{"id":371562,"date":"2026-03-29T15:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/371562\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T15:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T15:49:10","slug":"derry-girls-has-put-my-home-city-on-the-map-bronagh-gallagher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/371562\/","title":{"rendered":"Derry Girls has put my home city on the map \u2013 Bronagh Gallagher"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the stars of the Netflix show How To Get To Heaven From Belfast has praised the writing of Lisa McGee for reigniting interest in their home city of Derry.<\/p>\n

Bronagh Gallagher said the screenwriter\u2019s breakout hit comedy series Derry Girls had \u201cput the city on the map\u201d.<\/p>\n

The sitcom told the story of five teenagers living through the mid-1990s and frequently referenced events from the Troubles.<\/p>\n

The Commitments star Gallagher, 53, said Derry Girls has been \u201cenormous\u201d for Derry as she spoke to Ralph McLean on the Postcards From Northern Ireland podcast.<\/p>\n

\"HowGallagher praised the impact of the writing of Lisa McGee (Ian West\/PA)<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cLisa McGee is such an extraordinary writer and extraordinary person.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer capability as a writer to bring a language into a city, to tell a very troubled, heartbreaking past, through the eyes of young people, ignited an interest in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are now multiple Derry Girls tours, afternoon teas, prosecco nights \u2013 whatever you fancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of the hotels and the cafes have the memorabilia around the place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the mural \u2013 there\u2019s always people at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LisaLisa McGee in front of the Derry Girls mural in her home city (PA)<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI don\u2019t think people realise what it was like for us, the before and the after.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are on the map, big time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallagher, who has also acted in Pulp Fiction and Star Wars Episode I, played herself in the final episode of Derry Girls.<\/p>\n

The actress, who stars as Booker in How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, also written by McGee, told the podcast she had discovered the \u201cbeauty\u201d of the north Antrim coast during filming.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe had a huge stunt sequence which took place at Murlough Bay. I had never been to that part of the world, and it was just mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was bowled over by the scenery, by where it was. You can see Rathlin Island, you can see Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallagher also spoke of her love of Belfast, stating it was her \u201csecond-favourite city\u201d and recounted family trips in her youth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cMy parents were very much involved in music themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were always coming to see whatever was going on in the Grand Opera House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Louise (her sister) and I got older, it was a different kind of entertainment that we were looking for \u2013 the bars, the discos and the music shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went straight to Good Vibrations, Terri Hooley\u2019s record shop, and I was buying vinyl with my lunch money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went home hungry, but I went home with a Muddy Waters or a Howlin\u2019 Wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI love Belfast. I can see how the city has expanded and I think it\u2019s such a brilliant city to come to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Episode six of Postcards From Northern Ireland featuring Bronagh Gallagher is out on Discover Northern Ireland\u2019s YouTube and Spotify platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the stars of the Netflix show How To Get To Heaven From Belfast has praised the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-371562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}