We all need a laugh at this moment.
Amid a barrage of depressing news stories around the fallout from the Epstein files, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the destruction of Gaza, Iran's suppression of protesters, Trump's fractious relationship with America's old allies and January's record breaking rainfall, you can see why people just need a good sitcom or comedy drama.
So does Lisa McGee's eagerly anticipated 'Derry Girls' follow-up deliver those laughs?
An ambitious comedy mystery caper, it certainly looks the part thanks to some superb visuals created by directors Michael Lennox, George Kane and Rachna Suri, cinematographers Ashley Barron, Nathalie Pitters and Daniel Stafford-Clark, production designer Tom Conroy, set decorator Valerie Nolan, costume designer Cathy Pryor and hair and make up supervisor Sharon Watson.
But do the scripts have the substance to match?
'How To Get To Heaven From Belfast' centres around three friends - Roisin Gallagher's successful police procedural writer Saoirse, Sinead Keenan's irritable mother of three Robyn and Caoilfhionn Dunne's devout lesbian Catholic Dara who are reunited when they're informed about the death of a former school friend, Natasha O'Keefe's Greta.
Returning to Belfast from London where she is getting increasingly irritated by the rampant ego of the demanding star of her TV show Leila Farzad's Marnie, Saoirse heads to Donegal with Dara and Robyn to pay their respects.
En route, Dara puts the wrong petrol into Robyn's car and it breaks down.
Fortunately they're driven to Greta's local town by Darragh Hand's handsome young mechanic Liam who also happens to be a local Guard (Irish policeman).
Staying in a bizarre hotel run by Ardal O'Hanlon's Seamus, the trio get embarrassingly drunk.
Saoirse flirts with Liam while out for a smoke, discovering he's a Guard.
Liam also tells her that Greta's death was a terrible tragedy that was so disturbing her family were forced to have a closed casket.
Turning up at Greta's family home for the wake the following day, the gang are nursing terrible hangovers.
However they're also stunned to find no-one else there and there's a bit of a weird atmosphere, with Greta's mum Michelle Fairley's Margo, her husband Emmett J Scanlan's Owen, her creepy brother Ryan McParland's Fergal and daughter Matilda Freeman's Maria giving off 'Addams Family' vibes.
It's as if they are all hiding something and indeed they are, as Saoirse discovers while peeking into the closed coffin that the body inside is not Greta's.
While Maria confides in Dara that her father has lied to them that Greta never mentioned them to the family, there's a hell of a commotion in the house as Saoirse knocks over the coffin.
Ashamed and scared, the trio leave the family's home with Owen in pursuit.
Hastily making a getaway, Robyn's car overturns on a hillside road but they're okay.
However the mystery of who is in the coffin gnaws away at them and it takes them on an adventure where they will encounter a series of bizarre events in Belfast, Portugal, Dublin, Donegal and Co Cork.
Along the way, the friends encounter Bronagh Gallagher's tough Derry assassin Booker, her weird sidekick Saoirse Monica Jackson's Feeney, their old headmistress Deirdre O'Kane's Sister Patrick and James Martin's gruff country petrol station shop attendant.
They also wind up on the world's longest running chat show on RTE, Patrick Kielty's 'The Late, Late Show'.
Their adventure resurrects a shared secret about a fateful night when they were teenagers, Greta, Josh Finan's mysterious journalist Charles Sampson and a weird symbol that the four women all have tattooed.
But can they locate Greta?
With a substantial Netflix budget, McGee, her directors and a team of writers that includes her husband Tobias Beer, the actress Bronagh Taggart and English playwright Ava Pickett all have a big canvas to work on.
However despite the huge goodwill in the north and south of Ireland towards the show, 'How To Get To Heaven From Belfast' struggles, like a lot of streaming shows these days, to sustain itself over the course of eight episodes that are almost an hour long.
Saoirse, Dara and Robyn's wacky 'Only Murders In The Building' escapades are played for big laughs that never really materialise.
Some characters and plot developments emerge and then are abruptly ditched, with little or no explanation.
And while Roisin Gallagher, Sinead Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne have proven over the years they are really good actors, their performances are too zany to enjoy.
It all feels a little forced.
The same is true for O'Keeffe, Scanlan, Fairley, McParland, Freeman, Hand, O'Hanlon and Emma Canning, Emily Flain, Chara Aitken and Maria Laird as the teenage versions of Greta, Saoirse, Dara and Robyn.
Other talented actors and comedians pop up in the show and just come and go like O'Kane, Martin, Farzad, Kielty, Tom Basden as Saoirse's co-writer and boyfriend Seb, Peter Campion as Robyn's husband Jim, Pat Shortt and Marie Jones as Saoirse's parents, Michael Redmond as a Guard, Lynsey-Anne Moffat, Gerard Jordan and Justine Mitchell as shadowy associates of Booker's, Kerr Logan as a weird motel owner, Olwen Fouere as a nursing home resident, Jamie Beamish as a religious fanatic, Thommas Kane Byrne as a camp Dublin nurse, Jenn Murray and Eleanor Methven as Dara's sister and mum, Tracy-Ann Oberman as a showbiz agent and Jeanne Nicole Ni Ainle as the object of Dara's affections.
All of them have very little to contribute to the show and it's as if they are just racking up their appearance to feature on their CVs.
Meanwhile Josh Finan, who was so good in 'The Responder' and 'Waiting For The Out' feels criminally wasted in a dual role.
Arguably, it is Bronagh Gallagher who emerges as the show's star player with her gruff, deadpan performance as Booker.
By way of contrast, 'Derry Girls' star Saoirse Monica Jackson turns in a rather jarring, surreal performance as Booker's sidekick that seems a little too invested in the increasingly outlandish, garish Asian doll clothes she wears as the show rumbles on.
And while there are lashings of earworm 2000s pop and country music songs by Girls Aloud, B*Witched, Liberty X, Junior Senior, Daniel Bedingfield, Atomic Kitten, Garth Brooks and a blast of 'My Lovely Horse,' none of this can distract from some really overworked gags about fat arses, the menopause and 'Succession' writer Jesse Armstrong.
A throwaway gag about the horrific real life Northern Irish tale of the Henhouse Boy also lands with a hell of an awkward thump.
In pre-publicity, McGee cited 'Murder She Wrote,' as an influence and there's definitely elements of Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock and Guy Ritchie in there too along with 'Father Ted,' 'Bad Sisters' and her own 'Derry Girls'.
McGee also jokingly referenced in a 'Late, Late Show' interview 'The A Team' and 'Scooby Doo'.
However if the show lands the second series it pitches for in the last episode, McGee, her writers, cast and crew will need to do a lot better.
They really will have to demonstrate next time why 'How To Get To Heaven From Belfast' is worthy of 'Scooby Doo' instead of Scooby Don't.
('How To Get To Heaven From Belfast' was released on Netflix on February 13, 2026)
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