Northern Irish actor Ian McElhinney has joined the cast of Channel 4's new Troubles-based comedy series Derry Girls.
The Belfast-born star, best known for playing Barristan Selmy in HBO's hit series Game of Thrones and General Dodonna in the Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, has been added to the cast of the new sitcom alongside former EastEnders actress Tara Lynne O'Neill and Kathy Kiera Clarke.
Derry Girls, which is about a teenage girl growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, aims to show a lighter side of the Troubles and is based on the personal experiences of writer Lisa McGee.
Saoirse Monica Jackson will lead the six-part sitcom in the role of 16-year-old Erin Quinn, who begins to juggle the political problems in her home town with issues of her own.
McElhinney has been cast as Erin's formidable Granda Joe, while O'Neill takes on the role of her uncompromising mother and Clarke plays her nervy aunt Sarah.
McGee, who grew up in Derry, said: "I'm delighted to be able to tell the stories of real people living through the Troubles.
"And now, with the delicate political ecosystem of the country about to be tested by The Conservatives and The DUP, it seems well worth reminding ourselves how things were not so long ago, and what better way to do that than through comedy?"
Filming on Derry Girls is already underway in Northern Ireland.
