The journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have each been indelibly shaped by their experience of reporting on the Northern Ireland Troubles. Both witnessed the horror and pain of the conflict close up. Both would see the mixed fortunes brought by peace and reconciliation.

Peter Taylor first arrived in Northern Ireland on the night of Bloody Sunday in 1972. A Yorkshire man with no family or personal connections to Ireland, he would go on to become one of the most distinguished journalists and broadcasters associated with the Troubles.

Fergal Keane grew up in County Cork and first came to Belfast as an RTE reporter in the late 1980s. Keane's family past is deeply entwined with Ireland's history of armed insurrection, stretching back to the Irish War of Independence and Civil War.

Now Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane are back in Northern Ireland to share their personal experiences of reporting on the troubles and ask what it all means now.

In the concluding episode of this two part series, Keane and Taylor talk about the role played by key figures in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland.

Producer: Conor Garrett

Troubles Shared - EpisodeTwo

The journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have each been indelibly shaped by their experience of reporting on the Northern Ireland Troubles. Both witnessed the horror and pain of the conflict close up. Both would see the mixed fortunes brought by peace and reconciliation.

Peter Taylor first arrived in Northern Ireland on the night of Bloody Sunday in 1972. A Yorkshire man with no family or personal connections to Ireland, he would go on to become one of the most distinguished journalists and broadcasters associated with the Troubles.

Fergal Keane grew up in County Cork and first came to Belfast as an RTE reporter in the late 1980s. Keane's family past is deeply entwined with Ireland's history of armed insurrection, stretching back to the Irish War of Independence and Civil War.

Now Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane are back in Northern Ireland to share their personal experiences of reporting on the troubles and ask what it all means now.

In the first episode of this two part series, Keane and Taylor begin a journey through Northern Ireland to revisit some of the key sites they associate with what happened and what they saw. 

Producer: Conor Garrett

Troubles Shared - Episode One

Enda McClafferty meets the sole survivor of the 1958 fishing trawler tragedy that killed his great uncle and four others.

The Sinking of the Jack Buchan

Conor Garrett knows he's one of the lucky ones. None of his family or friends have contracted Coronavirus so far and he hasn't had to spend the time in quarantine alone. But working from home while trying to home-school two young sons hasn't been without its challenges. Conor's dad is also seriously ill and his niece Imogen - a recent medicine graduate - is facing one of the biggest dilemmas of her life: whether to join the NHS frontline helping to tackle Covid-19. As Conor loses track of the days and runs out of odd-jobs, he tries to find the positives in these tough times.

The Upsides of Lockdown

From having your wedding cancelled, to closing the doors of your business, and being hospitalized to making a recovery - people across Ireland share how their lives have been impacted due to COVID-19, from 16th March to the present day.

Featuring Patricia McGinnis, Richard McBride, Maura Sloan, Angie Tandon, Ed Canning, Niamh Ni Chonchuir, Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh, Ryan Gaston, Lenny White, Jessica Anderson, Michelle Gallen and Luke McCann.

Alone Together - Across Ireland

People from Ireland share their experiences of being at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. We hear from those living and working in Wuhan and other cities, as well as getting the perspective from the NI Chinese community, as people talk of face masks, fear and hi-tech surveillance - but also of hope. The programme traces the emergence of COVID-19 in January, through China’s near total lock down and onto the first signs that the virus was receding. Did the Chinese government’s draconian measures make it possible to beat COVID-19 and are these something we could ever achieve here? And with the threat of a second wave of infection from people coming into the China from abroad, how are foreigners there being viewed? This programme tells a story that touches every nation on earth but from a uniquely local perspective.

Alone Together in China

NI & Irish people living across the world, tell us what life is like for them, since the invisible enemy of COVID-19 brought life as we know it to a halt. This is a snapshot of lives in lockdown across the globe from Mid-March to April 2020.

Featuring Catherine Clancy, Paul Nelson, Morgan Fagg, Siobhan Ni Chiobhain, Jenny Goggin, Sinead McCambridge, Sean Burke and Alison Crozier.

Alone Together - Across the World

Local people across NI share the life experiences that have made them who they are today.
To dig deep – to find the strength they might not have realised they had - to keep calm and carry on.
With presenter Tessa Fleming, in association with BBC Radio 4’s Listening Project.
For details of organisations which offer advice and support with any of the issues that have been raised in this programme - go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline. 

Produced by Cathy Moorehead.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Instagram personality That Belfast Girl explains the perks of sharing your personal life online & meets the local influencers who are going viral on social media.

From battling cancer on Instagram, to raising awareness of diabetes in laugh-out-loud TikTok videos, and the growing movement of body positivity, we meet the women brave enough to bare all online.

