Entertainment
Derry Girls series 3: Star concerned cast will be too old to play schoolgirls as filming is struck with delays
One of the stars of Derry Girls has voiced his concern that the cast will be too old to play schoolgirls in the show after the hit series was struck by filming delays during the pandemic.
Last month, Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, who plays the lovable Clare Devlin in Channel 4’s Derry Girls, confirmed that filming for season three of the comedy is due to begin later this year.
The show previously suffered a huge delay as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, with the programme – which is set during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s amid conflict between Catholics and Protestants – put on hold until the entire cast could return to the region.
Ian McElhinney, who plays Granda Joe in the sitcom, the grandfather of Erin Quinn (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) and Orla McCool (Louisa Harland), explained that one of the biggest ‘stumbling blocks’ when attempting to resume filming was the number of extras that were required on set.
‘We certainly are intending to get back to Derry Girls but the only problem is how long it’s going to take,’ he said, outlining that filming was supposed to take place in May 2020 but is now likely to take place in autumn this year.
Speaking to The Sun, he continued: ‘I know with Derry Girls one of the stumbling blocks was the number of extras we might need. The amount of what we have to do with extras.’
The Game of Thrones actor emphasised that bringing in extras on a ‘significant scale’ was ‘certainly one of the things that interrupted our working on Derry Girls at the time’.
Ian stated that the ‘long gap’ between filming was ‘slightly more critical because the girls are “Derry Girls” and because the girls are far from being girls anymore’, in reference to his co-stars’ ages.
Saoirse-Monica, who plays Erin, is 27 years old, while Bridgerton’s Nicola is 34.
Louisa, who plays Orla, is in her late 20s, while Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, who plays Michelle Mallon, is also in her late 20s and Dylan Llewellyn, who portrays James Maguire, is 28.
In December 2020, Nicola teased that season three would be well worth the wait, describing the scripts for the new episodes as ‘phenomenal’.
Derry Girls is available to watch on All 4 and Netflix.
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