{"id":1787180,"date":"2026-02-23T08:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1787180"},"modified":"2026-02-23T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:05:00","slug":"derry-girls-creator-unpacks-her-new-show-and-female-friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1787180","title":{"rendered":"Derry Girls creator unpacks her new show and female friendship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/215-0-2160-1440\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438160.jpeg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/film-tv\/article\/69703\/1\/lisa-mcgee-i-want-female-friendship-to-have-the-same-weight-as-romance\" data-article-id=\"69703\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.78\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, 2026 (TV Still) \" class=\"img\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1400\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438160.jpeg\" width=\"2560\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, 2026 <span class=\"nowrap\">(TV Still)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-02-23T08:05:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"23 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"23\">23,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - film-tv\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\">Film &amp; TV<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\">Film &amp; TV<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Derry Girls creator unpacks her new show and <span class=\"nowrap\">female friendship<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>Lisa McGee is back with a new show How to Get to Heaven From Belfast \u2013 here, she speaks to Dazed about her obsession with teenagehood, copaganda <span class=\"nowrap\">and more<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-23T08:05:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"23 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"23\">23,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-02-23T08:05:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"23 February 2026\"><span class=\"month\">February<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"23\">23,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/HalimaJibril\">Halima Jibril<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While surrounded by her best friends at a screening of <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span>, Lisa McGee had a thought: \u201cI realised I\u2019m watching versions of us as kids and now we\u2019re grown up. I wondered what the kids would think of who we\u2019ve become\u201d. This line of thought birthed the writer\u2019s new hit Netflix show, <\/span><em><span>How to Get to Heaven From Belfast.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>The Irish and British comedy thriller follows three women, Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), Robyn (Sin\u00e9ad Keenan) and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), who learn that the estranged fourth member of their teenage friendship group, Greta (Natasha O\u2019Keeffe), has unexpectedly passed away. They travel back to Donegal to pay their respects, but quickly learn that not everything is as it seems; and in order to uncover the truth about their friend, they must dig up memories from their youth that they wish to keep buried.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI really liked being a teen,\u201d McGee tells Dazed. \u201cI was really dorky, but so were all my friends. I used to call us a gang of dicks \u2013 we were so naive and innocent. It wasn\u2019t always easy, of course. We never had any money, and so much was going on around us in Northern Ireland at the time, but I had a lot of fun because a wee group of friends supported me. That\u2019s why I\u2019m still so drawn to writing about female friendships.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Following the show\u2019s release, we spoke to McGee about making the murder mystery genre her own, the importance of female friendships and how she tried to address the copaganda inherent to crime fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"6flC0y-2iFw\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6flC0y-2iFw\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> follows three friends \u2013 Saoirse, Robyn and Dara \u2013 who are essentially investigating the death of their friend Greta and start realising that something dodgy is going on. It\u2019s a fun show, with a fun premise. How did you come up with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee:<\/strong><span> I\u2019ve always wanted to write a mystery \u2013 it\u2019s my favourite genre. I thought, \u2018If I do this, I have to do it my way\u2019. It would have to have a lot of comedy in it, and it would have to be very Irish and chaotic. The idea really came from when I was going to screenings of <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span>, with my friends, who the gang from <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span> are based on. I realised I\u2019m watching versions of us as kids, and now we\u2019re grown-ups, and I started thinking about what the kids would think of who we\u2019ve become. I became a bit obsessed with this relationship between who we are now and our younger selves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you come up with the show\u2019s name?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong>I can\u2019t take credit for it. During freshers week, when I was at university, this street preacher gave me a leaflet for a religious meeting titled \u2018How to get to heaven from Belfast\u2019. I didn\u2019t go to the meeting, but I did keep the flyer and thought, \u2018That\u2019ll be a good name for something.