With influencers:

Instagram - @all.things.mia @felicityhayward @thatbelfastgirl 

YouTube - @Caitlyn Lendrum

TikTok - @diabeticduo

How to be an Influencer

How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles began

Breakdown: Episode Two

Breakdown: Episode One

Brian from Derry in Northern Ireland finally found the courage to live openly as a transvestite in California, and found happiness with his wife Debbie from Kentucky.

The Legenderry Boy In A Dress

From overcoming homelessness, to tackling suicide, having a crisis of faith to being 'queer on stage'. Local people share their life experiences, struggles and triumphs around topics often considered taboo, with presenter Mairead Campbell.

Produced by Cathy Moorehead.

Fly on the Wall

Comedian Ciaran Bartlett uncovers three strange but true tales of executions and escapes from Crumlin Road Gaol from 1854 to 1960. 

Dr Lynsey Black examines the first public execution at Crumlin Road Gaol, of soldier Robert O’Neill in 1854 which ‘entertained’ over 15,000 members of the public.

Crime writer Steve Fielding shares the case of travelling circus member - Eddie Cullens in 1932 and the murdered corpse found naked with nothing but a bathing cap on. 

And Donal Donnelly - the only man who escaped and was never caught, recounts his break out on Boxing Day 1960.

Produced by Cathy Moorehead.

Crumlin Road Gaol - Escaping Dead or Alive

Conor Garrett finds out if family friend David can break the hoarding habit of a lifetime

The Hoarder

Though they share a home, Marie Louise Muir often feels excluded from her autistic daughter’s world. Can the arts help her to enter and understand?

A House With Two Rooms

Raised in the Fermanagh village of Bellanaleck amid story-tellers, yarns and football, Brian D’Arcy never dreamed he would become a priest until a meeting with a Passionist at The Graan Monastery set him on the road to priesthood against his parent’s wishes.
Now, as he celebrates 50 years as a priest, Father Brian reflects on a long career of faith, fame and controversy.
As he revisits the village of his childhood, the monastery that would become home for most of his vocation and the shores of his beloved Lough Erne, Father Brian recalls his journey towards faith, his love of music which in turn led to a life of show-business and a career in broadcasting – and the dark shadow that has haunted his whole life, the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and as a young man.
Father Brian also explains why he has never been afraid to speak out on issues he cares passionately about. Priests’ celibacy, contraception, the role of women, the churches handling of child sex abuse scandals - Father Brian has spoken out about all of them and faced criticism and censure from the Vatican as a result, at times leading him to consider his vocation.
50 years on how does Father Brian feel about his faith, the future of the Church and his own future?

The Life of Brian: 50 Years a Priest

Part 2 of 2. In the leafy suburbs of South Belfast, journalist Ita Dungan discovered thousands of receipts in the attic of her Victorian terraced house. They reveal the middle class life enjoyed by Robert Smith, his wife Jeannie and their four children - Robert Cecil, Florence Eileen, Edward Ivan McCullagh and Donald Edgeworth. With the help of historian Dr Alice Johnson and newspaper reports, Ita discovers the controversial source of Robert’s wealth, a diamond ring heirloom and the forgotten ‘other woman’. The fate of the Smith family is revealed - involving emigration and World War II battles. But what of their descendants? Will Ita find any? Produced by Cathy Moorehead

The Man in My Attic - The Other Woman...Part 2

Part 1 of 2. In the leafy suburbs of South Belfast, journalist Ita Dungan discovered thousands of receipts in the attic of her Victorian terraced house. They reveal the lavish middle class life of a man, woman, their family and servant from the 1860s all the way up until 1916. Receipts for velvet jackets and feather boas, their grand furniture and holidays away give clues to the life they once enjoyed - in the very same house which Ita lives in today. With the help of historian Dr Alice Johnson, she learns about the history of Belfast - which was an even bigger city than Dublin at one stage, thanks to its booming economy, and which gave rise to a middle class of people that could really enjoy the high life. Produced by Cathy Moorehead.

The Man in My Attic - Who Was He? Part 1

Before I Was An Orphan tells the true story of local journalist Alex Kane. Despite not speaking a word until he was adopted from an orphanage at six years old, he now ironically makes his living as a political pundit and commentator. Alex has no memory of life prior to moving in with his adoptive mum Adelaide and her husband Sam, but suffers night terrors to this day about opening a door back into his childhood. His earliest memory is of a teddy bear given to him as a present by Adelaide and Sam, a bear that would transform his sense of trust and help sooth his trauma. Now a father himself, he is grappling with the decision as to whether or not he should open his social services file, which could reveal the truth about what happened to him before he was adopted. While he weighs up the decision, Alex visits the Public Record Office Of Northern Ireland to view information about the orphanage that he has no memory of - and as he sets off towards Portadown to discover if the orphanage still exists, he wonders what memories might come flooding back.

Stories in Sound

Stories in Sound

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