Topic: Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland - BBC & iPlayer

[Alan_X]

I'm on episode 2 at the moment but had to start a thread on this. The kind of documentary that the BBC can do so well. Moving interviews and unflinching honesty from both sides of the sectarian divide.

Anyone who decides to score points in this thread will be banned. There's more than enough in the interviews and footage for anyone.

A reminder of what the Brexiteers are willing to revisit for the sake of their europhobic wet dream.

[afc tukrish]

Free to stream stateside on PBS...

Thanks, Alan...

[Alan_X]

It's a hard watch - brutal inplaces - but an important record of the events.

[Terry de Niro]

It's a hard watch - brutal inplaces - but an important record of the events.

Watched the first two and can't bring myself to watch anymore.
Far too much shit from both sides of the divide.
So upsetting for someone who has Irish blood in them.

[only6times]

Brutal, powerful telly. Hope to God the peace holds.

[doc_antonio]

Great show, 3 episodes in and its a hard watch at times but there's a lot I didn't know, even being from NI.

[Lee1-6Liv]

Finished it the other night. Absolutely heartbreaking in places.

There was a piece in the last episode, after a particularly bad month for murders in 1993, where a newsreader says if the same proportion of murders in relation to population were carried out in mainland uk there would be over 1,000 dead.

[TepidT2O]

There’s a really good series  on Ireland gaining independence on the Rest is History podcast.

Makes a really good companion piece as it explains how we got to the situation in the first place.

[MBL?]

I had decided not to watch this as the bbc was extremely one sided during the time it happened but might take a look after seeing this thread. My suspicions are at best it will be painted as a both sides situation and if any British military are interviewed they won’t be questioned on their actions in regards to collusion and their many atrocities. Guess I might have to watch it now to find out.

There’s a really good series  on Ireland gaining independence on the Rest is History podcast.

Makes a really good companion piece as it explains how we got to the situation in the first place.

Listened to the first two of these and as far as I can tell it is very accurate.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Took me about 2.5hrs to watch the first ep as I kept pausing to Google things, then ended up down rabbit holes. I was born in 1986 so I didn’t have much experience personally with the Troubles but I remember some parts of ‘normal’ life that looking bad, was quite mad. And stories from family.

It’s a hard watch. Watching it with my English Husband and although he heard stories and knew a bit, he is astounded by most of it. I wouldn’t say it feels normal to me watching it but maybe it feels familiar.

I think it’s one of the best of these documentaries I have seen to be honest, I’m only 3 episodes in.

The Patrick Kielty documentary in recent years was also excellent. 

[rob1966]

I'm on episode 2 at the moment but had to start a thread on this. The kind of documentary that the BBC can do so well. Moving interviews and unflinching honesty from both sides of the sectarian divide.

Anyone who decides to score points in this thread will be banned. There's more than enough in the interviews and footage for anyone.

A reminder of what the Brexiteers are willing to revisit for the sake of their europhobic wet dream.

I've just seen this advertised on BBC One and will be watching this next. The Troubles were such a huge part of day to day life, the Brexiteers need to see how bad it was and to not risk it ever happening again.

When I was 20 I had been accepted into the Army, only for an old medical scuppering it and I was told I couldn't serve after all, otherwise I'd have been running around Northern Ireland in 1987, like a few of my mates did.

[rafathegaffa83]

There’s a really good series  on Ireland gaining independence on the Rest is History podcast.

Makes a really good companion piece as it explains how we got to the situation in the first place.

Yeah the last three episodes are superb

[TepidT2O]

Yeah the last three episodes are superb

Paul Rouse is brilliant, could listen to him all day.

 

[damomad]

Watched the whole thing today after the recommendation here. The best documentary series I have seen in a long while, each episode was gripping. Some really interesting characters interviewed from all ends of the political spectrum.

Pretty fairly balanced as well. It was uncomfortable hearing people say they were against the GFA but that's the truth, and there are those types still out there, nothing can be taken for granted.

[phil236849]

As someone who grew up in south Wales and felt distanced and thus ignorant of real detail and dynamics here, I thought it was fantastic

[SvenJohansen]

It's a very sobering series, there's so much I didn't know. Bloody Friday happened the year I was born and up until tonight I don't think I was ever aware of it. I knew what the Troubles were as it was happening but watching this show makes you realise that I actually hadn't a clue about what was going on up there. It's on RTE Player now.

[Ciara (with a capital "C")]

Why do we think they didn’t cover the Omagh bombing? Looking back, that surprises me now.

