You can’t make a TV show about the ’90s without the Spice Girls. (I mean, technically you can, but it might not be very good.)
Derry Girls Season 3 is here, the year is 1996, and the girls (plus the Wee English Fella) are on top form as per.
Episode 1 got off to a bang (with a cameo from none other than Liam Neeson), but it was episode 2 that brought us the ’90s nostalgia we’ve all been craving from the show and the crossover you’ve always dreamed of: Derry Girls and the Spice Girls.
‘Derry Girls’ Season 3 review: A joyful trip down ’90s memory lane
To recap (and maybe don’t read this if you haven’t seen the episode yet), our second instalment of Derry Girls‘ final season saw Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell), Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), friend Clare (Nicola Coughlan), and Michelle’s tag along English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn) do a stellar performance of the Spice single for a school fundraiser.
For Children In Need — an annual televised event to raise money for the BBC’s UK charity — the pupils of Lady Immaculate College perform at Starz In Their Eyes, an evening of, err, interesting musical performances to an audience of proud and bemused parents.
For the non-Brits reading, Stars in their Eyes is a British television talent series which sees people take to the stage dressed as their favourite stars to perform musical tributes — many of which are highly entertaining. It was huge in the ’90s.
Credit: Channel 4
If you happened to be a child during the 1990s in the UK, then chances are you’ll have taken part in an event just like the Lady Immaculate College’s Starz In Their Eyes. Wobbly vocal performances, technical difficulties, and parents shifting uncomfortably in their seats while their child confirms they won’t be the next teen pop sensation to sweep the nation. Reader: I lived it.
Episode 2 takes us on a journey from rehearsal to performance, during which the Derry lasses are seen practicing in their bedrooms to an unknown song (although if you’re a true Spice Girls lover, you’ll be able to guess the song from the two-second intro that’s played during the rehearsal).
Credit: Channel 4
So, who plays who? Well, Clare plays Baby Spice (Emma Bunton), Erin plays Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell), Michelle plays Scary Spice (Mel B), Orla plays Sporty Spice (Mel C), and the Wee English Fella plays Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham).
Viewers might have noticed that Erin is not wearing Ginger Spice’s classic Union Jack dress. This was a deliberate choice made by the show to respect political sensitivities in Northern Ireland, both at the time and during the present day. Lisa McGee, the writer and creator of Derry Girls, told Digital Spy: “Erin is Ginger, but we haven’t done the Union Jack dress because that would have been not okay to Catholics in Derry. Our amazing costume designer made her a glittery dress with a peace sign on.”
‘Derry Girls’ helped me understand my parents’ experience growing up during The Troubles
Some people on Twitter pointed out a nod to another beloved Irish show in this episode — Father Ted‘s “A Song for Europe” episode. In Father Ted, Dougal (Ardal O’Hanlon) is adamant that he and Ted (Dermot Morgan) should throw their hats in the ring and try to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest. (Derry Girls fans will recall that Ardal O’Hanlon guest-starred as Eamonn in Season 2 of the show).
In Derry Girls episode 2, the performers at Starz in their Eyez are vying for a chance to perform on national TV for Children In Need. Naturally, things don’t quite go to plan, as is often the way on Derry Girls. And sadly, their amazing Spice Girls impersonation does not win the song contest.
While it might not have gained first place on the night, their epic rendition of “Who Do You Think You Are” earned a place in all our hearts as frankly some of the most wonderful television we’ve seen in recent years.
It’s a piece of nostalgia that will have struck a chord with anyone who grew up during the ’90s or who happens to be a big fan of ’90s pop culture (it was a great decade, let’s face it). Watching it, you can’t help but find yourself transfixed and transported back to a time when your classmates decided to don their best Adidas tracksuit and high kick their way across the stage in front of their granny.
So, while the Derry Girls won’t be on our screens for much longer (stifles sobs), they are certainly going out with one hell of a nostalgic bang.
