Derry Girls’ Stars to Host This Year’s Travel and Tourism Awards

Three stars of one of the most successful-ever local TV comedy series have been revealed as hosts for this year's Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards in association with Blue Insurance

Derry Girls’ stars Saoirse Monica Jackson (Erin), Jamie Lee O’Donnell (Michelle) and Dylan Llewellyn (James) will be on stage hosting the 27th annual Awards organised by Northern Ireland Travel News in Association with Blue Insurance.

Derry Girls, produced by Channel 4, is the biggest TV series ever in Northern Ireland. It had an average of 519, 000 viewers – and 64.2 per cent share of the Northern Ireland audience. It produced a viewing audience of 2.5 million in the UK as a whole, and was Channel 4’s biggest ever comedy launch.

“Ever year we aim to bring something different to the Awards and this year will be no exception,” said organiser Jonathan Adair of Northern Ireland Travel News.

“We have had many top TV stars in the past, but it is a little bit more unusual this time in that we have the stars of a programme set here in Northern Ireland which has been phenomenally successful right since its inception.”

Derry Girls premiered on Channel 4 in early January this year. The show follows the lives of Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland) and their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) and Michelle’s English cousin, James (Dylan Llewellyn), as they navigate their teens in Derry during ‘The Troubles’.

A follow-up, second series of Derry Girls is being recorded at the moment and will be screened on Channel 4 in 2019.

This year’s Northern Ireland Travel and Tourism Awards will be held on Friday, October 19 in the Slieve Donard Resort and Spa, Newcastle.

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