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 Sun…

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 Sun…

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

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 grad…

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, Órfhlait…

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 …

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…

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 is…

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 al…

How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles beganBBC Radio Ulster

How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles beganBBC Radio Ulster

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.BBC Radio Ulster

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.BBC Radio Ulster

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 travellin…

Conor Garrett finds out if family friend David can break the hoarding habit of a lifetimeBBC Radio Ulster

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?BBC Radio Ulster

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,…

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 his…

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 …

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 …

Garrett Carr on the radical commune which broke the silence of rural Donegal in the 1970sBBC Radio Ulster

Joe Nawaz recalls growing up in Belfast with an Irish mother and a Pakistani father. His story sweeps from the partition of India in 1947 through to the Ulster Workers Strike of '74 and beyond. Teenage angst and struggles with identity caused Joe to shy away from his Muslim heritage and to rebel against his strict father. With humour and candour he…

The moving, challenging and groundbreaking story of Ellen Murray, leading light in Northern Ireland's transgender community. Immersed in her daily life, this programme records Ellen in her public and private worlds as she campaigns for her community and reflects on her own extraordinary life.BBC Radio Ulster

It happens behind front doors in every village, town and city in Northern Ireland. Police respond to a domestic incident every 18 minutes and yet critics say the justice system doesn't take it seriously. It means pain, upheaval, and often lasting fear for the victims. In this revealing documentary, the BBC hears directly from women struggling to fi…

Many young people are living a lie on social media ; They’re posting flattering pictures, videos of nights out and location check ins - all in a bid to win approval from friends on facebook, Instagram and snapchat. But what is the impact of camouflaging reality behind this façade? Laura Trueman reports on the downside of living 24/7 online. Produce…

Londonderry is consistently at the bottom of the table on measurements like unemployment, incomes and investment. Why has the economic performance of Northern Ireland's second city been so bad? Is it the long legacy of partition and political discrimination? Or has there been failure of leadership in the city? What can be done to reverse the years …

Gerry Kelly completes his journey along the final stretch of the Camino de Santiago and beyond, to 'the end of the earth'. Exploring why so many people are drawn to walking the famous pilgrim network to the shrine of St James.BBC Radio Ulster

Gerry Kelly begins his journey along the final stretch of the Camino de Santiago. From its ancient connections to Dublin, to its popular starting point in Sarria, Spain, Gerry explores why so many people are drawn to walking the famous pilgrim network to the shrine of St James.BBC Radio Ulster

Biceps that peak like mountains. Calves that can withstand the weight of the globe. A chest that can press a lorry in on single rep. Think Samson. Think Hercules. Think Arnold. The quest for muscle is a timeless pursuit, and in the modern era of neighbourhood gyms and protein shakes, the obsession has consumed those who chase it. Presenter, Marty C…

Ballymena man Paul Clegg is at the heart of the world's music industry, keeping its life pumping through the veins of Europe via his company Crossland Tour Buses, based in Swatragh. In this feature, Frank Iero, Gogol Bordello and other luminaries from the touring circuit throughout the world, share their experiences of what life is like On the Buse…

June 24th 1987 was no ordinary day. Not if you were one of the thousands of U2 fans that streamed into Belfast's Kings Hall clutching tickets for a concert billed as one of the biggest and best the city would ever see. The release of the band's iconic album, The Joshua Tree, set Bono, Larry, Adam and the Edge on the path to super-stardom and, for o…

When President Bill Clinton namechecked the Belfast Giants during a speech at the Odyssey Arenain December 2000, it gave Northern Ireland's newest sport the kind of publicity other teams could only dream of. In a city still divided by politics and religion, the Giants sought to redefine the parameters of sport with their 'no anthem, no emblems' pol…

1981 was the year of the hunger strikes, widespread rioting and tense Anglo-Irish relations. Yet against this backdrop of deep division, 28 Catholic and Protestant students walked through the doors of Northern Ireland's first integrated school. 'All Children Together: The Story of Lagan College' reunites past pupils, parents and teachers to talk ab…

In Christmas 2015 Jimmy Devlin was shown a DVD of his uncle hand-making clay pipes and chimneys in 'Kelly's Yard', Coalisland. Unaware of what this job as a labourer entailed, it sparked a journey to find out more about his work and the craft and skills of others employed in the industries of crystal, clay and cloth in late 20th-century east Tyrone…

At 18 Catherine Quinn, left Ireland and emigrated to London where she married and brought up her family. However, she always had one eye fixed on home, and after nearly three decades working in London she invested in a farm and retired back home to Ireland. Now 75, she has taken active retirement to a new level, running the 'Tory Hill Herefords' a …

Marty Cullen has grown up within the Armagh sport of bullets since he could walk. It is a world full of burly men, headstrong champions and unhappy wives. The yarns and tales of this pastime inspires him to pen a song bearing the dirt, grit and spit of a sport that sparks iron and tar. Bullets is a traditional Irish sport played primarily in the co…

John Toal meets former death-row inmates Sunny Jacobs and Peter Pringle at the retreat they have set up in rural Ireland to offer restorative treatment to other victims of wrongful conviction in order to help them back to a normal life. Peter Pringle was sentenced to be hanged in Ireland in 1980. Sonia 'Sunny' Jacobs was sentenced to the electric c…

Marie-Louise Muir unpicks the mystery of keening for the dead in Ireland.BBC Radio Ulster

Leprechauns, sprites, imps and elves - Ian Sansom is searching for the diminutive other.BBC Radio Ulster

The story of two young Dublin boys who, in August 1985, took a Dart ride that went several thousand miles beyond their stop.BBC Radio Ulster

Jenny Witt investigates the idea of a 'planned retreat' inland, which some scientists now believe is the best option in the face of rising sea levels around Northern Ireland.BBC Radio Ulster

Julian Fowler investigates the plight of Northern Ireland's endangered creatures and the efforts to protect them in the face of opposition.BBC Radio Ulster

Marie-Louise Muir arises and goes with three Irish poets to the Lake Isle of Innisfree in County Sligo, a location made famous by WB Yeats' iconic poem.BBC Radio Ulster

This is the story of Irish whiskey. In this programme Lynette Fay goes in search of the history of liquid gold and learns the process of whiskey production at the Old Bushmills Distillery.BBC Radio Ulster

Jenny Witt tells the story of the sinking of the Lusitania 100 years ago, which marked a terrifying new phase of the First World War.BBC Radio Ulster

Fionola Meredith goes in search of writer-scholar Helen Waddell, once known as 'Ulster's Darling', who sold millions of books in the 1920s and '30s but who died forgotten in 1965.BBC Radio Ulster

Twenty years after it stole the show at the Eurovision Song Contest, Ryan Tubridy explores the Riverdance phenomenon, which still plays to full houses around the world.BBC Radio Ulster

Writer and broadcaster Ian Sansom explores Belfast's burgeoning poetry scene and asks why the city boasts so many poets.BBC Radio Ulster

Professor Geoffrey Beattie learns how Northern Irish 18-year-olds feel about their country's past and future. Is the Good Friday Generation doomed to carry the baggage of the past?BBC Radio Ulster

Anne Marie McAleese meets the Italian families whose ancestors left the village of Casalattico to build a new life in Northern Ireland.BBC Radio Ulster