User reviews

If Lisa McGee is writing it, I'm watching it. This show is absurd, laugh-out-loud funny, pathetic, somewhat revolting & just wonderful viewing! You can see the relationship between this show & the equally hysterical Derry Girls (another Lisa McGee creation) in the writing & characters. In fact two of the actors have appeared in episodes of Derry Girls. I hate that there were only 6 episodes.

That there was only six episodes is a travesty. I just found this show and it's awesome. Twisted, and brilliantly awesome. Damn I wish there were more of this. So much better than typical comedy blah. Just brilliant.

London Irish centres on the daily drinking habits of four Northern Irish housemates living in London, inspired by the writer's own experiences. Although aspects of the four characters' daily lives enter in to the show every now and again (i.e. going to work), the show is driven almost exclusively by the group's pre-drinking shenanigans and post-drinking headaches. The comedy relies predominantly on the characters playing off each other's wildly different personalities. For instance, Conor's mind-bending lunacy acts as the perfect foil to his sister's, Bronagh's, inexhaustible aggression. Alternatively, Niamh's attitudes towards sex and men, which would be viewed as inexcusably sinister had they been expressed by a male character, are rendered comically creepy by the fact that they are delivered by an extremely petite, sweet-looking girl. While the actor playing Packy seems to have been cast mainly as eye-candy, he is also the most relatable of the characters, being the one who most often attempts to explain Conor or Niamh's idiocy to them. Although the show plays on Irish and English stereotypes quite considerably, the show parodies a drinking culture that most UK viewers will be familiar with. Foul-language and politically incorrect statements are commonplace, so any viewers anticipating the restrained, frustrated, socially awkward comedy of Father Ted (broadly implied by casting Ardal O'Hanlon) will be in for a shock. Altogether the show has many laugh-out-loud-moments and is just generally good fun.

Am absolutely gutted that there is only one series of this. I watched it when I had a breakdown and was under section. Watching this each week really made me laugh and I told the other patients about it and once we all watched episode 2 in the television room it became something that we all watched together every week which was the only programme that we did as it was just that good and despite our varied tastes in tv this brought us altogether and despite our personal sad troubles we all laughed and enjoyed it. Really don't know why they only did the one and although I very much enjoy Derry Girls which is by the same people, I still live in hope that they might rekindle this maybe with a new cast who could take over the pub if the original cast wouldn't work. If you like Father Ted or Derry Girls then you will love this!

...the characters of Friends had kids with the characters of Shameless after a drunk night in Vegas, and the kids were born in Belfast, and they moved to London and met at in pub instead of a coffee shop. I love it.

While the plot of a group of friends hanging out and drinking is nothing new, this show literally made me laugh out loud in every episode. I found the characters and jokes very funny. Yes, the Irish stereotype is there, and yes the characters are exaggerated for comic effect, but that is what comedy is - exaggerated real life. I enjoyed it, and was sorry the was only 1 season.

I had to have the captions on to catch the dialogue but have watched the entire season multiple times-still funny. One of the best lines IMHO- Conor: " I went to therapy" Packy: "No mate, that was a job interview"

I was a latecomer to London Irish. This a series written by the same team responsible for the current UK smash Derry Girls. Like me, many others have enjoyed Derry Girls and are keen to discover other work by the same writer. This series was slated by the press at the time which is why its a mainly forgotten UK comedy series. However it appears to me that the dislike is mainly to do with snobbery from people who lack the life experience to understand how realistic the show actually is. There are very few shows which deal with working class heavy drinking culture which is a big part of Scottish and Irish life. The cast are seen drinking, getting drunk, smoking and swearing heavily which is obviously too much for the genteel middle class reviewers who basically view themselves as superior as they would never behave this way. The reality is this is a show which is reflective of many 20 somethings who come from this culture and who have no middle class aspirations. Its a very funny show but its obviously aimed at a similar audience that Trainspotting was, its simply written for a specific audience. While it does have similarities to Derry Girls, its basically DG with less swearing, drinking etc and with a supposedly older cast. I say this as the cast of DG are in their 20s and 30s! You could argue that London Irish are the Derry Girls and boys after they have left school and relocated to London. London Irish looks like it will have a second life after the success of Derry Girls and rightfully so. If you are the sort of person who looks down their nose at drinking, smoking and swearing this isn't for you and simply doesn't have to be.

