Derry Girls season 3, episode 6 spoilers follow.
Nicola Coughlan once revealed to Digital Spy that she's always known Clare was queer, long before anyone else in the Derry Girls cast was told.
"I found out when I very first auditioned, so I'd known for about six months before the others," said Nicola. "It was always a very important part of the character."
And she's right. Since Coughlan's character came out at the end of season one — and even before then it seems — Clare's queerness has always been considered intrinsic to the role. But crucially, it never defined her.
Although Clare is often referred to as "a wee lesbian", she's never othered or treated differently, even in '90s Derry. Parents and friends alike love and accept her like they always have, and Clare accepts herself as well. Sure, queerness is a big part of her, but it's not the only part that matters.
By portraying queerness in this way, Derry Girls also avoids the obvious tropes that could have cropped up in relation to Catholicism and its dominance at Thornhill College.
Unfortunately though, season three slips up with a different trope towards the end of episode six, at an extremely pivotal time for Clare, no less. And it's made all the harder to watch because of how well this show normally approaches delicate storytelling of that nature.
In the last "regular" episode of the series, the gang plan to attend a Fatboy Slim concert. But upon arriving at the record store to buy their tickets, Clare is soon distracted by a girl named Laurie.
"Hi, I'm a lesbian!" Clare says to her, overcome at the prospect of meeting another lesbian in Derry. Relatable. Yet despite her keenness, Laurie still invites Clare to look out for her at the concert. She'll be the one dressed as "the clown propping up the bar" for Halloween.
Upon arriving, Clare's anxiety quickly goes into overdrive when she realises that there's a whole circus' worth of clowns at the concert. Following some more hijinks and a familiar face from Peaky Blinders, Clare eventually finds Laurie and the two share a magical, perfect first kiss.
It's been a long time coming, but in fairness to Derry Girls, this isn't really a case of the show sidelining Clare's romantic hopes just because she's queer. None of the others have had a love interest either, unless you count Michelle's many "rides" offscreen or that kiss James and Erin shared just a few weeks back.
If anything, this episode pushes Clare leaps and bounds ahead of her peers in that department. It's a moment she's longed for, and so have queer fans as well. Even Clare's friends seem ecstatic, to the point where they don't even mind missing out on Fatboy Slim's set.
Yet the euphoric joy of this scene is cut painfully short when the gang then step outside and learn that Clare's father has been sent to the hospital. All of the smiles and shiny rainbow colours are suddenly swapped out for a darkly lit waiting room where everyone waits to hear from Clare.
And the news isn't good. A devastated Clare steps out to reveal that her father has died from a sudden aneurysm. An emotional rendition of Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' then rounds out the episode which ends with a funeral procession for Sean.
This last sequence is a truly devastating one, and once again fans online have commended the way that Derry Girls balances comedy with such poignant realism. Yet, as a queer viewer who's longed to see Clare find love, it's arguably even more devastating to see the joy from that kiss snatched away so quickly.
Speaking about this moment with Hello, Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee explained that she went through something similar at that age, so it felt important for her to include this on the show:
"My friend's dad died when we were around that age suddenly and it was a shock. The thing that really struck me was that we did grow up in this place where there was a lot of unpredictable stuff happening – you worried about a lot of violence – and this was a thing that could happen to anybody at any point, a natural cause thing. I was like, 'Oh, God, no one's life's predictable, this could happen to anyone.'"
It's an important message, one that fans have clearly resonated with, but did it have to happen right after Clare's first kiss? The whole point of this death is that it could happen at any point, so why detract from the show's most powerful queer moment yet? And right at the end, no less?
Up until this point, most of the LGBTQ+ content on Derry Girls has been rather subtle. And while that subtlety has mostly been a strength – Anyone else notice the rainbow pins the gang started to wear after Clare came out? – it's concerning that physical displays of queer affection have been handled with a surprising lack of care in season three.
Being queer isn't easy, not by any means, so it feels borderline cruel to target Clare with such a huge tragedy just moments after her kiss with Laurie. This moment could have been just as powerful if targeted at someone else instead, without having to undercut the power of a vital queer kiss onscreen.
Or it could have just happened to Clare at a different moment instead, but clearly, McGee was banking on the power of that emotional whiplash between love and death. Which is not great when you consider how queerness is all too readily exploited in general, whether the people doing it are aware of that or not.
It's also worth mentioning here that the recent flashback episode included a strange take on queer intimacy too.
When Deirdre's Canadian cousin reveals that he's gay, no one really bats an eyelid, and that's lovely to see, but then there's a scene later on in the episode when he randomly kisses a "mute" stranger to provoke a verbal reaction. Just because Derry Girls is a comedy, that doesn't mean issues around consent and predatory gay stereotypes should be given a free pass.
During our aforementioned chat with Nicola Coughlan a few years back, the actress also celebrated her character's queerness and how it's been portrayed:
"It wasn't like, 'She's gay, so she's the gay character'. She's a whole human being. And I think that that's where a lot of shows go wrong. That one's the gay one, and that one's… It's like: 'No, Clare's a human being. This is one part of her character.'"
And that's precisely why this episode hurts so much. Queerness doesn't define Clare, but it does bring this wee lesbian joy, so it feels unfair for that rare, singular instance of joy to be maligned by tragedy.
Yes, LGBTQ+ characters should theoretically be treated the same as everyone else, but there's also a history to queer representation that should be considered here in the same way that the show's wider historical context is always considered so thoughtfully.
Derry Girls is available to stream on 4OD.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
