Derry Girls brings home Bafta for scripted comedy

The Channel 4 hit show comedy, Derry Girls, has won a Bafta for scripted comedy at the awards ceremony in London. 

Derry native and the show's writer and creator, Lisa McGee thanked her home city during her acceptance speech.

"I'd like to thank our first home, Derry, with its unbreakable spirit, and hilarious characters, what a muse you have been," she said.

Lisa said that when they were trying to get production off the ground, the standard response was 'that's not funny,'  when they explained they were making a comedy about a group of girls trying to navigate their way through the Troubles.

"It didn't have runaway hit written all over it, " she continued. "But, what we found is that in the specific there's always the universal, always the ordinary and the extraordinary and if you really look hard enough there's always light in the dark.

"What an amazing end to our Derry Girls journey, it's been a privilege making this show and thank you for watching."

She also later revealed she didn't think the show was going to win an award in a humorous tweet.

"I had nice shoes," Lisa later tweeted. "I wore them on the red carpet, I changed into terrible shoes cos I thought we weren't going to win. I don't wish to talk about my terrible shoes being on the BBC. Thank you and good night xx."

Derry Girls star, Siobhán McSweeney, also won best female performance in a comedy programme for her portrayal of Sister Michael.

The BBC later issued a statement in response to criticism of an edit of McSweeney's acceptance speech.

In part of her speech, which was omitted from the main BBC broadcasting but played out in full on the Baftas official YouTube channel, she was critical of governments.

"To the people of Derry, thank you for taking me into your hearts and your living rooms," Siobhán said.

"I am daily impressed with how you encompass the spirit of compromise and resilience despite the indignities, ignorance, and stupidity of your so-called leaders in Dublin, Stormont, and Westminster," she told the audience.

"In the words of my beloved Sr Michael, it is time they started to wise-up," she added.

Her words were met with cheers and applause from the crowd at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

The BBC defended the edit in a statement which read: “As in previous years, due to the nature of the show it is broadcast with a short delay, and while we always aim to keep the core sentiment of acceptance speeches, edits have to be made due to time constraints.

"The live event is three hours and it has to be reduced to two hours for its on-air slot," they said.

"The same happened to other speeches made during the night and all edits were made to ensure the programme was delivered to time."

They said that all winners' speeches will be available to watch on the Baftas Youtube channel.

Derry Girls was first broadcast in 2018 and was an instant hit across the globe. It ran for three seasons before the third and final season was released in 2022.

The show is based around Derry girls Erin, Michelle, Clare and Orla, plus "the wee English fella" James, and follows the everyday life of the teenagers during The Troubles.

The show put Derry on the world map for all the right reasons and has celebrated continued success over the last year, bringing home multiple awards including at the Irish Film and Television Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards.