Before we even dared to dream that the Good Friday Agreement would afford us peace, we were arranging to pack up our lives and head to America, where we would start afresh, free from this godforsaken place full of hatred, pain and violence.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four years on, and as our peace feels threatened once again, Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee has reminded us of just how grim that period was, and why the Good Friday Agreement is as important today as it was back then.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>McGee\u2019s cult series has, over the last three seasons, given those on the outside a different perspective of us, explaining why we are the way we are \u2013 and with far more insight than any news report could ever offer.<\/p>\n
To put it simply: Northern Ireland isn\u2019t \u2018normal\u2019.<\/p>\n
- Read more: Derry Girls\u2019 shock death was based on creator\u2019s own experience<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
A friend of mine\u2019s first memory is watching a man in a forensic suit pick bits of brains off the sunflowers in their nursery school garden following a murder. Before I was 11 years old, I had seen a man shot dead by the British Army on my way to the shop for sweets.<\/p>
As children of the Troubles, we were accustomed to the sounds of war; discos, cinema trips, grocery shopping, weddings were all interrupted by bomb alerts. Along with Wham! and Madonna, the dull boom of explosions, anguished screams and the shattering of glass during the many riots was the soundtrack to our young lives.<\/p>\n
We socialised in bars knowing gunmen had a penchant for shooting them up. We\u2019d pass abandoned cars with the full knowledge that there could be a bomb concealed inside.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t feel fear living in a war zone when it\u2019s all you\u2019ve ever known.<\/p>\n
- Read more: Derry Girls creator on whether there could be a movie in the future<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Despite our streets often being on fire, literally, despite the spectre of gunmen and bombs hanging over us at all times, we just got on with things, like the Derry Girls do. We lived our lives, loved our lives and enjoyed the craic at every opportunity as we circled the periphery of the dark abyss that was the Troubles, hoping none of us would get sucked in.<\/p>\n
So, when the Good Friday Agreement came into our line of vision, hope burned bright.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Orla McCool (Louisa Clare Harland) and Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson).<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n All of these emotions were perfectly mirrored in the last episode of a now iconic show that has replaced the grainy black and white footage of floppy-haired, flare-wearing rioters and city centres lying in smouldering ruins.<\/p>\n
It reflects the rollercoaster that Northern Irish life was back then: the intensity, laughter, horror, tears, joy, normality, insanity, anger, love, confusion and exhaustion. Ordinary life in the most extraordinary of circumstances.<\/p>\n
Orla\u2019s buoyant jig, halted only by an armed British soldier; Mary\u2019s delight over her new microwave; Jenny Joyce\u2019s expressive modern dance routine; Michelle\u2019s brother Niall being imprisoned for murder; Aunt Sarah declaring that you can \u2018swing both ways\u2019 in the referendum; Sister George Michael\u2019s sadness in the face of change. Everyday life in the midst of madness.<\/p>\n
- Read More: Why that Derry Girls kiss had to happen \u2013 and what next?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
McGee perfectly captures the notion that Northern Irish people can find humour in the trauma. We had to. It was all we had.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Orla McCool (Louisa Clare Harland), Clare Devlin (Nicola Coughlan) and Michelle Mallon (Jamie-Lee O\u2019Donnell).<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n McGee uses Michelle, a character we have grown to both love and understand across the course of the comedy, to guide us through the darkest of the Northern Irish complexities. Her brother killed someone in the conflict and she is torn between loving him and despising what he did.<\/p>\n
Erin represents a swathe of the Northern Irish public struggling to say yes to peace if it means those who engaged in the taking of lives in her home city are set free. The argument between the two represents the struggle within and without during this most historic moment in our time.<\/p>\n
- Read More: Derry Girls stars on future spin-offs: \u201cThe possibilities are endless\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The monologue between the two generations \u2013 Erin and her grandfather \u2013 about the importance of the yes vote is poignant and heart-breaking, but is also brimming with optimism: \u201cWhat if all of this becomes a \u2018ghost story\u2019 you will tell your children?\u201d<\/p>\n
It could be said that this hour-long finale left us feeling like our emotions have been in one of Mary\u2019s white wash spin cycles, but we came out the better for it.<\/p>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Grandad Joe (Ian McElhinney).<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 4<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n McGee lived this, as did the rest of us, and captured it flawlessly. After all we had been through \u2013 the murders, the mayhem and the madness \u2013 we dared to dream of a better future, in spite of the fear that gripped us. We knew nothing of peace; it was alien to us. And we almost wanted our lives to stay the same because it was all we knew.<\/p>\n
We were stepping into the unknown.<\/p>\n
McGee lets us watch our beloved characters head into the polling stations to make their mark for themselves, for generations to come, for change, for something<\/em> more, something to cherish.<\/p>\n
- Read More: Derry Girls creator explains absence of Spice Girls Union Jack dress<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
We watch them struggle with their consciences. The RUC man, played by Liam Neeson, carries the weight of the police community so brutalised by the IRA; we see Granda voting yes for the next generation; innocent Orla draws a smiley face in the yes box; Michelle votes to see her incarcerated brother again.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four years almost to the day when Northern Ireland said a resounding \u2018Yes\u2019 to peace, those ghosts Granda spoke of have not totally been exorcised. We still have sectarianism and riots on our streets, the flared trousers of old replaced by modern tracksuits. The hatred and division still bubbles up.<\/p>\n
But, like the Derry Girls, we have tried, and we will keep on trying. Like 18-year-old Erin says in the final moments of the show, \u201cWe have to be brave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking for something else to watch? Visit our Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub or check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>.<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n
The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/b><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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- Read More: Derry Girls creator explains absence of Spice Girls Union Jack dress<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Read More: Derry Girls stars on future spin-offs: \u201cThe possibilities are endless\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Read More: Why that Derry Girls kiss had to happen \u2013 and what next?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
- Read more: Derry Girls creator on whether there could be a movie in the future<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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