“It shone a light on a very dark period where communities were ripped apart and it all seemed very normal. An essential watch”

As a child of the 1970s and 80s, one was familiar with the news coming from across the Irish Sea. RUC officers killed in car bombings, catholics murdered in ambushes, protestants gunned down in pubs. The seemingly endless churn of brutality and violence was incomprehensible. And then the bombs came to London. I, like many others, just could not understand what was happening or why it was happening. Thank God the Good Friday Agreement finally brought some kind of lasting peace.

This mesmerising docuseries from Keo Films and Walk on Air Films did more than inform. It was simply breath-taking. The honesty of the interviews – with ordinary people who lived through or actively participated in The Troubles – was extraordinary and at times incredibly moving. Even now in 2023, some contributors were wary and clearly concerned about the potential consequences of putting their faces and words on camera.

Such was the power of the testimony, whatever your viewpoint and whether or not you agreed with a contributor’s beliefs or actions, you came away with a greater understanding of how they got to that position in the first place. Viewers are very much left to decide for themselves whether any conclusions needed to be drawn from each episode.

Ultimately, it shone a light on a very dark period where communities were ripped apart and it all seemed very normal. An essential watch.

Talking of the 1980s, I have to give an honourable mention to the second series of ABC’s The Newsreader with its sharp script and retro sets. With Logan Roy no longer with us (RIP), the cowardly, bigoted, ratings-obsessed newsroom head Lindsay Cunningham is now my favourite character on TV.

  • Paul Weatherley is the online content manager of Broadcast

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Broadcast’s shows of the year