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What other pieces of media were you inspired by when writing the show? What were you reading and watching?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>This list could get me locked up \u2013 it\u2019s so insane. <\/span><em><span>Scooby Doo<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>The A Team<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Twin Peaks<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Fargo<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Pulp Fiction<\/span><\/em><span>, a lot of Irish plays, ghost stories and some Irish myths and legends.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>There was something about this idea that the teenage girl you used to be is still living inside \u2013 I find that really beautiful\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>I really like the way you write your female characters in <\/strong><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> and <\/strong><strong><em>Derry Girls<\/em><\/strong><strong>. I\u2019m Nigerian and Irish, and I find that Irish and Nigerian people act very similarly. There\u2019s this \u2013 for lack of a better word \u2013 brutishness to the ways we interact with each other that is still so filled with love. Could you speak more about how you approach writing these characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I know exactly what you mean. My son\u2019s best friend is Nigerian and his mum and I are almost in competition about our son\u2019s bad behaviour. <\/span><span>When I lived in London, it was always people trying to show off how well their kids are doing, but my son\u2019s friends\u2019 mum and me are doing the opposite, we\u2019re like \u2018No he\u2019s the worst\u2019, \u2018No, mine is the worst\u2019 \u2013 you know? <\/span>[<em><span>laughs<\/span><\/em>].<\/p>\n<p><span>To answer your question more directly, I try to be very truthful to the relationships I\u2019m witnessing in real life. I felt like what I was seeing on screen [depictions of women] wasn\u2019t always truthful. They feel like watered-down versions of reality. Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m surrounded by women who are a bit louder, more outspoken, and not afraid to be the funny person in the room. So I\u2019m just representing what I see and hear. I think we\u2019re still not used to that. There are more and more female writers, and more Irish writers \u2013 so I think we are seeing, and will see, more honest depictions of female friendships, but I was trying to get close to what my friendship group was and is like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Like <\/strong><strong><em>Derry Girls<\/em><\/strong><strong>, <\/strong><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> is about women who had this very strong bond in secondary school. What drew you back to exploring teenagehood in this new show?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I\u2019m just obsessed with it. At my age now, I\u2019m in my forties, and I still feel like a teenage girl pretending to be a grown-up. When you meet up with those people you grew up with again, you revert to your younger self. There was something about this idea that the teenage girl you used to be is still living inside \u2013 I find that really beautiful. I also wanted to give female friendship the same weight that romantic relationships get because I think it\u2019s more interesting, and in my experience, it often lasts longer<\/span> [<em><span>laughs<\/span><\/em>].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u2018I\u2019m surrounded by women who are a bit louder, more outspoken, and not afraid to be the funny person in the room. So I\u2019m just representing what I see and hear\u2019 \u2013 Lisa McGee<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>The show\u2019s soundtrack features some 90s and 00s classics: Atomic Kitten, The Spice Girls and S Club 7. Why did you incorporate so much 90s music in a show set mostly in the present day? <\/strong><strong><em>Marty Supreme<\/em><\/strong><strong> recently did something similar.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>We worked out that when those girls would have been 16, it would have been 2003. So we made this rule that we would only use music from that year. Any commercial tracks, as the ones you listed, were around 2003. We broke that rule sometimes because we were like, \u2018We have to have Bewitched in there.\u2019 For the most part, we wanted to double down on this idea that these women are stuck in that time period and can\u2019t get out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The show explores themes of friendship, the LGBTQ+ community, abuse and more. But I was particularly interested in the narratives around the Garda (police), specifically Liam\u2019s character (Darragh Hand). Liam has a conversation with Saoirse about why he joined the Garda. He talks about how wanted to fight bad guys, but now people believe the Garda are the bad guys. Why did you feel the need to include this discussion? Especially with a character like Liam, who is Black and mixed race?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I didn\u2019t have that in mind with the casting of Liam when I wrote it. That all happened later. That particular speech between Liam and Saoirse went on to talk about copaganda and how many of the police on TV are goodies. I really wanted to say something about that because I was aware this show could also be accused of doing the same. So I wanted to say, \u2018We\u2019re aware that being a policeman is complicated on screen.