Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee conferred with Freedom of Derry and Strabane

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Sandra Duffy, has led the tributes to Derry screenwriter and playwright Lisa McGee following a ceremony to confer her with the Freedom of the City and District in the Guildhall this evening.

The world renowned playwright, screenwriter and creator of the hugely popular Derry Girls series is the first woman to be given the award and joins the likes of John Hume, Phil Coulter and Winston Churchill in receiving the Council’s highest accolade.

Mayor Sandra Duffy said the title was a fitting recognition of her career in the TV and film industry and the hugely important role Lisa has played in putting Derry on the international map, boosting civic pride and promoting tourism.

She said: “Lisa McGee is one of our most loved and admired screenwriters.

"We are hugely proud to confer this honour on her and to formally acknowledge her remarkable career that has seen her create and produce a wide range of TV and film material, that has achieved international acclaim.

“While Lisa is mainly known for her fantastic Derry Girls series, she has also been hugely successful for a number of other major TV credits including the BBC3’s The Things I Haven’t Told You, the BAFTA nominated Being Human and the popular Channel 4 sitcom London Irish and Raw, to name but a few.

“Born and reared in Derry, Lisa McGee, is extremely proud of her Derry roots and has never forgotten her home city.

"We are all so proud of Lisa McGee and the way in which she has depicted Derry and its people in her work.

Lisa McGee, renowned playwright, screenwriter and creator of the hugely popular Derry Girls series, with her husband Toby, children Joseph and Sean pictured with Santa on their arrival in the Guildhall on Monday, for Lisa's conferment with the Freedom of Derry and Strabane. (Photos - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

"She has successfully captured the city and its people, their unique humour, warmth and resilience and we are over the moon to be in a position to recognise her work in this way.

"It is a fitting tribute that she is the first woman to be conferred with the Freedom of the City and District title.”

Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee said receiving the award was “surreal”, and that she was hugely proud to be from the city.

“This is really surreal. I still can’t believe it,” she said after receiving the award.

“This is just such a privilege and honour.

Lisa McGee with Mayor Sandra Duffy.

“I’m immensely proud to be from Derry. As a writer working in television, an industry that’s notoriously tough to break into and to survive in, being from Derry has always felt like my superpower.

“It’s just steeped in story and full of storytellers. I always thought it was an unfair advantage.

“Since the success of Derry Girls, many people have asked me to explain that advantage more specifically, is it the legacy of John Hume’s political genius?

“Is it the literary flair of Seamus Heaney or the soundtrack of Phil Coulter?

“Or is it the fact that when you go into any restaurant here, you’ll be asked ‘What wee side do you want with your wee side?’ And I think it’s all of those things.

“It’s just been my greatest privilege to be able to write Derry Girls, to be able to showcase our amazing sense of humour and warmth and humanity.

“And I’m going to continue writing about the place I come from, the place I love.”

Lisa McGee with her parents Anne and Chris, following a ceremony to confer her with the Freedom of the City and District. (Photos - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

The Freedom of the City and District is a way of recognising and expressing gratitude for outstanding service and contribution to life in the Council area.

In June of this year, members of Derry City and Strabane District Council voted unanimously in favour of a motion to confer on her the Freedom of the City title.

Lisa McGee, an award-winning screenwriter and playwright from Derry, is the creator, writer and executive producer of the acclaimed Derry Girls. She co-created, co-wrote and was executive producer on The Deceived with her husband Tobias Beer and was creative director, executive producer and wrote an episode of the BBC monologues on poverty Skint.

Her other TV credits include London Irish, Raw, Being Human, The White Queen and Indian Summers.