A brainy student had the luck of the Irish after she landed top marks in her 8,000 word dissertation - on hit TV show Derry Girls. English and related literature student Réiltín Doherty, 21, pored over the first two series of the channel 4 sitcom to analyse the show's themes.
She watched some episodes as many as ten times as she explored contrast between the woes of being a teenager amid the backdrop of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. And she was delighted when she got 71% to achieve a first class grading for the 8,000-word thesis which helped her gain a 2.1 degree at the University of York.
Réiltín, who grew up in Derry, said: "It feels really good, I didn't really know what to expect but the feedback on my dissertation was really positive and nice to hear the markers enjoyed the parts I worked really hard on." Fans of the Channel 4 sitcom were left in tears at the show's emotional ending last Month
But Réiltín celebrated her own blockbuster ending for her project, titled 'Being a Derry Girl, it’s a state of mind: Humour, Teens and the Troubles in Derry Girls'. She added: "I was just with my housemates about to head out to my part-time job when I got the email.
"I was shaking and really nervous to open it but my housemates convinced me and I opened the email there and then and we celebrated my first quickly before I headed to work. Réiltín said the show accurately captures how people used humour to cope during the Troubles.
She says her dad had joked with her during her first year at university, but she laughed it off and thought nothing of it. However, when the time came to submit a pitch for her dissertation at the end of her second year, she realised there a number of themes she could explore within the show.
She added: "My supervisor was really enthusiastic about it, he does a lot of work in Irish comedy and was pretty much the perfect person to guide me in writing it. He mentioned his partner was from Northern Ireland too so he was able to understand a lot of the appeal and the humour of the show."
Réiltín, whose favourite character in the show was Orla, said the comedy educated viewers about the troubles. But it did so in a way that put the lives of the teenagers at the centre of the story, which allowed audiences to relate to the characters.
She added: "When I first moved to England, the first thing people would mention is the troubles or that they had family from Ireland. Now the first thing they mention is Derry Girls and I love it as it's something positive from the city to talk about.
"It has changed people's perceptions of Northern Ireland and Derry. A lot of the media from Northern Ireland has been very dark and shows the violence of the Troubles really vividly. Derry Girls doesn’t.
“It’s one of the few programmes that shows the lives of ordinary people and it also shows how the Troubles, as traumatic as they were, can be funny. I’ve used a lot of theory around dark humour to explain that.
"I obviously didn’t grow up during the worst of it, but I still get and understand a lot of the jokes. I watched every episode twice and I watched some up to ten times to get screenshots and make sure I didn't miss anything.
"I did worry I'd end up hating the show, but I still love it. But it felt really good to be able to shut my laptop and watch the final episode last week without analysing it. I don't think I'll be in a rush to re-watch it anytime soon."
