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Hi again and welcome back to Lulu's TV picks.欢迎你又回到新一期的璐璐荐剧.

The TV show I’m going to recommend today is very different from many of the TV shows I’ve recommended before on many levels.It is a show that I recently got into and binge watched.

It's one of those shows that if you can get into it,you're gonna absolutely love it. But if you can't,you might find it quite strange.

So the show I'm gonna recommend today is called Derry Girls,《德里女孩》.

The Chinese name is really misleading. Because for most Chinese when we hear德里,we think of India, but this show has nothing to do with India.

So where is Derry？Actually, Derry is the second largest city in Northern Ireland.这里说的德里其实是北爱尔兰的第二大城市,距离爱尔兰共和国边境很近.

Derry is also called Londonderry.德里也被叫做伦敦德里.That's because in history they received funding from the London guilds for its construction. Even nowadays people are fighting over whether it should be called Derry or Londonderry.

Created and written by Northern Irish screenwriter Lisa McGee,this coming of age comedy is set in the Nineties in the city of Derry.这部剧的背景就是上个世纪90年代位于北爱尔兰的德里.

And it is a coming of age comedy.Coming of age means it's a story about teenagers and their journey of becoming adults. Coming of age comedy就是我们说的青春喜剧.

So far it doesn't sound like anything special.But if you know a bit about history,you would know that Northern Ireland in the Nineties was not that simple.

The story of Derry girls is set against the backdrop of what English people call the Troubles. 这部剧的大背景被英国人称之为the Troubles的北爱尔兰问题.And internationally we call it Northern Ireland conflict.

The conflict began in the late 1960s and lasted three decades.北爱问题就是指1968年到1998年在北爱尔兰的长期的暴力冲突.

The conflict,one of the key issues, was about the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. 北爱问题的主要冲突源于北爱尔兰在联合王国内的地位的争议.

It was a very complex period of history,but to put it in a simple way,there are two opposing sites.

On one side were the Irish nationalists who are mostly Irish Catholics, and they wanted northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and join a united Ireland.冲突的一方是北爱尔兰的民族主义者,主要是天主教徒,他们是支持北爱脱离英国,加入爱尔兰,成为一个全爱尔兰的爱尔兰共和国.

The other side were the Unionists. They were mostly Ulster protestants and they wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom.而冲突的另一方则是联合主义者,主要是新教徒.他们希望北爱不要脱离英国.

And the 30 years of conflicts cause the life of over 3500 people and 52% of them are civilians. 在长达30年的冲突中,有超过3500人丧生,其中超过半数都是平民.

The conflict is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.北爱的暴力冲突在有英国和爱尔兰政府于1998年4月10日签订北爱和平协议后终止.

So the show is set in the days right before the peace agreement. And against this backdrop,the story of Derry Girls unfolds.

After hearing all these about serious history,you might think this show is perhaps very political.

Actually,the show merely uses the historical events as a background.And it just focuses on the day to day adventures of these five teenage friends.

You got Erin, who's really into literature. She is really dramatic,ambitious but sometimes full of herself.

And then, there's her cousin, Orla ,who always talks like she is from another planet.She is absolutely adorkable.She doesn't care about how other people see her.

Their friends, Clare,who's terrified about breaking any rules.

And then Michelle, who is a typical teenage bad girl, who can't stop cursing, talking about boys, sex and drinking.

And then, there is Michelle's English cousin James. Even though James is a guy,but because he is always hanging out with these girls,they treat him like an ordinary Derry girl. The other group members constantly make fun of James for being English.

They all went to a Catholic high school.And despite the quite dangerous background of the story,these teenagers they are more focused on their own life.

And they talk about the typical teen topics like music, movies, who's been popular, boys and girls,how to deal with parents,teachers, just like any other teenagers.

Derry Girls is very well received.On Rotten Tomatoes,the two series of the show both scored over 95% rating with both critics and audience.德里女孩在各大榜单上的评分都很高,比如在Rotten Tomatoes上面,两季都是获得了来自影评人和观众的95分以上的高分.

IMDb rated it 8.4 out of 10,even on the quite critical豆瓣,the show scored 8.2 for the first season and 9.1 for the second.

But what's so special about the show? If it is just another teen comedy, why is it so well liked?

Personally,I'm quite surprised that I like the show so much. Considering the fact that I never watch shows of this genre. 其实我个人是一个从来不看青春剧的人,但却很意外地非常喜欢这部剧.

Well, first of all,there is the accent.这部剧给你的第一印象肯定是非常上头的北爱尔兰口音.Here is a sample of it.

But the thing is, life isn't fair. You see, injustice is something I have become accostumed to.

I am, after all, a child of the crossfire, surrounded by conflict. But I choose to rise above it. ‘The path to peace is paved with tolerance and understading. Violence is never the answer.

So what do you think?

It is a very singsongy accent and the intonation goes up a lot.听起来就是一个很欢乐的口音.