\u2019 That\u2019s why he had that speech, but the actual conversation about copaganda got cut because it just went on too long. We\u2019re also exploring this idea that Liam\u2019s conflicted being in this job. He got in for the right reasons, but then discovers that his boss, Owen, may not be a good guy, and he\u2019s probably working with other guys who aren\u2019t good. So yeah, it\u2019s all about these grey areas in this show. That\u2019s what I love to explore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>How to Get to Heaven From Belfast is streaming now on Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. 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href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/69556\/1\/the-2026-sundance-films-josephine-lady-extra-geography\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"EXTRA GEOGRAPHY\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/203-0-2165-1440\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/6\/1436334.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">The 2026 Sundance films we can\u2019t stop thinking about<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>While surrounded by her best friends at a screening of <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span>, Lisa McGee had a thought: \u201cI realised I\u2019m watching versions of us as kids and now we\u2019re grown up. I wondered what the kids would think of who we\u2019ve become\u201d. This line of thought birthed the writer\u2019s new hit Netflix show, <\/span><em><span>How to Get to Heaven From Belfast.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span>The Irish and British comedy thriller follows three women, Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), Robyn (Sin\u00e9ad Keenan) and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), who learn that the estranged fourth member of their teenage friendship group, Greta (Natasha O\u2019Keeffe), has unexpectedly passed away. They travel back to Donegal to pay their respects, but quickly learn that not everything is as it seems; and in order to uncover the truth about their friend, they must dig up memories from their youth that they wish to keep buried.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI really liked being a teen,\u201d McGee tells Dazed. \u201cI was really dorky, but so were all my friends. I used to call us a gang of dicks \u2013 we were so naive and innocent. It wasn\u2019t always easy, of course. We never had any money, and so much was going on around us in Northern Ireland at the time, but I had a lot of fun because a wee group of friends supported me. That\u2019s why I\u2019m still so drawn to writing about female friendships.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Following the show\u2019s release, we spoke to McGee about making the murder mystery genre her own, the importance of female friendships and how she tried to address the copaganda inherent to crime fiction.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"6flC0y-2iFw\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6flC0y-2iFw\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> follows three friends \u2013 Saoirse, Robyn and Dara \u2013 who are essentially investigating the death of their friend Greta and start realising that something dodgy is going on. It\u2019s a fun show, with a fun premise. How did you come up with it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee:<\/strong><span> I\u2019ve always wanted to write a mystery \u2013 it\u2019s my favourite genre. I thought, \u2018If I do this, I have to do it my way\u2019. It would have to have a lot of comedy in it, and it would have to be very Irish and chaotic. The idea really came from when I was going to screenings of <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span>, with my friends, who the gang from <\/span><em><span>Derry Girls<\/span><\/em><span> are based on. I realised I\u2019m watching versions of us as kids, and now we\u2019re grown-ups, and I started thinking about what the kids would think of who we\u2019ve become. I became a bit obsessed with this relationship between who we are now and our younger selves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How did you come up with the show\u2019s name?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong>I can\u2019t take credit for it. During freshers week, when I was at university, this street preacher gave me a leaflet for a religious meeting titled \u2018How to get to heaven from Belfast\u2019. I didn\u2019t go to the meeting, but I did keep the flyer and thought, \u2018That\u2019ll be a good name for something.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What other pieces of media were you inspired by when writing the show? What were you reading and watching?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>This list could get me locked up \u2013 it\u2019s so insane. <\/span><em><span>Scooby Doo<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>The A Team<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Twin Peaks<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Fargo<\/span><\/em><span>, <\/span><em><span>Pulp Fiction<\/span><\/em><span>, a lot of Irish plays, ghost stories and some Irish myths and legends.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>There was something about this idea that the teenage girl you used to be is still living inside \u2013 I find that really beautiful\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>I really like the way you write your female characters in <\/strong><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> and <\/strong><strong><em>Derry Girls<\/em><\/strong><strong>. I\u2019m Nigerian and Irish, and I find that Irish and Nigerian people act very similarly. There\u2019s this \u2013 for lack of a better word \u2013 brutishness to the ways we interact with each other that is still so filled with love. Could you speak more about how you approach writing these characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I know exactly what you mean. My son\u2019s best friend is Nigerian and his mum and I are almost in competition about our son\u2019s bad behaviour. <\/span><span>When I lived in London, it was always people trying to show off how well their kids are doing, but my son\u2019s friends\u2019 mum and me are doing the opposite, we\u2019re like \u2018No he\u2019s the worst\u2019, \u2018No, mine is the worst\u2019 \u2013 you know? <\/span>[<em><span>laughs<\/span><\/em>].