‘Derry Girls’ return date confirmed: When does Season 3 start?

Channel 4 has finally announced when the new season of Derry Girls will begin!

Set in Derry, Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s, the hit comedy series follows a group of four best friends, along with hapless English cousin James, as they navigate their teenage years in a Catholic girls’ secondary school during the end of the Troubles.

Derry Girls first aired back in 2018, with a second season airing the following year, but we’ve had a long wait since 2019 for the show to return.

Following delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, six brand new episodes started shooting last autumn, with all the main cast returning.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all celebrations for fans, as we learned the sad news that this will be the final season of Derry Girls.

The final season of Derry Girls will see that “while Northern Ireland is growing up, this gang of eejits certainly aren’t anytime soon – while there’s hope in the air that The Troubles may finally be over, their troubles are only just getting started as they get ever closer to “adulthood”…”

With the brilliant trailer arriving last week, we can now officially confirm that Season 3 will premiere at 9:15pm on Tuesday 12th April on Channel 4.

The first episode will air straight after the latest Great British Bake Off fundraising special for Stand Up To Cancer.

New instalments of Derry Girls will debut weekly and will also be made available to watch on All 4 after broadcast.

We’ve also been treated to a fun sneak peek, in which Michelle discovers a movie about a “Scottish drag queen [who] takes on the entire English army” (can you guess the film she’s talking about?!).

Watch the clip here:

 

The new season is expected to debut internationally on Netflix later this year.

Discussing the decision to bring Derry Girls to an end, writer Lisa McGee revealed in 2021: “It was always the plan to say goodbye after three [seasons].”

She explained: “Derry Girls is a coming of age story following five ridiculous teenagers as they slowly… very slowly… start to become adults, while around them the place they call home starts to change too and Northern Ireland enters a new more hopeful phase — which was a small, magical window of time.”

However, McGee has hinted that this might not be the last we see of the characters, teasing: “Who knows if Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James will return in some other guise someday…”

We’d definitely be up for seeing a Derry Girls movie!

While we wait for the show’s return, you can see Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan reprise her role as Penelope Featherington in the new season of Bridgerton!

Netflix’s period drama series returned for a second run last week.

The Bridgerton novels are available on Amazon.