for change. Will that make the new
series calmer? “It’s still the same Derry
Girls madness,” Jackson assures me.
“The girls are getting their GCSE
results.” The Good Friday agree-
ment, which marked the end of the
Troubles, is four years away. “Lisa
[McGee, the series’ writer] wanted it to
end with the Good Friday agreement, so
yes, we are getting there.” If the cease-
fire brought people to tears, the
moment the conflict ended for good is
set to be even more powerful.
The show is obviously written
from a nationalist perspective,
but it is not overtly partisan. The
characters want peace more
than anything, and a hilarious
cross-community weekend away
shows Protestant teenagers deal-
ing with all the same confusions
and embarrassments as their
Catholic counterparts. But where the
show does take a stand is on gay rights,
brought to the fore when Claire comes
out and most of the cast wear Pride
badges.
Jackson was recently in a short film,
Liverpool Ferry, about a teenage girl
secretly travelling to England for an
abortion. Abortion was decriminalised
in Northern Ireland in 2019 but the
DUP has repeatedly refused to commis-
sion abortion services, meaning girls
are still forced to travel. Is that an issue
close to her heart? “It really is. No one
should have to go through an abortion
and then carry shame on top of that.”
Jackson is less willing to chat party
politics. “I don’t like it when actors
become political figures.” Instead, she
says, “the main emphasis of Derry Girls
is hope for a better life for the kids that
come after you, and for the commu-
nity.” Part of that promise, she says, is
that young people from Derry, and
across Northern Ireland, will watch the
show and imagine wider horizons for
themselves. When it comes to young
women, she says, they should be
encouraged not only to think above
their station, but to “leave the station!”
Jackson didn’t have Derry Girls as
inspiration when she decided to be an
actress (“at the age of four”), but she
did have Pulp Fiction. “The only actor I
knew from Derry was Bronagh Gal-
lagher.” She watched the film in secret.
“I must have been about nine. I was
absolutely traumatised. But I loved it,
because it was amazing to see a girl
from Derry in a huge Hollywood film.”
Now she has made it to Hollywood
herself, starring in the forthcoming DC
film The Flash. “It was so crazy to be in
the same film as Michael Keaton and
Ben Affleck. But even in that studio, I
was stood there going, ‘I’ll always be a
Derry Girl.’ ” When she starts scratch-
ing the sole of her foot with a knife dur-
ing our interview, apologising that she
has an itch, it’s hard to disagree. cDerry Girls series three starts on
Channel 4 on TuesdayThe show
is about
hope for a
better life
for the kids
that come
after you
End of term From
left: Nicola Coughlan,
Jamie-Lee O’Donnell,
Saoirse-Monica
Jackson, Louisa
Harland and Dylan
Llewellyn
Comedy duo Dawn French
and Jennifer SaundersPodcasts to be cheerful
Comfort Blanket
Apple, Spotify et al
Launched on Thursday, this
thoughtful series from Joel
Morris (of the fêted Rule of
Three podcast) has a simple,
winning premise: “I talk to
people who do cool stuff I like
about some warm stuff they
like.” Not guilty pleasures,
he stresses, but a book, film,
television show or record
returned to again and again
because it never lets them
down. I’ve heard Rufus Jones
on the much imitated, but
never surpassed, Raiders of
the Lost Ark, music writer
Jude Rogers on the “instant
joy” of Wham’s Freedom and
Caitlin Moran, brilliant on
the giant-hearted reality
television show Curvy Brides’
Boutique. A lovely listen, which
engages because each choice
is explored so seriously.Whatever Happened to
Baby Jane Austen?
BBC Sounds
We are only two episodes in,
but already this Radio 4
sitcom about two warring
sisters feels like a future
classic. This has much to do
with the honed chemistry
between national treasure
double-act Dawn French and
Jennifer Saunders, but also
writer David Quantick’shyperbolically loopy lines
(his other hits include Vee p).
French plays literary author
Florence Ransom, driven
doolally by her movie-star
sister Selina Mountjoy’s
sudden incursion into her
world with a tell-all memoir.
There is terrific support
from Alistair McGowan
and Josette Simon.Dead Eyes
Apple, Spotify et al
Over three
seasons and
31 episodes,
the American
actor and
stand-up
Connor
Ratliff, left,
has “worked
out” the humiliation of being
cast, then a week later
dropped, from television
series Band of Brothers.
His sacking came about,
reportedly, because Tom
Hanks said he had “dead
eyes”. Imagine being the guy,
Ratliff posits, whose dreams
were torpedoed by everyone’s
favourite everyman actor.
Last month his podcast
reached an apotheosis, a
potential endgame: Tom
Hanks asked to be his guest.Who Is Aldrich Kemp?
BBC Sounds
The game is afoot in this
fast-paced, far-fetched
espionage drama, performed
with terrific verve by a cast
including Tim McInnerny,
Nicola Walker and PhoebeFox, left. Fox
stars as Clara
Page, a junior
spook and
champion
fencer put on
the tail of
charismatic
master
criminal Kemp (Ferdinand
Kingsley). This is a world of
dire twists, Tintinesque
baddies, knock-out punches
and poisonings. For fans
of Bond, Sherlock and
golden-age crime, this fun,
contemporary five-part
caper is a joyous hoot.Chameleon: Wild Boys
Apple, Spotify et al
An engrossing and strange
real-life story about two
teenage boys who, in 2003,
showed up in a picture-
perfect lakeside town in
Canada claiming to have
been raised in the British
Columbia backwoods. The
youngest of the boys was
shockingly emaciated. But
as the citizens of Vernon
rallied to aid the pair,
doubts began to creep in
about their story. Journalist
Sam Mullins, a Vernon
teenager at the time,
skilfully weaves a gripping
nine-part series.Twin Flames
Apple, Spotify et al
What lengths should anyone
go to for love? This is the
eye-popping tale of a cultish
couple of YouTubers, Jeff and
Shaleia Ayan, who through
various social media channels
and pricey mentoring
sessions, expound a theory
that everyone has a soulmate.
They draw lovelorn
followers and give them
unorthodox advice. The
Encanto and Brooklyn
Nine-Nine actress Stephanie
Beatriz narrates.My TV Years
Apple, Spotify et al
Enthusiastic Mel Giedroyc
quizzes famous people,
including Hugh Dennis and
Adjoa Andoh, about the
telly that has shaped them.
Sanjeev Bhaskar on the
1970s and 1980s sitcom
It Ain’t Half Hot Mum is
enjoyably insightful. cPATRICIA
NICOL
Seven new shows that will lift your spirits in no time
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