrapped. Nicola Coughlan, who found fame playing Clare Devlin, wrote: ‘It’s impossible to put into words what Derry Girls has meant to me and how much it’s changed my life so I won’t even try. ‘Thank you all so much, what an honour it’s been.’