SCOOBY-DOO FOR ADULTS

How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is a funny, mysterious return from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee

- STORY: TATAT BUNNAG

Going into the first episode of the new Netflix series set in Ireland, How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, I was quite sceptical, as the setup somewhat reminded me of Stephen King's IT — a group of nerdy childhood friends, now adults, returning to their hometown after 26 years to confront old fears and a dark secret from their past.

It felt familiar, almost too familiar, and I worried the show might lean too heavily on nostalgia and recycled tropes. Fortunately, the series quickly proves it has its own distinct identity.

How To wastes little time establishing a tone that is dark, weird, twisted and silly funny. The murder mystery at its centre is a doozy, but what truly sets the show apart is how confidently it blends genres.

It is part comedy, part suspense thriller, part chaotic road-trip, all wrapped inside a whodunit framework. If I had to describe it in one line, I would say it is Scooby-Doo for adults — only more irreverent, more emotional and far more dangerous.

The story revolves around three lifelong friends — Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), a clever but chaotic TV writer; Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), a glamorous yet overwhelmed mother of three; and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), a dependable but emotionally inhibited carer.

They have been inseparable since high school and are now in their late 30s, still bound by shared history and unresolved tensions. When an email informs them of the death of Greta — the estranged fourth member of their childhood group — they are forced to reunite.