moved from their usual location at BBC Blackstaff Studio in the centre of Belfast to a new studio located elsewhere in Northern Ireland to ensure social distancing could be maintained. No studio audience was present for the filming of the episodes, but a virtual audience watched and reacted to the recordings online. The 2020 Christmas special aired on Sunday 27 December 2020 on BBC One Northern Ireland, and saw the cast give a proper send off to the character "Big Mervyn", as the actor who played him BJ Hogg died earlier in 2020. Three other episodes will air from mid January 2021. Live In recent years, they have performed live shows at a selection of venues across Northern Ireland. The 2004 show was chiefly made up of scripts from the 2004–2005 series. In 2007 a new live show entitled Dry Your Eyes it's Give My Head Peace was held in Derry's Millennium Forum and the Grand Opera House to celebrate ten years of the show. This production showed material from GMHP and Dry Your Eyes and was very well received. The next live show in 2008 followed on from the final television episode, called Give My Head Peace: Back From The Grave, and also featured the Dry Your Eyes characters. In 2009, the gang went on their last tour called "Give My Head Peace: The Final Farewell Tour". However, the show returned on an annual basis with "Give My Head Peace: The Annual Review" touring Northern Ireland. The performance features the show's regulars, with the notable exceptions of Mervyn and Red Hand Luke, and also features a stand-up set from Tim McGarry who plays Da. In 1999 a video and book were released. The only DVD released to date is of series 6, in November 2009. Characters The principal characters are: Da (Tim McGarry) – Da is an Irish Catholic who represents a stereotypical Irish nationalist. He is an ardent fan of Irish culture despite having little knowledge of Irish history and being unable to speak a word of Irish. Da is a Sinn Féin spokesman who later becomes an assemblyman, and recently a "retired assemblyman". He is very proud of his involvement and (exaggerated) friendship with Gerry Adams. He is fired repeatedly for embarrassing Gerry or the party publicly. He often gets reinstated after blackmailing Gerry with incriminating evidence, which inevitably gets destroyed through ineptitude. He has a beard