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Hit TV comedy Derry Girls is to come to an end following its forthcoming series, its creator has said.

Writing on Twitter, Lisa McGee said it had always been "the plan to say goodbye after three series".

"Derry Girls is a love letter to the place I come from and the people who shaped me," said Ms McGee.

"It has been an honour to write it and I will be forever proud of everything it's achieved," she said, thanking the people of Derry and Northern Ireland.

She added: "Derry Girls is a coming of age story; following five ridiculous teenagers as they slowly... very slowly... start to become adults, while around them the place they call home start to change too and Northern Ireland enters a new more hopeful place - which was a small, magical window of time."

Leaving the door open for a possible return, Ms McGee said "who knows" if Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle, and James "will return in some other guise some day".

"But for now this is it for us and we are excited to start filming this series with our incredible cast and crew to hopefully take our loyal fans on one last adventure."

She also thanked Hat Trick productions and Channel 4 for their support in making the programme.

Derry Girls debuted in 2018, and stars Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan, Jamie-Lee O'Donnell, Louisa Harland and Dylan Llewellyn as a group of teenagers growing up in Derry in the 1990s.

A major ratings success, the first episode of its second series had a consolidated audience of 3.2 million viewers and was Channel 4's biggest UK comedy launch episode for 15 years.

It was nominated for Best Scripted Comedy at the BAFTAs in 2019, and has won multiple Irish Film and Television Awards.

Its third series was announced in 2019, but delayed due to Covid-19, with filming now set to begin this week.