Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
bbc select

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland

Season 1
The politics behind the Troubles in Northern Ireland are well known. But this is the story of the ordinary men, women and children who were drawn into a conflict that spanned three decades. Mixing personal testimonies with archive footage, this groundbreaking documentary shines a light on communities that had to live with daily conflict and are still struggling to hold onto peace today.
20235 episodesTV-MA
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Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - It Wasn't Like a Movie Anymore

    May 21, 2023
    56min
    TV-MA
    A time of relative peace in Northern Ireland escalates to full-blown conflict. When tensions between Catholic and Protestant communities explode, the British Army is deployed. With the situation compounded by tactical mistakes, soldiers quickly find themselves caught up in violent clashes, leading to 13 unarmed Catholics being shot dead in Derry in an event known as ‘Bloody Sunday’.
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  2. S1 E2 - Do Paramilitaries Lie Awake at Night?

    May 21, 2023
    56min
    TV-MA
    It's 1972, and community divisions have deepened and intensified. Many working-class Catholic and Protestant communities are in the grip of paramilitary organizations. A deeply segregated society is established as the violence escalates. But punk music emerges as a unifying force for some young Catholics and Protestants, who defy the chaos and segregated world around them.
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  3. S1 E3 - So Many Broken Hearts

    May 21, 2023
    56min
    TV-MA
    Fatigue sets in as a desperate nation suffers endless violence, misery and unrest. The devastating impact of The Troubles is explored through the stories of three women, as IRA prisoners begin a hunger strike in protest against Margaret Thatcher’s policies. Tit for tat killings, car bombs and assassinations are now part of everyday life in Northern Ireland.
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  4. S1 E4 - Loose Talk Costs Lives

    May 21, 2023
    56min
    TV-MA
    By the late 1980s, as the Troubles escalate, the news in Northern Ireland is a daily list of the dead. But 14 bloody days in March 1988 mark a new level of harrowing savagery. Tensions rise as the police and army infiltrate paramilitary organizations to gain intelligence. No one can be trusted as fear and suspicion run rife, leading to even more violence and devastation.
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  5. S1 E5 - Who Wants to Live Like That?

    May 21, 2023
    56min
    TV-MA
    Rather than a slow cessation of violence, the Troubles seemed to escalate during the 1990s. But behind the scenes, following years of negotiations between politicians and paramilitaries, an IRA ceasefire was announced in 1994. There is widespread joy when the Good Friday Agreement was finally announced in 1998. But peace came at a cost. The violence of the past is hard to forget.
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