Derry Girls writer Lisa McGee has been commissioned to create a new comedy-thriller based on the lives of three thirty-something Belfast girls.
How To Get To Heaven from Belfast is an eight-part Channel 4 series following Saoirse, Robyn and Dara.
Friends from school, the trio have developed into very different lives.
Saoirse is a successful writer but has a need to hit her own self-destruct button while Robyn is a stressed-out mother-of-three boys. Dara is a full time carer of her elderly parents who has managed to remain living in her teenage bedroom.
The women are brought together following the death of another classmate, Greta. The three friends decide to attend Greta’s wake but soon find out that all is not as it seems and there is some unspoken and unfinished business.
Their decision to pay their final respects to Greta sets them out on what Channel 4 has described as a “dark and twisted” adventure
Leaving the ghosts of their native Belfast behind, the women find themselves deep in the wildness of Co Donegal. Their journey takes them across Ireland as they attempt to uncover a new truth. However, their own chaotic lives continue to get in the way.
Channel 4 has described it as “not so much a whodunit as a what the hell happened”.
For McGee, it’s a return to familiar territory after the huge success of her three series of Derry Girls, Channel 4’s most successful comedy. The show has brought numerous awards including a BAFTA earlier this year and the freedom of her home city.
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McGee said she felt “incredibly lucky” to be making another show for Channel 4 and to be doing so with Hat Trick Productions (which produced Derry Girls) and the same creative team behind Derry Girls.
“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,” she said.
Channel 4 Head of Comedy Charlie Perkins described the new production as “huge”.
“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,” he said.
Jimmy Mulville of Hat Trick said he felt enormously grateful that the Derry Girls’ production team has decided to come back together.
"How To Get To Heaven from Belfast is an extraordinary rich story which will thrill fans not only of Derry Girls but lovers of comedy thrillers everywhere,” Mr Mulville said.
Further details about the new series, including casting, will be announced in due course.
