My daughters and I became Derry Girls for the day

My little family went on a pilgrimage from Sydney to see where our favourite show, Derry Girls, was created and filmed.

Derry Girls has well and truly put the city, 90 minutes northwest of Belfast, on the tourist map and locals are keen to capitalise on the unexpected interest in their city.

We must have looked as dumbfounded as James did when he was told there were no male toilets at his new school in the pilot episode of Derry Girls. Entering Tower Museum in the Northern Ireland city of Derry to explore the new exhibition based on the hit Netflix show, the staff scurried, a cake was produced and somewhere, a champagne cork was popped.

You would have thought Orla, Michelle, Erin, Clare and the wee English fella, James, had entered the space tucked in behind the gates of the old city walls, which up until recently was Derry’s main tourist drawcard. But no, it was just my little family, on a pilgrimage from Sydney to see where our favourite show was created and filmed.

“Are you here to see the Derry Girls Experience?” a staff member at the entrance to the museum asked excitedly. She beamed when I told her we were and that we had in fact travelled all the way from Sydney to do so.

Gesturing to hovering staff from the Visit Derry tourist board behind us, a large helium balloon was produced declaring us the 10,000th visitors, followed by a cake emblazoned with candles, a Derry Girls tote bag heaving with show merchandise and a bottle of champagne.

Believing ourselves the unsuspecting victims of that famous Irish humour, we quickly realised that not only were the exhibition organisers dead serious, they had plenty to celebrate.

They had expected a modest 5000 visitors to the Derry Girls Experience in its first year. And here we were, the 10,000th visitors just a month after it opened. Visit Derry has now revised its projected exhibition visitor numbers to 30,000 for the year.

Unlike other exhibitions where you are held back from touching items by velvet ropes, here you are encouraged to sit on the couch and take photos.

The exhibition is not big, just a handful of rooms off the main entrance to the Tower Museum, but it is jammed with hundreds of items from the BAFTA award-winning comedy show that follows the lives of four teenage girls and the “wee English fella” living inDerry during the “Troubles” of the 1990s over three seasons.

There’s the couch from the Quinn household around which much of the chaos unfolds on the show and, unlike other exhibitions where you are held back from touching items by velvet ropes, here you are encouraged to sit on the couch and take photos.

You can also sit at the Quinns’ kitchen table where Ma Mary, Aunt Sarah, Da Gerry, Granda Joe and Uncle Colm swap quips,or you can lord it over everyone from Sister Michael’s green leather office chair. There’s also the trolley cart (complete with display-only KitKats) from the hilarious episode where the gang travelled to Portrush on the train.

You’ll also find several costumes from the show, including Claire’s Our Lady Immaculate College school uniform, Ma Mary’s famous fry-up jumper, Erin’s formal dress, Aunt Sarah’s pyjamas and the outfits the gang wore when they performed as the Spice Girls in the school talent show.

You can also sit at the Quinns’ kitchen table where Ma Mary, Aunt Sarah, Da Gerry, Granda Joe and Uncle Colm swap quips.

It was no surprise to us that so many have already flocked to see the Derry Girls Experience, after all we had come a long way to see it ourselves. But it’s not the only place in Derry where fans can get an authentic experience of the show. Derry Girls has well and truly put the city, 90 minutes northwest of Belfast, on the tourist map and locals are keen to capitalise on the unexpected interest in their city.

Fans can take Martin McCrossan’s Derry Girls Walking Tour every Saturday from noon (April to October) from the Derry Girls mural of the show’s stars on the side of Badger’s Bar on Orchard Street. The tour visits show locations including the place where Mary had her “affair” with the plumber, the site where James fights – and I use the term loosely – Madstab for Fat Boy Slim tickets and the Guildhall where the gang see Bill Clinton on a visit to Derry and Orla registers to vote.

The Derry Girls Food Tour introduces you to some of the foods referenced in the show, including a cream horn pastry made famous on the show when Granda Joe was caught “buying cream horns for his fancy woman” on Pump Street. You get the chance to make one before eating it, and experience the 10p mix-up featured in the show. For something a little different, book a Derry Girls Afternoon Tea at the Everglades Hotel for a tower of foods from the show including a cream horn, a small cone of chips in homage to the Quinns’ ridiculous “chippy” order, sausage roll baps and a classic Tayto cheese and onion crisp sarnie.

Short on time? Pop into Walled City Brewery and ask for a pint of the Wee English Fella or the Rock the Boat, both inspired by the show.

Tickets for the Derry Girls Experience are £4 (about $8).

Originally published as My daughters and I became Derry Girls for the day