8 Great Irish TV Shows to Stream for St. Patrick's Day

Thanks to the massive reach of streaming platforms, some Irish television hits have recently broken through on the global stage, including the comedy Derry Girls, which landed on Netflix, and the romance Normal People, on Hulu. With St. Patrick's Day on the horizon, there's no better time to dive into some quality Irish TV.

Derry Girls

This hilarious sitcom, which premiered in 2018 and is set to film its third season this year, follows the travails of five teenagers at a Catholic school in 1990s Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Against the backdrop of bomb scares and checkpoints created by The Troubles, the violent conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, the main characters are focused on their teenage concerns, like crushes and exams.

Peak Irish moment: During a family wedding in the second season's fourth episode, guests burst into coordinated choreography when the Hues Corporation song “Rock the Boat” starts playing, a common sight at Irish celebrations.

Watch it: Derry Girls, on Netflix

Father Ted

Originally airing from 1995 to 1998, this BAFTA-winning sitcom follows the hijinks of three priests (and their housekeeper) who have been exiled to the fictional Craggy Island off of Ireland's western coast.

Peak Irish moment: In the show's third episode, Father Ted and Father Dougal McGuire are ordered to protest against a sexy film at the local movie theater (inspired by Ireland's protests against Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.) They do so half-heartedly, and their signs, reading, “Down with this sort of thing” and “Careful now,” became one of the show's most-recognized jokes, and have become sights at real-life protests.

Watch it: Father Ted, on Prime Video

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Normal People

Based on the best-selling novel by Irish author Sally Rooney, this 2020 series is equal parts steamy and tragic. It follows two high school classmates who leave their fictional small town set in western Ireland's County Sligo to attend Trinity College in Dublin, and their on-again, off-again romance, which follows them from Dublin to Italy and Sweden.

Peak Irish Moment: The show highlights many common rites of passage for Irish teens, including Debs, the Irish version of prom, in Episode 3.

Watch it: Normal People, on Hulu

Moone Boy

Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids) mined his childhood experiences growing up in a small Irish town for this coming-of-age series, which premiered on Hulu in 2013. He stars as the imaginary best friend of a quirky 12-year-old boy, Martin Moone, growing up in Boyle, County Roscommon, in western Ireland during the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

Peak Irish moment: In Episode 5 of the first season, Martin is confirmed, and decides he wants to become one of the “cool” altar boys — though he soon learns they're not as devout as he thought.

Watch it: Moone Boy, on Hulu