On the Frontline

The burning double-decker bus may have become the defining image of the Troubles, but little is known about the workers who risked life and limb to keep the buses running during the darkest of days. This is the story of the bus drivers, led by the extraordinary German Werner Heubeck, who struggled to maintain a sense of normality in the face of constant threats and hijacks.

They were, overwhelmingly, women - very young women. They cared for Catholics and Protestants, police and army, gunmen and bombers, perpetrators and victims. Innocent civilians. The eye-opening, untold story of Ulster's nurses across more than three decades of the Troubles.

Squaddies on the Frontline tells the story of the British Army's experience of the Northern Ireland conflict through the eyes of the ordinary men and women that soldiered here. For almost 40 years between 1969 and 2007, a total of over a quarter-of-a-million soldiers served on the streets of Northern Ireland in 'Operation Banner', the British Army's longest ever operation. These men and women were at the heart of the key events of the conflict, with over 700 soldiers killed and more than 6,000 injured, and a further 305 deaths attributed to them. Squaddies on the Frontline is their story, taking viewers into the heart of 'Operation Banner' and the day-to-day realities of life and work here as a soldier through some of the toughest years of the Troubles, looking at the impact that it had, and continues to have, on their lives and the lives of those around them, both here in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Narrated by Eamonn Holmes, Ads on the Frontline looks at a controversial series of adverts produced by the Northern Ireland Office during the last 10 years of the Troubles. The aim was to encourage people to pass on information to a confidential phoneline to help end the violence. To some, the ads were British government propaganda, to others a cultural snapshot of Northern Ireland's brutal past. Ads on the Frontline hears from people on different sides of the debate.

Using first-hand testimony and extensive archive, this documentary reveals what it was like to be an RUC officer during the Troubles. In the 1980s, Northern Ireland was described as the most dangerous place in the world to be a cop. At its peak, the RUC employed 8,500 full-time officers with 4,500 reservists. A total of 319 officers were killed, with 9,000 injured during the conflict – some died at work while others were killed while off duty. As well as dealing with everyday crime the RUC was at the forefront of the state’s efforts to tackle terrorism. While investigating burglaries and sex crimes, they dealt with the aftermath of bombings and paramilitary shootings. Officers were predominantly Protestant but some came from Catholic backgrounds – many rose to senior level. Despite witnessing some horrific scenes, at the end of each shift they returned to their homes and tried to live normally. Cops on the Frontline tells their memories and stories. It reveals the day to day realities of what it was like to hold the rule of law in one of the most vicious conflicts of the 20th century. This documentary is a candid and no-holds-barred chronicle of what it was like to be an RUC officer dealing with ordinary crime and terrorist incidents. This documentary is unashamedly from the police perspective – it is their uncensored testimonies. It’s an invaluable addition to the Troubles Archive and to BBC NI’s '….on the Frontline' strand.

Until Northern Ireland spiralled into mayhem after the explosive summer of 1969, Northern Ireland’s firefighters did the same job as any other fire service - days of relative inactivity interspersed with house fires, road crashes and the occasional factory fire. In the space of a few months the service went from this typical fire-fighting life to the most extreme experience in Western Europe since World War Two. During the subsequent conflict they responded to many thousands of incidents. Fires caused by incendiaries gutted shops and factories, while bomb attacks on pubs, hotels and police stations brought death and misery on a horrendous scale. It was an intensity of experience rarely encountered outside of a full-scale war zone.

During the Troubles nowhere was immune from the violence and fear inflicted on our society. Not the streets, not the factories, not the hospitals. Not even our schools. Through powerful and revealing interviews with teachers and former pupils, this documentary tells the story of how our schools dealt with the traumatic experience of the Troubles as they impacted on the lives of those that lived through it. The programme features tragic and poignant stories from across the many years of the Troubles. At the same time, however, Schools on the Frontline conveys the determination and resilience of teachers – men and women dedicated to improving the lives of their pupils despite the challenging and unique circumstances that lay before them.