Lisa McGee is back doing what she does best: Writing bizarre situations for a group of teenage school friends wrapped up in a ‘90s soundtrack. While she rose to prominence with Derry Girls featuring Nicola Coughlan in 2018, her latest series, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, is as if Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), Clare, and Michelle (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) accidentally murdered “the wee English fella” (Dylan Llewellyn) and Sister Michael (Siobhán McSweeney) tried to hunt them down 20 years later.
The eight-part Netflix series moves between farce, psychological thriller, and old-fashioned murder mystery and introduces us to Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), who reunite after the unexpected death of their former school friend Greta (Natasha O’Keeffe) and travel to Donegal for her wake. When they discover that the body in the coffin is not Greta’s, their awkward reunion quickly turns into a chaotic criminal investigation — complete with female assassins, sex with a police officer (Darragh Hand), and a splash of religious cultism that draws you in until the very end.
Netflix’s ‘How To Get To Heaven From Belfast’ Is An Irish ‘Twin Peaks’
If you’ve ever wanted to visit the rolling green hills of Ireland, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast will get you booking a staycation instead. Think of it as an Irish version of Twin Peaks, as the countryside’s peaceful nature quickly turns unsettling, and the inhabitants seem just south of normal. At the same time, the series carries clear links to Derry Girls through McGee, particularly in its focus on female friendship and Northern Irish identity and humor, although this series is far more mature and darker in tone. There are also similarities to Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters, mixing crime and dark humor.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast’s main theme is the lingering emotional pull of adolescence. The central characters are clearly defined and grounded in their adult lives, but are pulled back into their teenage dynamic through shared and unresolved trauma. Saoirse, played by Gallagher, is a successful but burnt-out television writer whose work on a crime drama unknowingly mirrors the real situation she finds herself in. Robyn, played by Keenan, is a wealthy but overwhelmed mother of three with a good-for-nothing husband, while Dara, played by Dunne, is a caregiver looking after her aging mother. Greta, played by Peaky Blinders’ O’Keeffe, is the missing fourth friend whose supposed death drives the narrative down unexpected roads.
Some of Ireland’s comedy greats make cameo appearances, including Patrick Kielty hosting The Late Late Showon RTÉ One upon which Saoirse falls asleep mid-interview. Plus Ardal O’Hanlon, known for Father Ted, joins in a smaller role, donning a lit-up bow tie and manning a Knockdara inn. The most notable supporting performances come from Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Bronagh Gallagher. Jackson, who previously starred as Derry Girls’ lead Erin, plays Feeney, an eccentrically dressed and unpredictable forger of the Evaporation Society. Gallagher plays Booker, the hard-nosed contract killer of the same secret, all-female organization that helps women disappear. Episode 8 sees the pair of them standing humorously next to Jackson’s own face on the real-life Derry Girls mural.
What Happens in ‘How To Get To Haven From Belfast’?
The central mystery of How To Get To Heaven From Belfast unfolds through clues in teenage diaries, handwritten letters, and fragmented flashbacks and memories, which gradually reveal a traumatic shared past involving Greta and another girl, Jodie (Selin Hizli). After being sold by her own mother, Margo (Michelle Fairley), Greta grows up in an organization named Heaven’s Veil, which initially appears to offer refuge for gifted children but is later exposed as an abusive rural religious cult. The girls aim to escape their abusers by praying to God, and when he doesn’t answer their wishes, they want to burn down his house. After setting the local church alight, the pair notice a group of bicycles left outside and realize they burned down the building with a group of children inside, and this incident haunts them for the next 20 years.
At its core, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, the series is about the long-term effects of trauma and how childhood experiences shape adult identity and relationships. The bond between the three women runs deep despite adult life getting in the way due to shared secrets and emotional scars. It is their buddy comedy interactions that keep you watching longer than the initial murder mystery. Although audiences may approach the series expecting something similar to Derry Girls, it quickly subverts those expectations. How To Get To Heaven From Belfast retains McGee’s sharp dialogue and focus on relationships, but in the end, it is an unforgettably tragic tale.
