From Slugger O'Toole Behind the scenes of Spotlight on The Troubles: Willie Frazer, Alan Oliver, Patrick Ryan, and ongoing questions about ‘The Secret War’ film (Thu 9pm on BBC One NI). By Alan Meban.
The Spotlight on The Troubles: A Secret History series wraps up next week with the final extended programme at 8.30pm on Tuesday night on BBC One NI and BBC Four, promising to look at what drew a halt to the Troubles, how the UK government policy goal changed from defeating the IRA to bringing the republicans into negotiations, the internal struggle for control within the IRA, as well as the scale of secrecy that still surrounds the conflict. The entire series will be available for a year as a boxset on iPlayer along with other Troubles-related programmes (such as On the Frontline).
This morning the production team screened a companion behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the series to journalism and media students. This hour-long fly-on-the-wall programme will be broadcast on BBC One NI Thursday evening at 9pm.
It captures some aspects of the two year production process, highlighting the painstaking evidence gathering, creating detailed chronologies of events, the slow work to build trust to get key players to speak on camera, the disappointments of people pulling out of interviews, compartmentalising different investigative threads to prevent victims’ families getting their hopes up about new information, and the lengths the team have to go to ensure those facing allegations are given the opportunity to have a right of reply.
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