A Trio Of Brilliant Irish TV Shows

These three shows share a delightfully twirly energy with their wacky plots and zany humor. Bad Sisters is the most grounded of the trio, in the sense that the story leans the smidgiest bit closer to reality, and its humor is darker and drier. Derry Girls and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast fully embrace the absurd, and are gleefully over-the-top and bursting with outlandish situations. They will all make you as happy as a pig in muck.

Bad Sisters One of the five tightly-knit Garvey sisters has a nasty piece of work for a husband and the other four decide that the absolute best place for him is six feet under. So they concoct a plan to put him there. Which fails. They try again, and again, and again. To no avail. It appears that as well as being a prize prick, JP has more lives than a cat. We know that he’s dead because the opening scene shows him in a casket – how exactly he got there is a highly entertaining mystery. Meanwhile, two hapless insurance agents really, really don’t want to have to pay out the insurance settlement (owing to the fact that it will bankrupt them) and are hot on the sisters’ heels, investigating JP’s untimely demise in an attempt to prove that the sisters did indeed murder him. This was written by and co-stars the fabulously brilliant Sharon Horgan, and as with all things Sharon Horgan, it is deliciously dark and wickedly funny. The acting is sublime across the board, the plot is packed with clever twists and some shocking surprises and absolutely everything that can go wrong—does. Then doesn’t. Then somehow does again. It’s wildly entertaining, so much fun to watch and absolutely one of my favourite shows from recent years.

Derry Girls This show has a crazy frenetic energy which put me off at first, but I circled back to it and discovered that it really is every bit as good as people say. It’s the brutally funny story of five friends at a Catholic girls school in 1990’s Derry, Ireland. It’s set against the backdrop of The Troubles, which, while hovering quietly in the background without ever commanding center stage, wreaks havoc nonetheless. It’s absolutely impossible not to fall in love with these teens as they dive headlong into the world, making an endless array of bad decisions, tangling themselves up in frequent misunderstandings and tumbling into a deluge of outlandish scenarios, all while trying to dodge the dead-pan Sister Michael. Its humour is rapid fire and hilarious, its energy is feisty and the acting is brilliant. Added bonus: fabulous soundtrack

How To Get To Heaven From Belfast An unexpected email reunites three old school friends—Dara, Saoirse, and Robyn—with shocking news—the fourth of their group, Greta, whom they haven’t seen in twenty years, has just died. As the trio travel to Greta’s wake it becomes apparent that they share a dark secret and a lot of uncomfortable memories. Upon arrival, matters take a bizarre turn. In a clumsy attempt to place a photo in the coffin, Saoirse knocks off the lid and discovers that the body inside is… not Greta. Suspicion spirals, inconsistencies mount and a tantalizing clue convince them that Greta must still be alive. So they set off on a quest to find her. What follows is the merriest of madcap dances to the truth involving a variety of brilliantly bonkers scenarios and a whacky cast of supporting characters—including one of the Derry girls in a joyously offbeat role as what can only be described as a unicorn in human form. It’s a ten ton weight of brightly colored, kitschy giddiness and an absolute joy to watch.