Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee has revealed the reason why the story took such a dark turn during the series three finale of the iconic show.
The popular television show left fans in tears last night as a major character died.
The episode was an emotional rollercoaster with the gang doing everything in their power to get to a Fatboy Slim concert - with all the usual one-liners and hijinks - before it took a dark turn when it was revealed that Clare's dad had died of an aneurysm.
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Sharing the reason behind the heart-breaking scenes, Lisa told Hello! magazine: "The reason why I wanted to do this story is because it happened to my group of friends.
"My friend's dad died when we were around that age suddenly and it was a shock."
She continued: "The thing that really struck me was that we did grow up in this place where there was a lot of unpredictable stuff happening - you worried about a lot of violence - and this was a thing that could happen to anybody at any point - a natural cause thing. I was like 'Oh, God, no one's life's predictable, this could happen to anyone.'"
She explained that "something shifted in my wee friendship group when that happened" and likewise wanted the death of Claire's father to mark the end of adolescence for the gang.
Lisa admitted: "It says in the stage directions when they're walking behind the coffin: 'And just like that, they grew up'."
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