Once upon a time in Northern Ireland

ElBurroSinNombre

ElBurroSinNombre

Well-known member
I have recently watched this series on iPlayer which is both harrowing and brilliant and is by the same producer who made 'Once upon a time in Iraq'. For anyone of a certain age, the events shown (and footage) will bring back many memories as NI dominated the news agenda back in the day.
I would be interested in any thoughts on this series which largely consists of interviews with fairly ordinary people who were caught up in the troubles.
For me, it really brought home the horror of living in that sort of society at that time. However it does offer hope, in the end the people of NI got tired of the bloodshed and started to demand peace.
Thoughts? IMO it's one of the best things I have watched for ages.
 
I was in Northern Ireland last October and it's a lovely city, however, I've also watched the documentary and there is still a lot of hatred on both sides.
Obviously not as much as when the violence was at its hight but its still there.😔😟
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I have recently watched this series on iPlayer which is both harrowing and brilliant and is by the same producer who made 'Once upon a time in Iraq'. For anyone of a certain age, the events shown (and footage) will bring back many memories as NI dominated the news agenda back in the day.
I would be interested in any thoughts on this series which largely consists of interviews with fairly ordinary people who were caught up in the troubles.
For me, it really brought home the horror of living in that sort of society at that time. However it does offer hope, in the end the people of NI got tired of the bloodshed and started to demand peace.
Thoughts? IMO it's one of the best things I have watched for ages.
Click to expand...
Watched it when it was first shown. Worth viewing to get a balanced sense of why the Troubles erupted again in 1969. As you say very bleak but quite hopeful in the way that the majority of the population have rejected violence as a means to an end.
 
Just watched the first one, excellent so far. It still amazes me that a civil war was being waged in my lifetime in Britain. It also find it staggering that the average person on the street knows very little about it, the reasons behind it and things that happened. Then again the average person probably watches love island!
 
I watched the series and thought it was excellent. It gives a powerful and long overdue voice to those who lost family and friends.

As the son of two Irish parents (one from each religion) I am well versed in the background to the outbreak of violence and the 30 years that followed.

However the programme still had the capacity to shock and sadden me.

As for now, the fragile peace can only be built on by educating Protestant and Catholic children together. A big majority of children are educated by religion and they never meet anyone from
“the other side” until they are out of school by which time attitudes have hardened. There should have been a requirement when giving money to NI post the GF agreement that sectarian based education had to end.
 
Shandypants said:
Just watched the first one, excellent so far. It still amazes me that a civil war was being waged in my lifetime in Britain. It also find it staggering that the average person on the street knows very little about it, the reasons behind it and things that happened. Then again the average person probably watches love island!
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I would say that the most effective programme in the last 30-40 years to provide some background was “Derry Girls”!
 
On the back of this series, I have started listening to the audio book 'Killing Thatcher' which is now available free to Spotify subscribers. It's about the plot to kill Thatcher at the Brighton conference in 1984 (I think), but also covers a lot more about 'the troubles'. This is a well researched, balanced, sad and interesting book about the NI conflict. There is actually a chapter called 'Blackpool' about an aborted plot to bomb the Eagle and Child pub near the Weeton army base. Very interesting to hear this material with the benefit of some time lapsed.
 
Just finished it. Brilliant and compelling, it's hard to believe a capital city in Western Europe was involved in a civil war for the best part of 30 years. The deprivation in Northern Ireland was/is startling. Footage of very young children throwing rocks and petrol bombs at patrolling soldiers with the backdrop of the Divis flats, wasteland and wild dogs roaming isn't an image that should ever happen in the UK, let alone in my life. It should be part of the history curriculum and its incredible they found peace, albeit still a very divided society.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
On the back of this series, I have started listening to the audio book 'Killing Thatcher' which is now available free to Spotify subscribers. It's about the plot to kill Thatcher at the Brighton conference in 1984 (I think), but also covers a lot more about 'the troubles'. This is a well researched, balanced, sad and interesting book about the NI conflict. There is actually a chapter called 'Blackpool' about an aborted plot to bomb the Eagle and Child pub near the Weeton army base. Very interesting to hear this material with the benefit of some time lapsed.
Click to expand...
The Miller Arms in Singleton was also a target. The thinking was the SAS used to train at Weeton and drank in those two pubs.

I know because I had a client who was trying to buy a house from one of the accused, a Dr Moira O’Shea. It was delayed/fell over (can’t recall which) because the other lawyers couldn’t produce the deeds. They thought they’d been carried away in a bin bag by special branch.

I think she was eventually acquitted. Although she was a staunch Republican it was decided she was more a naive dupe than an active participant.
 
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If you haven’t read it go and buy a copy of Bandit Country.

Absolutely fascinating what happened down in Newry particularly. I did some electronic security work down there with both RUC, then PSNI and the British Army. The police stations were like forts. One I visited had stores to survive a sustained siege.

Mind blowing.
 
Chunkylad said:
If you haven’t read it go and buy a copy of Bandit Country.

