Derry Girls star set for new Channel 4 comedy 'Big Mood'

Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan will star in a new comedy series commissioned by Channel 4.

Written and created by Camilla Whitehill, Big Mood is a vivacious and rebellious portrayal of female friendship when infiltrated by the complexities of a serious mental illness.

The six-part series will explore the messy pitfalls and idiosyncrasies of navigating adulthood through wicked humour, daft anecdotes, and unsettling truths.

Nicola plays Maggie, alongside best friend Eddie, played by It's A Sin star Lydia West.

The friends have lived in each other’s pockets for ten years, through thick, thin, and multiple challenging eyebrow trends.

But with the rest of their lives looming, careers hanging in the balance, and Maggie’s bipolar disorder making an unwelcome return to form, Eddie begins to question whether this friendship is really in their best interests.

It’s a pivotal point in both their lives, bringing to the surface those all-important questions – could sleeping with your former History teacher be the key to happiness? Is a basement Rat Hotel a functional alternative to pest control? How do you stop your new psychiatrist giving you worry dolls?

With their twenties behind them, Maggie and Eddie’s relationship faces the future – can it survive?

Nicola Coughlan, who played Clare Devlin in Derry Girls, said: “When I first met Camilla Whitehill long, long ago, during the time of Indie Sleaze, I quickly realised she was one of the funniest and most talented people I’d ever met.

“It was always our dream for us to work on something together, and now Channel 4 are making that dream come true. I can’t wait to make this show with this amazing group of people.”

Lydia West said: “I'm so happy to be working with Camilla and Nicola on this project. The writing is genius, and the subject explores the mental health struggles that all of our generation face - coupled with how to navigate complicated, loving and nuanced friendship.

“Channel 4 is the perfect home for this heart-warming, hilarious, savvy comedy and I feel truly honoured to tell this story which touched my heart.”

Creator Camilla Whitehill said: “Getting my own Channel 4 comedy still feels like some kind of long form prank, Punk’d style.

“But on the off chance it isn’t, I am beside myself to be making this show with such an incredible team of people, a cast that I’d be jealous of if it wasn’t my cast, and for a channel that’s produced some of my favourite shows of all time.”

Produced by Fremantle-backed Dancing Ledge Productions, it will be directed by Rebecca Asher (Dead to Me, Brooklyn Nine Nine).