A FLASHBACK episode of Derry Girls focusing on Ma Mary and Aunt Sarah is to air on Channel 4 next week, the series creator has confirmed.
Next week's episode will be the penulimtate of the final season of the show, with viewers being treated to younger versions of Mary and Sarah played by Tara Lynne O'Neill and Kathy Kiera Clarke respectively.
Speaking to Digital Spy, creator Lisa McGee said next week's instalment will focus on the "horrific" times younger Mary (Shauna Higgins) and Sarah (Dearbhaile McKinney) grew up in back int he 1907s.
"Writing this show, honestly – and this might sound a bit sentimental – it's been a real learning experience for me as a person, not just a writer," she said. "I don't talk about a lot of the terrible things.
"In Northern Ireland, you handle it with humour and you just crack on. I think for the parents' generation, it was a war zone. It was horrific what they went through, and we just didn't appreciate it."
She said that by looking back on that period of time, she realises now why parents and schools were so strict and that she has "such an appreciation and respect."
"I'm so embarrassed at how we behaved now! They were incredible what they got through, they're just the strongest people, that generation."
So not tonight but next week, something a bit different for us, an episode I’ve wanted to write for a long time. Thank you @Channel4 for letting me. One for the Mammies. https://t.co/WoOYzM5Sqo
— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) May 3, 2022
In the episode, Mary and Sarah will be getting ready for their Class of 1977 school reunion, with a long-held secret about the night coming to light.
Channel 4 also recently announced that an extra episode of 45 minutes length will air the same week as the series comes to a close.
That episode will explore a key moment in Northern Irish history - the Good Friday Agreement vote - and will pic up one year after the events of the third series.
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