Meanwhile in Ireland’s Ultimate Derry Girls Guide has arrived

Our Irish pop culture website’s Ultimate Derry Girls Guide offers fans an in-depth review of one of the greatest Irish television shows of all time.

Earlier this year, our website Meanwhile in Ireland offered Derry Girls fans the job of a lifetime: a role as an in-house Derry Girls critic.

We were eager to both showcase the seismic cultural impact of the show and to demonstrate yet again the website’s credentials as an authority on Irish popular culture.

After a very successful advertising campaign, we were delighted to welcome aboard one standout candidate, and the fruits of their labour are now tangible in the form of Meanwhile in Ireland’s Ultimate Derry Girls Guide.

The hiring process – finding the right person for the job

We advertised for the position of Derry Girls critic at Meanwhile in Ireland back in February. Given the show’s popularity, the site was unsurprisingly inundated with applications for this job of a lifetime.

Stevie Haughey (Managing Director) and Katie Morris (Editor) leafed through hundreds of applications before eventually whittling down the high volume of quality candidates to a select few interviewees.

After the interview process, one candidate in particular excelled, and we were delighted to hire Lauren McCarthy as our resident Derry Girls expert and to offer her a more permanent position as part of our excellent team of freelance writers.

The purpose of the project – documenting and reviewing a cultural phenomenon

Since its release in 2018, Derry Girls has gripped audiences worldwide thanks in no small part to the excellent performance of its cast and its writers’ ability to mix humour and tenderness in this Irish coming-of-age sitcom.

Not since Father Ted has Irish television caused such a storm both on these shores and worldwide. Derry Girls even counts Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese among its legions of loyal fans.

The purpose of Meanwhile in Ireland’s Ultimate Derry Girls Guide was to document and review this television phenomenon. As such, the guide offers readers a ranking and a review of each episode.

The guide also offers overall average scores for individual episodes, as well as a breakdown of this average into a plotline score and a ‘laugh-o-meter’ score. What’s more, the Ultimate Derry Girls Guide comes equipped with story summaries and an account of memorable quotes.

The results are in – head to Meanwhile in Ireland for the complete guide

Anyone that followed the recent Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) will not be surprised to find out that Derry Girls finale – ‘The Agreement’ – came out on top with a perfect ten.

The show’s writer Lisa McGee was recognised at the IFTAs for her script for this iconic episode.

For the most part, however, episodes in seasons one and two performed better in the rankings than those in the show’s final season.

Our hopes for the guide are twofold. Firstly, we hope to entertain and spark debate among seasoned Derry Girls fanatics. Secondly, we hope to attract first-time viewers to watch one of the greatest Irish television shows of all time.

To read Meanwhile In Ireland’s Ultimate Derry Girls Guide in its entirety, click here.