BBC Documentaries

The Man Who Wanted to Fly (2020x215)

: 07, 2020

Eighty-something bachelor farmer Bobby Coote left school at 13 and says his reading and writing isn't great. Bobby fixes clocks and spends a lot of time in his back shed making violins from old furniture. But he’s never lost sight of a lifelong dream to fly. His neighbour Sean has also caught the bug. Setting aside their own field of dreams, they have cut out a runway and even built a hangar in a small rural border community. And now Bobby has used all his savings to buy a plane! Bobby says he’ll make this happen even if it’s the last thing he does. He’ll get no encouragement from his brother Ernie, another octogenarian in the Coote family home. Ernie thinks the whole thing is mad, but Bobby is determined to be airborne. Winner of Best Documentary at the Celtic Media Festival and the Audience Award at the IFI Documentary Film Festival.