Netflix’s dark comedy murder mystery, from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, has completely won fans over.
The new eight-episode series, How To Get To Heaven from Belfast, follows three secondary school friends – Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher) and Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) – who are now in their 30s.
The trio are called back to Donegal to attend the funeral of their estranged school friend Greta with whom they share a deep, dark secret they hope will stay buried with her.
But all is not as it seems, and soon they find themselves embarking on a macabre road trip to track down their late best friend who might not be as dead as they originally thought.
After the sheer success of Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls, there has been plenty of anticipation for the new series and it seems to have delivered in spades.
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A week after its release the show has happily landed at number three in the top 10 chart, with fans flocking to social media to praise the dry humour, banging soundtracking and twisty mystery at the heart of the show.
‘How To Get To Heaven From Belfast was bloody fun. The mystery was a doozy and the Irish-centric humor was amusing.
‘Spooky, twisted and profound. Compelling performances by the three leads. Their bickering and their banters were unapologetically honest,’ X user RamasScreen wrote.
‘How To Gett To Heaven From Belfast is sublime. Beautifully shot, excellent writing and a brilliant cast. Loved every second of it,’ ChereneSays posted.
MatthewJFitz called it ‘a must see. Hilarious, thrilling and slightly surreal’ while Steeve declared ‘seems Lisa McGee has nailed it again! The sort of sharp dark comedy/black comedy I love!’
It’s also landed well with critics, securing a tidy 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Decider called it ‘a sharply funny examination of how friendships change over time as well as a pretty darn good mystery.’
TIME magazine echoed: ‘McGee’s cleverly meta spin on an overdone genre and her genius for comedy, dialogue, and character development make for an altogether good craic.’
The Guardian called it a ‘switchbacking rush of joy’ and The Independent a ‘a gleeful and giddy joyride through the genres’.
What does Metro think of How To Get To Heaven From Belfast?
Senior Entertainment Reporter Pierra Willis shares her three-star review.
I wanted oh-so-badly to love How to Get to Heaven from Belfast as much as I adored Derry Girls, but this comedy thriller left me wanting slightly more.
While packed full of hilarious quips and emotional moments, I admittedly struggled to keep up at times and spent awhile pausing scenes trying to piece storylines together.
Discussing her attitude to her next project after the mammoth success of Derry Girls, McGee told Metro: ‘Obviously it has a lot of Derry Girls DNA being about a group of women and that sense of humour is very similar, but I wanted a genre shift.
‘I think if I was to have gone on and done a straight comedy again, I would have felt more pressure.’
The acclaimed showrunner continued: ‘There was a lot of pressure around that last episode of Derry Girls, that I don’t feel about this.
‘There were different challenges, because it’s a mystery and hour long and has lots of pieces to put together, but I don’t feel any pressure about it being compared to Derry Girls as I think it’s different enough.
‘But I do just feel pressure that I hope people like it, which is just the way I always feel.’
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is now streaming on Netflix.
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