But I warn you for the first-timers if you have never encountered this accent before,it will take you some time to get used to it.

So I guess for a lot of people,this is an interesting cultural journey to learn more about the Northern Irish accent and slang.这部剧里满满都是北爱的俚语.

For example,Cracker means great or wonderful.For example,you can say that movie was cracker .

And you will notice that they also roll their tongue for the r sound,not just the Americans.很多小伙伴会用卷不卷舌来分辨英式英语和美式英语,其实在北爱的口音里,r sound也是卷舌的.

Or things like catch yourself on or wise up, both mean don't be stupid.And the quintessential word Wee ,w-e-e,which means small.And they use it a lot.

Apart from the attraction of the accent, the show is just outright ridiculously laugh out loud funny and it’s really quick witted.

I especially like Sister Michael.我在剧里特别喜欢的一个角色就是他们去的天主教学校的校长Sister Michael, Michael修女,她那种丧丧的冷嘲热讽简直是长在了我的笑点上.As the show goes on,I'm sure you're gonna laugh at her eye rolls.

Apart from the comedy side,the show also represents a more relatable kind of teen drama.

Whenever you think about TV shows about teen stories,they're always the extremes. Either it’s about a group of gorgeous teenage girls and teenage boys in a very expensive school,or it's about really messed up teenagers involved in crime,drugs,sex, having lots of psychological issues.说到欧美的青春剧,他们要么是俊男美女富家子弟之间的爱情游戏,要么就是让人看起来胆战心惊的充斥着性、毒品、暴力、心理问题的残酷青春片.

But let's face it, for most of us,our teenage years were neither.Most of us were just average teenagers growing up and Derry Girls are exactly that.They are more the reflection of reality.So in this sense,they are somewhat universally relatable. 所以即使没有相同的文化背景,相信看到这部剧你也能看到自己青春的影子.

On top of that,the show has its own depth in how it shows the historical backgrounds.

In the show you would see scenes with armed soldiers searching their school bus, bomb threat,news reports about violent conflicts.

Before this group of girls who grew up in Derry,they were so used to these. For them,these things are just everyday happenings.They're not even as serious as missing a concert.

So it really offers us a glimpse into the life of an average teenager growing up against that backdrop.

从这部剧的点点滴滴,其实能看到不少当时的历史背景,能看见拦停校车荷枪实弹上车搜查的士兵,能看见电视里的恐袭预警,能看见两个派系之间真实的冲突,但是所有这些都被淡化成背景.

But presenting it this way,the series is trying to show how the young people of Derry at the time became so used to the surrounding violence that they no longer even get nervous about it.

Kind of a sad fact in itself.But it's this balancing the comedy with sincerity that makes the show really stand out.

So why would I recommend the show？

First of all it’s a good laugh with dynamic characters.

不管是表情包一样的Erin,好像另外一个星球来的呆萌Orla,怂包又好紧张的小胖妹Clare,看起来像不良少女实则很二货的Michelle和无辜成为靶子的英格兰小哥James,甚至其他的所有配角,比如超丧的翻白眼专业户Sister Michael,都会让你觉得非常真实,非常可爱.

It also shows another dialect and accent specimen.If you are a language learner,it's always a good practice if you get to listen to new accent and try to understand them.

And on top of that,like I said before,it is a different type of team drama about more realistic average teenagers that we might find more relatable.

It also provides you a glimpse into that part of history and it offers different perspectives.For example,many people find English accent really charming,but in the show they were all making fun of James for speaking with an English accent.The first time the girls met James,they were actually asking why does he speak funny? So you see, there are always different perspectives.

And one other attraction of the show is that if you love music and if you grew up in the Nineties,you would hear so many classic Nineties tune.这部戏还有一个亮点,它的几十首配乐都可以说是90年代后期的经典.如果对于那段时期西方乐坛比较了解的小伙伴,一定会在看这部剧的时候回想起自己的少年时光.

The things to stay cautious about，first of all,obviously the accent is very thick.It could be very difficult for you to understand.And without knowing much about that part of history,you might get a bit confused about certain references they make. 这部戏的最大障碍大概就是口音和当时的历史背景.

And it also contains a fair amount of swearing and cursing.And very importantly,if you are someone who's into teen drama with gorgeous girls and gorgeous guys,this is not for you.

在这里特别劝退颜值党.This is not that kind of teen drama, so you would be really disappointed if that is what you are looking for.

And also some negative reviews would say the acting is a bit too over the top or it's a stereotype about people who live in that region. 另外网上的一些负面评论主要是说演技太过浮夸,或者说带着对北爱人的成见.

But overall, I think it's just the style of the comedy. Because when you watch it,you're not so much as laughing at them,but really getting to like the characters. Either way is a light hearted fun show to watch if you can get into it.

So if you have watched the show already, leave us a comment in a common section and let us know what you think.

So we end today's TV picks with a Nineties classic that you hear a lot in Derry Girls. This is Dreams from the Cranberries. See you next time.

Bye.