They include The Catfish Killer, a documentary telling the story of how a young Newry man, Alexander McCartney, became one of the world’s most prolific online predators. Told from multiple perspectives, the series includes exclusive access to the international investigating teams, led by the PSNI, along with revealing interviews with some of those who were exploited and abused by McCartney, and whose brave actions brought about his dramatic downfall. The Brighton Bomb, another new documentary from the makers of Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland, will be released soon to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the IRA’s most significant attacks on mainland Britain.
It will feature testimony from people whose lives were deeply affected by the events, many of whom have never spoken before, as well as an in-depth interview with former IRA bomber Patrick Magee. Magee planted the bomb three weeks before the Conservative Party Conference, and it lay set to explode, hidden behind a bathtub in the Grand Hotel in Brighton before killing five people and injuring over 30, in October 1984. Moving on to local drama — Hope Street, set in the fictional town of Port Devine on the Northern Ireland coast, is back for series four and the police department is moving to new headquarters.
Derry Girls star Tara Lynne O’Neill is among the new names joining the cast of this series alongside Marcus Onilude from worldwide phenomenon show, Ted Lasso. In comedy, “culchie craic” show Funboys will have a four-part series following the successful launch as a comedy short film in 2023. The programme is about three emotionally-unassembled young men in small-town Northern Ireland looking for love, playing video games and navigating through the hardships of life.
Think The Young Offenders, meets This Country, meets Hugo Duncan. Chancers will see two of Northern Ireland’s most recognisable comedians, Shane Todd and Ciaran Bartlett, reunite. Bartlett makes another appearance, this time behind the scenes, as the writer of The B Team; a fast-paced contemporary comedy one-off set in the loving, chaotic, warm and neurotic world of a tight-knit Belfast family, the Buchanans.
There will also be Irish-language shows in connection to BBC Gaeilge, including six-part drama series Crá (meaning torment or anguish) and Iarsmaí (Remnants), a documentary exploring decolonisation through the issue of stolen skulls in Trinity College Dublin. House Of The Year is coming to BBC NI and will be presented by design expert and television personality Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, and Paula McIntyre’s Hamely Kitchen USA returns for a six-part series, where Paula will travel to the United States to look at the influence of the Scots-Irish on American cuisine, including a culinary session with none other than singing legend Dolly Parton’s sister. Eddie Doyle, BBC Northern Ireland’s head of Content Commissioning said: “Working with local creative talent both in the independent production sector and our in-house production teams, at the heart of everything we do is the desire to create programmes that are authentic and informative, not just for audiences here but across the UK.
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