A new exhibition based on the hit Channel 4 series Derry Girls has been dubbed as "very surreal" by two of the women who served as the models for characters in the show.
At Derry's Tower Museum, The Derry Girls Experience will formally open to the public on Tuesday.
It features memorabilia from the Channel 4 comedy that won a Bafta.
Some of the friends who served as the inspiration for Erin, Michelle, Orla, Clare, and James' antics went to the exhibition's sneak preview on Monday.
The show's creator Lisa McGee shared a childhood with Shauna Bray and Aoife O'Neill.
There are definitely moments or scenes in the book that make people think back to their own childhood, according to Aoife. "People can definitely see themselves in at least one, if not several of the characters," she added.
Shauna chuckled, "Lisa definitely brought out some of our good qualities but also a lot of our not-so-great qualities.
She claimed that Michelle's personality and her own are very similar. Aoife, who can be a self-confessed worrier, reluctantly acknowledges that she is most like Clare.
The two characters are undoubtedly the ones we are most like, Shauna said. "I think we can see a lot of ourselves in all the characters," she added.
They admitted it was initially strange to watch their youthful antics being broadcast to millions of people all over the world for BBC News NI.
They were stunned by how much people adored the program.
They claimed that the exhibition is proof of how well-received the show has been all over the world.
It is filled with original backdrops, costumes, and other relics from the show's three seasons.
The cast's school attire as well as Erin Quinn's diary are among the items on display.
Derry Girls, which debuted on Channel 4 in 2018, follows four teenage girls as they grow up in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in the 1990s, along with "a wee English fella.".
It follows the group as they deal with the highs and lows of adolescence while living in the shadow of the Troubles' closing years.
The program has been a huge hit for Channel 4, winning Baftas, Irish Film and Television Awards, and Royal Television Society Awards.
On May 18, the third series' last episode aired.
Shauna and Aoife both made fun of the fact that some of the show's most famous scenes were based on embarrassing real-life incidents, like the girl's performance of the Spice Girls at Thornhill College's Christmas talent show.
Aoife claimed they had known Lisa would achieve great things from the start. She is ecstatic about everything her friend has accomplished.
In December 2021, Ms. McGee received the freedom of Derry City and Strabane in honor of the "global positive impact" that her work has had.
She was the first woman to be awarded the highest honor by the council.
A city center mural of the main cast can be found on a large gable wall of Badger's Bar on Orchard Street. The city has already benefited from the success of the Channel 4 comedy by offering a number of tourist attractions in the city and district.
Later on Monday, a special 90s-themed event will be held to celebrate the opening of the exhibit, and Lisa McGee and Derry Girls star Jamie-Lee O'Donnell are expected to attend.
The Tower Museum will host The Derry Girls Experience every day through July 2024.
