London Irish

London Irish centres on the daily drinking habits of four Northern Irish housemates living in London, inspired by the writer's own experiences. Although aspects of the four characters' daily lives enter in to the show every now and again (i.e. going to work), the show is driven almost exclusively by the group's pre-drinking shenanigans and post-drinking headaches. The comedy relies predominantly on the characters playing off each other's wildly different personalities. For instance, Conor's mind-bending lunacy acts as the perfect foil to his sister's, Bronagh's, inexhaustible aggression. Alternatively, Niamh's attitudes towards sex and men, which would be viewed as inexcusably sinister had they been expressed by a male character, are rendered comically creepy by the fact that they are delivered by an extremely petite, sweet-looking girl. While the actor playing Packy seems to have been cast mainly as eye-candy, he is also the most relatable of the characters, being the one who most often attempts to explain Conor or Niamh's idiocy to them. Although the show plays on Irish and English stereotypes quite considerably, the show parodies a drinking culture that most UK viewers will be familiar with. Foul-language and politically incorrect statements are commonplace, so any viewers anticipating the restrained, frustrated, socially awkward comedy of Father Ted (broadly implied by casting Ardal O'Hanlon) will be in for a shock. Altogether the show has many laugh-out-loud-moments and is just generally good fun.

That there was only six episodes is a travesty. I just found this show and it's awesome. Twisted, and brilliantly awesome. Damn I wish there were more of this. So much better than typical comedy blah. Just brilliant.

...the characters of Friends had kids with the characters of Shameless after a drunk night in Vegas, and the kids were born in Belfast, and they moved to London and met at in pub instead of a coffee shop. I love it.

I was a latecomer to London Irish. This a series written by the same team responsible for the current UK smash Derry Girls. Like me, many others have enjoyed Derry Girls and are keen to discover other work by the same writer. This series was slated by the press at the time which is why its a mainly forgotten UK comedy series. However it appears to me that the dislike is mainly to do with snobbery from people who lack the life experience to understand how realistic the show actually is. There are very few shows which deal with working class heavy drinking culture which is a big part of Scottish and Irish life. The cast are seen drinking, getting drunk, smoking and swearing heavily which is obviously too much for the genteel middle class reviewers who basically view themselves as superior as they would never behave this way. The reality is this is a show which is reflective of many 20 somethings who come from this culture and who have no middle class aspirations. Its a very funny show but its obviously aimed at a similar audience that Trainspotting was, its simply written for a specific audience. While it does have similarities to Derry Girls, its basically DG with less swearing, drinking etc and with a supposedly older cast. I say this as the cast of DG are in their 20s and 30s! You could argue that London Irish are the Derry Girls and boys after they have left school and relocated to London. London Irish looks like it will have a second life after the success of Derry Girls and rightfully so. If you are the sort of person who looks down their nose at drinking, smoking and swearing this isn't for you and simply doesn't have to be.

While the plot of a group of friends hanging out and drinking is nothing new, this show literally made me laugh out loud in every episode. I found the characters and jokes very funny. Yes, the Irish stereotype is there, and yes the characters are exaggerated for comic effect, but that is what comedy is - exaggerated real life. I enjoyed it, and was sorry the was only 1 season.