Derry Girls – Across the Barricade Review

The Derry Girls (and the wee English Fella) are back for a second season of Channel 4’s popular comedy.

The first episode sees the teenagers go on a Friends Across the Barricade weekend where Catholic and Protestant teens partake in group activities. Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) and Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) want to hook up with a couple of Protestant lads, James (Dylan Llewellyn) is desperate to make a male friend and Clare (Nicola Coughlan) wants to befriend a Protestant so she can prove something to Jenny Joyce (Leah O’Rourke). And Orla (Louisa Harland) wants to show off her survival skills.

Derry Girls was a big hit for Channel 4, winning awards in the UK and Ireland and commissioned for a second season early during the run of the first. It was a show that used the character template from The Inbetweeners but avoided using as much crude humour like so many copycats have done. They were teens who have typical issues that happen to have The Troubles as a backdrop.

“Across the Barricade” embodies this due theme of typical teens and issues of The Troubles. Michelle wants to pull and ropes Erin into her scheme whilst James wants more than female company. The girls want to party and drink with the boys and willing to cross the sectarian divide to achieve this. The parents have everyday concerns when the kids were away. The show creator Lisa McGee is brilliant mixing every day and relatable concerns with the wider issues.

The episode does address the issues of sectarianism and obviously does it in a humorous manner. Channel 4 promoted the episode with the scene where the Catholic and Protestant shout out the differences between their communities – you can’t trust those Protestants because they don’ t like ABBA. But the episode does address it in other ways. Michelle is the most hostile to Protestants and the British, she points out that Protestants are richer, get all the jobs and have all the rights – but that doesn’t stop her if she finds a fit Protestant lad. Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney) and Ms. Taylor (Caoimbe Farren) were hilarious as the rival headteachers as verbally spared with each other.

Clare and Orla were the funniest characters in the episode. Throughout the last season Orla seemed like she lives in a different world and in “Across the Barricade” showed she could use a compass and how to bury waste despite being in comfortable surroundings. In the last episode of the first season there were hints of a rivalry developing between Orla and James and it seems to continue in “Across the Barricade” as they have to share a Protestant. Clare’s humour comes from her neurotic behaviour and she had a hilarious moment when she had to go abseiling.

“Across the Barricade” does borrow a bit from the opening episode of the previous season. Both episodes start with narration that leads to a gag and ends with the parents being called into the school. There are also similar jokes, in both episodes the girls irritate Dennis the shopkeeper and Orla potential psychopathic tendencies – the season one episode she liked to melt things, in the new season she was playing with knives.

“Across the Barricade” does end on a sweet note and hints a possible romance for Erin – but this may upset some fans who want Erin and James to be together.

“Across the Barricade” is a funny episode and a solid start to the new season of Northern Irish set sitcom.