Absolutely fascinating what happened down in Newry particularly. I did some electronic security work down there with both RUC, then PSNI and the British Army. The police stations were like forts. One I visited had stores to survive a sustained siege.

Mind blowing.
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Is that the book by Toby Hardern? If so I'll get it as I've just seen it to buy on the kindle
 
Mexboroseasider said:
The Miller Arms in Singleton was also a target. The thinking was the SAS used to train at Weeton and drank in those two pubs.

I know because I had a client who was trying to buy a house from one of the accused, a Dr Moira O’Shea. It was delayed/fell over (can’t recall which) because the other lawyers couldn’t produce the deeds. They thought they’d been carried away in a bin bag by special branch.

I think she was eventually acquitted. Although she was a staunch Republican it was decided she was more a naive dupe than an active participant.
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The Eagle and Child plot was mentioned in the book because the Brighton bomber was going to carry it out. The plot got cancelled because an associate got caught shoplifting in Fine Fare, Talbot Road and had incriminating evidence in his van. He spilled to UK security services. This lead to a car chase that ended at Preston station with the two bombers managing to escape to bomb another day.
There was also another plot to bomb Blackpool [and other holiday resorts] after the Brighton bomb. The bombers never got a chance to carry it out because they were arrested in Glasgow - but they were in the UK to carry out a sustained bombing campaign. The IRA were a little careless as they allowed a known terrorist to join the team and based on intelligence received in NI he lead the police to the IRA cell. It's a great listen (Killing Thatcher).

Sounds like 'the Miller Arms' plot was another failed plot. In the killing Thatcher book, it mentions that it was believed that the RUC used Weeton as a training camp and also the SAS connection.
 
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Shandypants said:
Is that the book by Toby Hardern? If so I'll get it as I've just seen it to buy on the kindle
Click to expand...
Just looking on Spotify, there are two books;
Bandit Country (SAS operation) - Peter Corrigan - about the SAS operation to find the border sniper nicknamed 'Border Fox'
Bandit Country - Andrew Turpin - looks like this is about the dirty war in bandit country

Is it either of these?
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I have recently watched this series on iPlayer which is both harrowing and brilliant and is by the same producer who made 'Once upon a time in Iraq'. For anyone of a certain age, the events shown (and footage) will bring back many memories as NI dominated the news agenda back in the day.
I would be interested in any thoughts on this series which largely consists of interviews with fairly ordinary people who were caught up in the troubles.
For me, it really brought home the horror of living in that sort of society at that time. However it does offer hope, in the end the people of NI got tired of the bloodshed and started to demand peace.
Thoughts? IMO it's one of the best things I have watched for ages.
Click to expand...
Watched it first time round last May absolutely eye opening stuff and very well made. Just down loaded to watch again!
 
Chunkylad said:
If you haven’t read it go and buy a copy of Bandit Country.

Absolutely fascinating what happened down in Newry particularly. I did some electronic security work down there with both RUC, then PSNI and the British Army. The police stations were like forts. One I visited had stores to survive a sustained siege.

Mind blowing.
Click to expand...
Also, a book called 'Contact' by AFN Clarke is well worth a read
 
I haven't seen the series.
However, one of my best mates in HM Customs was from NI.
A very old friend of his was in HMC in NI. He used to come over to Luton regularly on some sort of 'Leave' from the troubles.
My colleague in Beds Police (Civilian like me), was stationed in NI when he was in Royal Signals.
He would never repeat what he actually did, except to say that it was 'scary'.
 
Davepick said:
I haven't seen the series.
However, one of my best mates in HM Customs was from NI.
A very old friend of his was in HMC in NI. He used to come over to Luton regularly on some sort of 'Leave' from the troubles.
My colleague in Beds Police (Civilian like me), was stationed in NI when he was in Royal Signals.
He would never repeat what he actually did, except to say that it was 'scary'.
Click to expand...
If you get a chance watch it, it is completely mesmerizing and shocking at the same time.
 
Plenty more material is available.
Watching the series has got me really interested in the subject, there was so much more going on than was reported in the UK media at the time.
This podcast seems fairly impartial and attempts to explain in more detail the events (and many others) depicted in the BBC documentary;

open.spotify.com

The Troubles Podcast

Listen to The Troubles Podcast on Spotify. The Troubles were a period of time in Northern Ireland which many people today do not know a lot about. In this podcast we will delve into each individual bombing and attack that happened during the 30-year period. This is a non-partisan podcast that...
open.spotify.com open.spotify.com

For instance, the episode on the Shankhill butchers is gruesome. It's amazing that they could be considered as political prisoners but they were released under the terms of the GF agreement.
 
Shandypants said:
This is a good short documentary. It's raw and I can't get my head around little kids wandering around in a war zone or women walking the street pushing prams
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Very interesting stuff.
The outpost on an estate looks crazy.
Basically taking over a residential property and turning it in to a fort - I bet the neighbours were not very happy about it.
 
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