Granda Joe

Granda Joe is Erin's grandfather, a proud, opinionated presence in the family home who never met an argument he could resist joining. He grumbles about his son-in-law, holds forth on politics and principle with total conviction, and treats his own stubbornness as a virtue. Domestic life becomes a small battlefield whenever he's in the room.

Ian McElhinney plays him with a bristling seriousness that the show constantly deflates, and the gap between how grandly he speaks and how petty the actual dispute is (usually with Uncle Colm) is where the comedy lives. He's a reminder that Derry Girls finds its biggest laughs in stubborn, ordinary domestic pride.