The 25th anniversary of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement has led to a rush of fine documentaries. It can be tough standing out from such a distinguished crowd, but Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (BBC2, Monday, 9pm) does just that.
Directed by James Bluemel, who also made the Bafta-winning Once Upon a Time in Iraq, the new five-part film shares the approach of its predecessor. You won’t find politicians and historians front and centre here. This is history told by the people who lived it.
The style is the same too. One chair, one interviewee, one central light, with footage from the time. There are occasional questions from behind the camera, but for the most part interviewees are left to talk about their experiences in their own time, which can take hours or days, however long they need.
It takes skilful editing to get the most out of this way of working, but it is worth it. With some interviewees you get the feeling that this is perhaps the first chance they’ve had to properly consider what they have been through.
In the first episode we hear from all sides, Catholics, Protestants, a former soldier, about the early years and how a fight for civil rights turned into “The Troubles”. Some of those in news footage of the time watch their younger selves, at first amused and then sombre.
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One soldier recalls the days of tea and biscuits for the British troops, with both sides almost competing to see who could be the most hospitable. As one tour followed another the situation worsened. His wife did not want him to go back. “She took it very hard when I got blown up,” says the ex-squaddie almost matter-of-factly before recounting the horrendous injuries he suffered from a nail bomb. Apart from that he was all right, he quips. There is a lot of humour here, much of it trying to soothe the trauma. There is dignity and defiance too. “I’m not a victim of The Troubles,” says one woman whose brother was murdered. “I survived the ******* Troubles.”
A must-see piece of filmmaking.
As we hear in Hidden Treasures of the National Trust (BBC2, Friday, 9pm) there were raised eyebrows when the conservation charity bought Paul McCartney’s childhood home in Liverpool. Compared to larger, grander properties with history in every brick, why did a postwar council house with mismatched wallpaper require saving for posterity?
Those supporting the move were in no doubt. As the place where one of the greatest musicians and songwriters of the twentieth century learned his craft, and the venue where he wrote songs with another lad by the name of John Lennon, 20 Forthlin Road had earned its place in local, British, and world history.
About that mismatched wallpaper: as Peter Grant, Forthlin Road tour guide and expert on all things Beatles tells the programme, Paul’s mother loved Sanderson wallpaper. But she could only afford end of roll pieces, hence the different papers.
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This also made the papers difficult to track down when it came to restoring the house. One particular design, of fake bricks, has proven impossible to find and has to be commissioned. But the photograph that shows the original paper is in black and white. Fortunately the photographer, Mike McCartney, is still around and can consult his brother Paul - the very same - on the colour. They settle on light brown. It’s just one example among many in this enjoyable series of the lengths the Trust goes to to get things right. .
Rain Dogs (BBC2, Friday, 10.40pm) reaches its finale this week. I shall miss it. As someone who doubted whether I would make it through the first episode, so Marmite is this bleak comedy drama, I’m delighted to have been proved wrong.
Cash Carraway’s story of an alcoholic, aspiring writer/sex worker trying to raise a child with her equally messed up friend goes to great lengths to seem hard-nosed but who are they kidding? Daisy May Cooper is outstanding as Costello, with Jack Farthing doing a fine job of channelling his inner Withnail. I can see this doing well at next year’s Baftas. It certainly deserves a second series. All eight episodes are on iPlayer if you want to catch up.
How is everyone coping now that the end of Succession (Monday, Sky Atlantic/Now, 2am and 9pm) is in sight? Fears that the Big Twist That Shall Not Speak Its Name would have robbed the series of its tension, proved unfounded. If anything, the show has been stronger since the Big Twist.
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This week we reach episode nine of ten. Judging by the trailer it’s another dear diary week on the Roy family front, with Roman to the fore again. As ever, there’s a reckoning due for what has gone before. No-one is ever happy in Succession, or not for long. That’s why we forgive them their vast riches and power. Imagine having all that and being chirpy with it. Unbearable.
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