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60’ documentary for BBC Two
broadcast 23rd April 2011
Nominated Best Factual, IFTA Awards 2012
At Eastertime in 1941, the Luftwaffe unleashed a devastating attack on a major industrial city, inflicting the largest single loss of life in any Blitz outside London, and crippling an exhausted Britain’s war effort as she stood alone against the Nazis.
Seventy years after the devastating bombing of Belfast, this film pays tribute to Northern Ireland’s significance at the heart of Churchill’s war machine, her neglect by the authorities and the courage of her people in adversity. Combining award-winning immersive storytelling with gripping first-hand testimony from survivors, expert interviews and original archive footage, to reveal the shocking scale of this forgotten outrage.
60’ documentary for RTÉ One
broadcast 18th January 2011
Imagine a music world before Elvis - the pre-rock’n’roll ‘50s - dominated by a young British singer whose distinctive voice secured five top-20 singles at the same time – a world record only recently beaten by the late Michael Jackson.
This incredible British performer was Ruby Murray, a sweet girl from loyalist Belfast whose stage-fright and nerves drove her to drink and a premature death, aged just 61.
Today, maverick Belfast performer Duke Special takes the audience on a personal journey of discovery, immersing us in Ruby’s world, uncovering the truth behind her life and career, celebrating not only the forgotten achievements of the ‘velvet-voiced songstress’ but also revealing the darker side of fame and the music industry. The definitive Ruby Murray documentary; a musical tribute to one of Ireland’s cultural heroes.
60’ documentary for BBC One Northern Ireland
Broadcast 21st February 2011
In 1849 a famine-ravaged Armagh community made a choice – between remaining in their homes, with their children, to die of starvation – or spending their last pennies to set sail for Canada in search of a new life.
Those who chose to make the journey across the Atlantic endured scarcely imaginable hardship on their path to freedom. But none so terrifying as the iceberg which met their ship, the Hannah, in the Gulf of St Lawrence. In just two hours, in the middle of the night, this famine ship sank to the bottom of the ocean. But the passengers on board made a leap for the ice – and survived.
A century and a half later, on an extraordinary and emotional journey, their modern descendants – a young family from Armagh - will retrace the steps of their ancestors and piece together this remarkable tale of starvation and shipwreck and emigration.
