''Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland'' is a 2023 British documentary television miniseries covering the Northern Irish conflict,

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. Directed by

James Bluemel James Bluemel is a television documentary filmmaker. Career The first programme he directed was the three-part documentary ''The Romanians are Coming'', screened on Channel 4 between 17 February and 3 March 2015. Bluemel visited Baia Mare, a town ...

as a follow-up to his 2020 series ''

Once Upon a Time in Iraq ''Once Upon a Time in Iraq'' is a 2020 British documentary television miniseries, directed by James Bluemel and narrated by British-Iraqi Andy Serkis. Composed of five episodes, it features interviews with Iraqi citizens, as well as American m ...

'', it consists of five episodes that features interviews with members of Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries, members of the British Army who served in Northern Ireland, along with others caught up in the conflict.

Overview

The series chronologically covers the Troubles from its early beginnings emerging from the 1960s

civil rights movement in Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland civil rights movement dates to the early 1960s, when a number of initiatives emerged in Northern Ireland which challenged the inequality and discrimination against ethnic Irish Catholics that was perpetrated by the Ulster Pro ...

into the following three decades of armed conflict in the region between those fighting for a

united Ireland United Ireland, also referred to as Irish reunification, is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically; the sovereign Republic of Ireland has jurisdiction over the maj ...

and those fighting to remain part of the United Kingdom through to the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

and beyond. The first episode was broadcast in the United Kingdom on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

on 22 May 2023.

Reception

''Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland'' received acclaim. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote of how "by marking how the Troubles affected individuals, ''Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland'' finds profound wider truths". ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' gave it five stars out of five, praising it as "a superb piece of work, not merely a litany of horrors but an opportunity for those involved to look back". The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' also gave the series five stars, saying it was “of vital importance to those involved, and necessary viewing for those who were not”.

Rachel Cooke Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer. Early life Cooke was born in Sheffield, and is the daughter of a university lecturer. She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11, before returning to Sheffield, and atten ...

in ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'' wrote: “James Bluemel’s documentary series may be the best television ever made about Northern Ireland’s Troubles.” The series was also awarded five stars by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' and ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 27837209 2023 documentary films 2023 films Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland) 2023 British television series debuts 2023 British television series endings BBC television documentaries British English-language television shows