on Netflix

I know it is not new, but in the absence of good tv with a humorous bent, we have been rewatching this hilarious show set in Londonderry, Ireland, during the troubles (1990s). Maybe it’s because I attended a Catholic school in an Irish Catholic neighborhood myself, and was not always loved by the nuns. I related heartily to a three-generation family crowded into the house, and cousins constantly showing up, and a cranky ma who would rather not pay for your birthday bash.

The five youths going to the all girls school make up the main cast:

Erin (Saorise-Monica Jackson), who thinks she is more brilliant than she is, and wants to be a writer

Orla (Louisa Harland), Erin’s cousin, a bit on the spectrum, and happy to be there

Claire (Nichola Coughlan), a brainy plump friend, whose anxiety is always showing

Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), a horny girl who just wants a ride, and I don’t mean on a horse

James (Dylan Llewellyn), Michelle’s cousin, an outsider in every way, not only that he is a boy going to an all girls school, but the fact that he is British, and Protestant

The show features excellent ensemble acting with the older generation, including a very cranky grandfather who is mean at all times to his son in law, two sisters one of whom might generously be labeled a bimbo (all she thinks about is how she looks), a mysterious baby who must be Erin’s sister but is never mentioned, or looked at by the teens in the film. The Troubles crop up at odd moments as they must have for the writer of the show (Lisa McGee) and lend a serious air so that you know the girls are not just mindless idiots. They have to navigate bomb laden streets at times.

You might fault the casting of the teens with much older actors, but this did not bother me because the acting worked so well. And there are key moments with the older folk, including a very boring uncle named Colm (Kevin McLeer). Who does not have one of these relatives in their family? The guy who you pray you are not seated next to at dinner, because you will have to listen to endless tales about nothing you are remotely interested in.

Here is Colm going on about something boring.

Another great treat throughout the series is the depiction of the no nonsense nun, sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney).

By the third season, you know things have changed. By that time, President Clinton has visited to move the peace talks along, and hopes abound that the Troubles may end.  Early episodes hobble a bit, but at the conclusion, I am moved to tears at how things get wrapped up. I think we have watched the series three times now. I never grow tired of it.