479 The Troubles

First  viewed :  5  January  1981

A  slight  shift  in   tone  is  required  here  I  think. The  Troubles  was  a   six  part  series   on  the ongoing  tragedy  of  Northern  Ireland  pertinently  timed  as  it  was  about  to  ratchet  up  a notch with  the  election  and  death  of  Bobby  Sands.  It  proved  that  ITV  could  do  a  serious documentary  if  it  put  its  mind  to  it.

At  the  time  I  saw  this  I  was   pro-British  after  the  IRA's  mainland  bombing  campaign  in  the  seventies   despite  being  a  Catholic. I  never  once  heard  my  father , who  was  from  Kilkenny,  express  an  opinion  on  the  situation  in  the  North  so  there  was  no  pressure  on  me  to  take  a   side. I  remember  our  R.E.  teacher  Mr  Flynn  getting  a  bit  shirty  with  me  for  reminding  him  that  Sands  had  actually  committed  a  mortal  sin  by  his  suicide.

If  nothing  else , the  series  enabled  me  to  take  a  better-informed  more  nuanced  view  of  the  conflict.