NI hosts some of the most talked about TV of 2019

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The body which promotes Northern Ireland as a filming location is celebrating after the region hosted three of the most talked-about TV shows of 2019.

These included the second series of Derry Girls, which was filmed on location around Northern Ireland, as well as the fifth instalment of Line Of Duty, filmed mostly in Belfast.

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And HBO’s Game Of Thrones brought its stars back to Belfast in April for the European premiere of its final season.

In its review of the year, NI Screen found that the third episode of the fantasy tale set in the fictional world of Westeros was the most tweeted-about TV episode of all time.

The final episode of Game Of Thrones went on to become the biggest series finale ever for Sky with a cumulative audience of 5.8 million viewers, and broke HBO viewership records with 19.3 million watching in the US.

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The series went on to pick up 12 Emmys, with local workers Ronan Hill (sound), Simon Kerr (sound), Carla Stronge (casting) and Pamela Smyth (make-up) among the list of winners.

The first season of Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls picked up a Bafta nomination before its second season premiered in March, while the cast were immortalised in a mural.

The second series attracted 3.2 million viewers for its first episode, making it Channel 4’s biggest UK comedy launch for 15 years.

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The final of the big three, Line Of Duty, returned to BBC One in March for a fifth series. The first episode was, at the time, the year’s most watched programme in the UK with 13.2 million viewers tuning in.

However Northern Ireland also played host to scores of other productions across 2019, including the popular murder mystery Dublin Murders.

This list includes thriller The Deceived for Channel 5, ITV crime drama Marcella and the region also doubled for the Lake District for filming of The Windermere Children, a drama recalling how in 1945 child survivors of the concentration camps were brought there to recuperate.