How to Get to Heaven from Belfast

Channel 4 said the money dried up. Lisa McGee took the wake to Netflix anyway.

In March 2024 Channel 4 told Variety it had loved How to Get to Heaven from Belfast and even "offered a substantial license fee to be its U.K. home." Then came the shrug. "Changes in editorial direction," "rising costs," and "the recent cooling in the U.S. co-production market" made an international partner impossible. latestnetflix.com's take is that the eight-parter, announced at Channel 4 only seven months earlier as the spiritual home of Derry Girls' creator, moved to Netflix.

McGee later told Deadline the timing was ugly. The traditional broadcaster path "just stopped overnight" after the U.S. writers strike. She and producer Liz Lewin realized the scale "wasn't a Channel 4 show." If she could go back, she would have spotted that sooner. Netflix, she said, did not interfere beyond an outside eye and a budget that could actually pay for Portugal, Malta, and a Donegal wake. "100% the right place for this show."

She has been frank about why it exists. "I'd love to go on one of these adventures with my friends," she told Deadline the day before launch. "I'd love to solve a mystery." Saoirse, the TV crime writer, is loosely her. The other two are based on real best friends. She started the pilot before Derry Girls season 3 had even filmed because she "needed the Derry Girls to stop talking in my head." Back in 2023 she had already told Variety, "I've wanted to make a comedy thriller set in Northern Ireland for SUCH a long time."

The gang did come back. Hat Trick again. Michael Lennox directing. Caroline Leddy, Liz Lewin, Jimmy Mulville producing. Filming started in Belfast in July 2024, with extra days at the old Londonderry Arms in Carnlough, Inishowen, Dublin, and Malta. Roisin Gallagher, Sinead Keenan, and Caoilfhionn Dunne lead. Saoirse-Monica Jackson turns up as Feeney, which is already a lot of Derry Girls DNA before episode 8 parks the trio in front of the real UV Arts mural of Erin, Clare, Michelle, Orla, and James on a Derry wall. Mashable called it a perfect Easter egg. Channel 4 paid for that mural in 2019. Netflix now owns the show that walks past it.

Critics mostly bought the gamble. Lucy Mangan in the Guardian told readers to watch Jackson's turn if they watched nothing else this year. Rotten Tomatoes sat at 95 percent on 39 reviews. What's on Netflix noted a first-day Ireland number 1 and a U.K. top three, with a slower start elsewhere. McGee told Deadline she left the door open. "I've left it open for a second series, but it's all completely down to how many people watch. I'd love to do one."

The pink-bag last shot is the rumor mill's favorite. Dara picks up a bag tied to a murdered stranger. Robyn, per What's on Netflix, says they are not getting involved under any circumstances. That is a dare, not a promise. The official trailer still sells "deadly craic."