Beloved member of Derry Girls cast passes away
He's going to be missed đź’”
Last updated 30th Jun 2021
It's a sad day for the cast, crew and fans of Channel 4's Derry Girls, as news broke that the elusive dog Toto in the show has sadly died.
The adorable terrier stars in the sitcom as a much-loved member of the Quinn family.
One of Toto's most iconic scenes had to be inside the chapel, when the statue of Mother Mary cries 'real' tears. And we all know how that episode ends 🤣
Derry Girls writer and creator Lisa McGee posted a touching tribute on social media, it read: 'Sad to hear that wee Slipper aka Toto passed away. You were a Derry Girl in dog form. Rest in Peace.'
Bridgerton star and Derry Girls legend Nicola Coughlan has not only confirmed that third series is in the pipeline, but that filming is just around the corner.
"Covid has pushed back filming several times which has been so shite, but honestly the storylines in this series are the best we’ve ever done, so I can’t tell you how worth it the wait will have been."
Get to know the cast of Derry Girls:
Saoirse-Monica Jackson as Erin Quinn
Saoirse-Monica said of her character: "Erin is selfish, self-righteous, self-absorbed. She would do anything for herself, she would throw one of her friends under the bus. She's really out for herself as selfish teenagers are.
"She's ambitious, she wants to be a writer, she wants to move away, but in reality she's so much more naĂŻve than she pretends to be. She pretends to be really worldly, and she has such romantic ideas of herself. But her friends are always there to remind her that they're completely untrue."
Louisa Harland as Orla McCool
Louisa said of Orla: "I would describe her as being very free. She has no inhibitions. She doesn't stop herself from thinking. She doesn't judge herself or others and I think she's a really lovely character."
Nicola Coughlan as Clare Devlin
Nicola opened up about Clare: "I always think of her as a bit of a Machiavellian genius. Lisa said she wanted to give her a really sensible first name, with a surname that implied she had the devil in her. Because she's a geek, but she's not a nice geek. She'd happily sell her friends down the river if she needed to.
"She's quite ambitious. I've met the real-life girl Clare was based on. It was such a bizarre experience. In this job, you meet a lot of people off the television, and famous people, but I was way more star-struck meeting the real, actual Clare than I was meeting any of those other people. I think she's got a lot of good intentions – I think Clare and Erin think they're the really moral, high-ground-based people, when in fact the other three are a lot more morally sound. But at the same time, I think Clare has a lot of love for her friends – it's always fun to see the dynamic between Clare and Michelle, because they'd never be friends if it wasn't for Erin."
Jamie-Lee O'Donnell as Michelle Mallon
Jamie-Lee says of Michelle: "Michelle really thinks she's maybe just a bit too big for the place she was born in and she's ready to take on the world one swearword at a time. She's really feisty, really ballsy, doesn't really care about authority, just sort of up for anything and up for a laugh."
Dylan Llewellyn as James Maguire
Dylan said of his character: "James is 'the wee English fella'. His mum is from Derry, and she went over to England to have an abortion, but didn't go ahead with it, so James is born, and grows up in England. Then his mum and him go back to Derry, where she just abandons him with his cousin and aunt. From then on, it's all an uphill struggle for him, because he's put in the all-girls school, as they're scared he's going to get beaten up in the boys' school, for being English. That's pretty much it, really."
Siobhán McSweeney as Sister Michael
Siobhán spoke to Independent.ie about her character in March 2019: "I think what I personally like about Sister Michael is what people are picking up on as well, which is her complete 'doesn't give a damn' attitude, her utter freedom. For me, when I think about her being a nun, I think only about the freedom it gives her. She's not restricted by social norms, she doesn't have to behave in a certain way. It's the freedom the uniform has given her to an extent. She is our id in a way, what we always wish we could say but cannot say. That is a gift."
Tara Lynne O'Neill as Ma (Mary)
Tara Lynne spoke about her character to the Belfast Telegraph: "The bits of truth Lisa has got in there that she obviously exaggerates or explores, I think that's why people are relating to it, and there's that essence of truth that we all remember. It reminds me so much of myself - it's totally the same. The soundtrack is my youth. Every song I can tell you where I was and what I was doing when that was playing. All these people in their 40s are watching it and saying 'I remember that, I remember this at the disco'. It's a great memory for everyone."
Tommy Tiernan as Da (Gerry)
Tommy spoke to YM Liverpool in January 2020 about joining the show: "I read the script and it made me laugh. It was as easy and ordinary as that. Gerry was originally written to be from the north (of Ireland), but I'm not brilliant at sustaining accents to a believable degree. I can do them for a minute or so but not over the course of a series. So I said to Channel 4, 'if you put a Southerner in that situation, it gives you good comic scope'. It's another reason for the grandad to hate the dad."
Ian McElhinney as Granda Joe
Game of Thrones star Ian said of working on the show: "He has some great put-downs for Gerry. There's been some great one-liners and I'm delighted to have them. Tommy is a fantastic sparring partner on set - I'd never met him before or seen his stand-up shows, and he's a lovely fella, so it was really nice to work together."
Kathy Kiera Clarke as Aunt Sarah
Kathy Kiera spoke about filming in August 2019 to Irish News, saying: "If I'm filming, I could be up as early as 4.15am for a shower and then out the door. Aunt Sarah is first into make-up. Obviously!" adding of her lunch times whilst filming, "On set, it will be the full works, with dessert, even if I have to squeeze into another unforgiving, skin-tight number favoured by Aunt Sarah!"
Leah O'Rourke as Jenny Joyce
Leah told Hello! magazine in April 2019 about working on the show: "I went to an all-girls Catholic school and we had two nuns working in it - one nun was very very scary and was intimidating and had some qualities of Sister Michael. It was so similar. I think when I first got the script I really related to it and I found that probably helped me in the audition because I felt I had experienced something similar."
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