[damomad]

Why do we think they didn’t cover the Omagh bombing? Looking back, that surprises me now.

That was my thought while watching the final episode. I'm sure it was intentional but I'd only be guessing any reasons why.

Perhaps didn't fit into the narrative of the GFA being the be all and end all. Or maybe they just couldn't get anyone to talk about it?

[thejbs]

Why do we think they didn’t cover the Omagh bombing? Looking back, that surprises me now.

As someone who was schooled and socialised in Omagh, I was only not in town that day because I was on Holiday in Spain with my family - we always hung out in town during the day before going to The Clock nightclub after. My gf was in town that day and had the good sense to get far away when the alert happened. Two of our friends group hung about and got scarred for life with shrapnel.

I have to say that I always find the Omagh bombing to be removed from everything that happened pre-1994. It was just so different to everything else that happened. So far apart and alien. The attitudes and response to it were like nothing I experienced during other atrocities. It felt like the whole of Ireland and the UK were united in grief and anger. It wasn't unusual to hear jokes made up about tragedies* on the 'other side' but with Omagh, there was nothing like that.

And as much unremitting anger as I hold towards those who did it, I recognise that it wasn't meant to be the massacre that it turned out to be.

*I can still, 30 years on, remember the taunts that the older kids from the local protestant school did towards us about the greysteel massacre (8 dead), and our lot responding by mocking the Shankill bomb (10 killed). Absolute madness and still surreal that I was brought up among that.

Haven't been able to bring myself to watch this yet, but I actually take some comfort that Omagh isn't covered.

[damomad]

I'd say you are right thejbs, it did feel like it's own thing. I also remember being in Spain on holiday and watching it on the news, very few memories from those days stick with me but that does vividly. And you are right, there were no jokes in the schoolyard about it. Cold blooded murder of civilians, whether accidental or not, it's not hard to draw some comparisons with went on at Bloody Sunday. Both heinous acts that bookmarked either end of the troubles.

No one wants to compare atrocities but Omagh maybe did more for the peace cause than any other, it was so inexplicable, the outrage so intense that it's no coincidence that nothing of the sort has happened since. It was the absolute death knell for the already diminished support in any armed Republican movement.

[thejbs]

I think the Omagh bomb would be a 3-part documentary on its own. The Gardai knowingly let the bomb cross the border so not to blow cover on an informant. MI5 also had advance warning of the bomb from an informant and didn't pass the information on due to what Ronnie Flannagan called an 'administrative error.' I recall that even the FBI had intel of an imminent attack that they didn't forward to the police.I'm sure the assumption was that there would be a bomb left at the courthouse and it would blow up without loss of life. It was a terrible risk for both these agencies to take.

Since writing that post, I've been ruminating about it. I think the most startling thing about it is not just the loss of life, but the amount of people injured. I remember there were hundreds. People were blinded and maimed by it. I remember the summer after it happened, noticing the shrapnel scars on my gf's friend's legs.

But you're right damomad, it was the death of armed republicanism and I guess for that we can be grateful.

[filopastry]

I remember being back in NI visiting my sister at the time of the Omagh bombing.

She was a doctor and got an emergency text through shortly afterwards asking for any medical staff to help with a serious incident if they could.

She knew at that stage it was going to bad, just not how awful it would be.

[AndyInVA]

Like many fans on here, born in 1969 and grew up with The Troubles on our nightly news. I never thought I would see real peace in my life time.

I always wanted to join the Army and grew up with a very naïve one sided view of the politics there and who was good and who 'not good'. Thankfully older now and see the nuances and the evil done by all sides at times.

Thanks for the heads up and good to know its on PBS stateside.

[jillcwhomever]

We have just lost a work colleague who was formerly in the army in Northern Ireland. I found out after his death that he had lost a number of men in his regiment as he'd just gone off duty and they'd taken over from him. It must be really hard to accept something like that and knowing that it could have been you blown up.  He's been a frequent drinker and was even drinking in work just before he took the EVR and retired. A male friend who would talk about his army days said basically he's never stopped thinking about the incident. There were dreadful attacks from all sides in this war and I would bet a lot of people are struggling with their demons. Let's hope peace lasts and everyone can go on building a proper peace for everyone's sake. 

[rafathegaffa83]

Finally got around to this. Incredible stuff. Gut-wrenching and brutal.  Some very powerful testimonies, particularly in the last three episodes, from those who were either victims or lost loved ones.