I love this show! Great writing and acting. Wish there were more episodes!

Written by Lisa McGee for Channel 4, we follow four young Irish expats in London, and the frankly horrible shenanigans they get up to in a typical week. No grand narrative, each episode is another day of whatever the group gets up to, from ruining a friend's wake to drunkenly getting married to a stranger. All the characters are unique and each fun, although none redeemable, and the stories never go in expected directions. The acting is very good, props to all involved, and was fun to see Ardal O'Hanlon show up for a bit. The writing is fantastic, but what else can you expect from Lisa McGee, of course known for her more recent Derry Girls. Only a single season of 6 episodes, the show got some flak from the public for being too offensive, which sure tracks, it is very dark and very adult, but overall I thought was a fun time and perhaps that says more about me. Personally I think there's a fairly bold line between stereotypes for commentary coming from a place of experience and representation vs just stereotypes written through some form of ignorance or laziness. This definitely feels the former to me and doesn't deserve the treatment it got, let alone to get cancelled, but maybe 2013s audience just wan't quite ready for it yet. But who am I to say. I wish there was more, but I'm glad we got what we did, I'm so looking forward to seeking out more from McGee, she's great. Would recommend.

Lobe this show! So funny and each character has something brilliant about them and is equally funny. Just superb, however when I started watching it on Prime the photo has Season One on it implying there would be more so I was disappointed to discover only the 6 episodes existed. Definitely worth a watch. One review here said that it was like It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia gone wrong but I couldn't disagree more, not only is it nothing like it but I persevered with quite a bit of It's Always Sunny and at best only found it mildly amusing.

UK version of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia gone wrong. This time, 4 drunks hang out in a bar but with a difference. The gang in Philadelphia is made up 4 low-lifes including three good friends and ones sister. They are all likable even though you hate to admit it. The characters are so far fetched you can't really take them seriously. Now for the London Irish gang. Four Irish ex-pats living in London. I guess, good friends again including a brother and sister. These four are made up of a female (the sister)whom is not only not lovable but not even likable. A Foul mouthed and hateful b**ch who trudges through episodes with a constant scowl on her face and profanity streaming from her gob. Another female who has a single digit IQ and cares nothing about anyone but herself and is just simply ditzy and annoying. And the two guy leads whom if the females where replaced might have a chance of lasting more than one series. By the way, if you tune in to see Ardal O'Hanlon forget it. He is in 4 of the first 6 and only briefly. The worst thing about this show is that it is not funny.

Four awful young people slum through life, beer, parents, funeral, and etc. with a laugh line perhaps every 5 seconds. The Halloween episode is a standout, though all are very very good and very very funny. If you didn't "get" Seinfeld, don't watch this. If you think you did, there are the six of the best Seinfeld episodes, translated to Irish living in London...with a lot more talk of sex and a lot more swearing.

Stumbled across this show last night and i had never heard of it before. Its fantastic, comedy gold. Its CRUDE , RUDE, OFFENSIVE, and most of all FUNNY so i would suggest to the SNOWFLAKES OF THIS WORLD not to watch because you will be offended. I Watched the 6 episodes on the bounce, some great 1 liners. Shame there's only 1 season.

Man I wish there was more than 6 episodes, I feel like I'm lost after the last episode 😭😭😭 I've been getting into a few things that Lisa McGee's attached to, I mean Derry Girls is wicked but this show should have at least 3 or 4 seasons worth, minimum.

I absolutely loved this show. I discovered it after watching Derry Girls and found myself wanting more of the style and hilarity. I found out that Lisa McGee was the writer and discovered London Irish. Nothing will ever beat this kind of comedy.

Title sums it up (blah blah blah as review is apparently too short)