<\/p>\n<p><span>To answer your question more directly, I try to be very truthful to the relationships I\u2019m witnessing in real life. I felt like what I was seeing on screen [depictions of women] wasn\u2019t always truthful. They feel like watered-down versions of reality. Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m surrounded by women who are a bit louder, more outspoken, and not afraid to be the funny person in the room. So I\u2019m just representing what I see and hear. I think we\u2019re still not used to that. There are more and more female writers, and more Irish writers \u2013 so I think we are seeing, and will see, more honest depictions of female friendships, but I was trying to get close to what my friendship group was and is like.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Like <\/strong><strong><em>Derry Girls<\/em><\/strong><strong>, <\/strong><strong><em>How to Get to Heaven from Belfast<\/em><\/strong><strong> is about women who had this very strong bond in secondary school. What drew you back to exploring teenagehood in this new show?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I\u2019m just obsessed with it. At my age now, I\u2019m in my forties, and I still feel like a teenage girl pretending to be a grown-up. When you meet up with those people you grew up with again, you revert to your younger self. There was something about this idea that the teenage girl you used to be is still living inside \u2013 I find that really beautiful. I also wanted to give female friendship the same weight that romantic relationships get because I think it\u2019s more interesting, and in my experience, it often lasts longer<\/span> [<em><span>laughs<\/span><\/em>].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u2018I\u2019m surrounded by women who are a bit louder, more outspoken, and not afraid to be the funny person in the room. So I\u2019m just representing what I see and hear\u2019 \u2013 Lisa McGee<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>The show\u2019s soundtrack features some 90s and 00s classics: Atomic Kitten, The Spice Girls and S Club 7. Why did you incorporate so much 90s music in a show set mostly in the present day? <\/strong><strong><em>Marty Supreme<\/em><\/strong><strong> recently did something similar.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>We worked out that when those girls would have been 16, it would have been 2003. So we made this rule that we would only use music from that year. Any commercial tracks, as the ones you listed, were around 2003. We broke that rule sometimes because we were like, \u2018We have to have Bewitched in there.\u2019 For the most part, we wanted to double down on this idea that these women are stuck in that time period and can\u2019t get out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The show explores themes of friendship, the LGBTQ+ community, abuse and more. But I was particularly interested in the narratives around the Garda (police), specifically Liam\u2019s character (Darragh Hand). Liam has a conversation with Saoirse about why he joined the Garda. He talks about how wanted to fight bad guys, but now people believe the Garda are the bad guys. Why did you feel the need to include this discussion? Especially with a character like Liam, who is Black and mixed race?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lisa McGee: <\/strong><span>I didn\u2019t have that in mind with the casting of Liam when I wrote it. That all happened later. That particular speech between Liam and Saoirse went on to talk about copaganda and how many of the police on TV are goodies. I really wanted to say something about that because I was aware this show could also be accused of doing the same. So I wanted to say, \u2018We\u2019re aware that being a policeman is complicated on screen.\u2019 That\u2019s why he had that speech, but the actual conversation about copaganda got cut because it just went on too long. We\u2019re also exploring this idea that Liam\u2019s conflicted being in this job. He got in for the right reasons, but then discovers that his boss, Owen, may not be a good guy, and he\u2019s probably working with other guys who aren\u2019t good. So yeah, it\u2019s all about these grey areas in this show. That\u2019s what I love to explore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>How to Get to Heaven From Belfast is streaming now on Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/film-tv\/article\/69703\/1\/lisa-mcgee-i-want-female-friendship-to-have-the-same-weight-as-romance&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/215-0-2160-1440\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/8\/1438160.jpeg&#8221;] How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, 2026 (TV Still) February\u00a0 23,\u00a0 2026 Film &amp; TV \/ Q+A Film &amp; TV \/ Q+A Derry Girls creator unpacks her new show and female friendship Lisa McGee is back with a new show How to Get to Heaven From Belfast \u2013 here, she speaks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1787180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1787180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1787180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1787180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1787180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}