Lisa McGee gets Channel 4 comedy mystery thriller series
- Channel 4 has ordered How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, a new show from the creator of Derry Girls
- The series is a comedy thriller uniting a group of old school friends in a long-gestating mystery
- Writer Lisa McGee says: "I cannot wait to share these flawed funny women with everyone"
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast has been announced as Channel 4's next show from Lisa McGee.
The eight-episode comedy thriller comes from the writer of Derry Girls and its production company, Hat Trick.
The series follows Saoirse, Robyn and Dara, who have been friends since school. Now in their late thirties they lead very different lives: Saoirse is a successful writer with a compulsion to hit the self-destruct button; Robyn's a sweary, stressed-out mother of three young boys; and Dara is a full-time carer of an elderly parent, who hasn't managed to move out of her teenage bedroom.
Channel 4 explains: "When the women each receive an email informing them of the death of Greta, an old classmate they were once very close with, there's clearly some unspoken, unfinished business. The friends attend her wake but quickly discover all may not be quite as it seems. They soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and twisted mystery.
"It's absolutely terrifying. But it's also.... utterly thrilling.
"These women are about to embark on the most exciting adventure of their lives. An adventure that will take them from their native Belfast, a city full of ghosts, the pain of the past plastered on every mural, to the mythic wildness of rural Donegal and right across Ireland, as they attempt to put the pieces of the puzzle together and uncover the truth. Even if their own complicated, chaotic and messy lives often get in the way.
"Not so much a 'whodunit' as a "what the hell happened?".
"How To Get To Heaven From Belfast takes us on an enthralling and hilarious journey, exploring the themes of friendship, memory and what happens when life doesn't turn out quite how we expected."
A commission from the broadcaster's Comedy department, it will be funded in conjunction with the Drama department, and executive produced by Caroline Leddy, Liz Lewin and Jimmy Mulville.
Lisa McGee said today: "I feel so incredibly lucky to be making another show for the phenomenal Channel 4 and to be doing it with Hat Trick Productions again and the creative team behind Derry Girls, the mighty Liz Lewin and Caroline Leddy, is just a dream. I've wanted to make a comedy thriller set in Northern Ireland for SUCH a long time. I cannot wait to share these flawed funny women with everyone."
Charlie Perkins, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, says: "This is huge. We couldn't be prouder that Channel 4 feels like this extraordinary show's spiritual home. Getting to know the multi hyphenated talents of Lisa, Liz, Caroline and their collaborators at Hat Trick Productions has been one of the greatest pleasures in my first year as Head of Comedy. We can't wait to bring Lisa's next world to life for all those who already love her work and many more to come."
Jimmy Mulville, Managing Director at Hat Trick, adds: "I feel enormously grateful that Lisa, Liz and Caroline have decided once again to team up with Hat Trick and to be yet again working with Channel 4. How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is an extraordinarily rich story which will thrill fans not only of Derry Girls but of lovers of comedy thrillers everywhere."