Stories in Sound

As a daughter of two profoundly deaf parents, noise censorship did not exist in Cathy Moorehead's home. She was the go-between for silence and sound, and acted as her parent's radio to the world. In this story, she shares her upbringing and explores what life is like for deaf people in Ireland.

The journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have each been indelibly shaped by their experience of reporting on the Northern Ireland Troubles. Both witnessed the horror and pain of the conflict close up. Both would see the mixed fortunes brought by peace and reconciliation. Peter Taylor first arrived in Northern Ireland on the night of Bloody Sunday in 1972. A Yorkshire man with no family or per...

The journalists Peter Taylor and Fergal Keane have each been indelibly shaped by their experience of reporting on the Northern Ireland Troubles. Both witnessed the horror and pain of the conflict close up. Both would see the mixed fortunes brought by peace and reconciliation. Peter Taylor first arrived in Northern Ireland on the night of Bloody Sunday in 1972. A Yorkshire man with no family or per...

Enda McClafferty meets the sole survivor of the 1958 fishing trawler tragedy that killed his great uncle and four others.

Conor Garrett knows he's one of the lucky ones. None of his family or friends have contracted Coronavirus so far and he hasn't had to spend the time in quarantine alone. But working from home while trying to home-school two young sons hasn't been without its challenges. Conor's dad is also seriously ill and his niece Imogen - a recent medicine graduate - is facing one of the biggest dilemmas of he...

From having your wedding cancelled, to closing the doors of your business, and being hospitalized to making a recovery - people across Ireland share how their lives have been impacted due to COVID-19, from 16th March to the present day. Featuring Patricia McGinnis, Richard McBride, Maura Sloan, Angie Tandon, Ed Canning, Niamh Ni Chonchuir, Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh, Ryan Gaston, Lenny White, Jessica...

People from Ireland share their experiences of being at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. We hear from those living and working in Wuhan and other cities, as well as getting the perspective from the NI Chinese community, as people talk of face masks, fear and hi-tech surveillance - but also of hope. The programme traces the emergence of COVID-19 in January, through China’s near total lo...

NI & Irish people living across the world, tell us what life is like for them, since the invisible enemy of COVID-19 brought life as we know it to a halt. This is a snapshot of lives in lockdown across the globe from Mid-March to April 2020. Featuring Catherine Clancy, Paul Nelson, Morgan Fagg, Siobhan Ni Chiobhain, Jenny Goggin, Sinead McCambridge, Sean Burke and Alison Crozier.

Local people across NI share the life experiences that have made them who they are today. To dig deep – to find the strength they might not have realised they had - to keep calm and carry on. With presenter Tessa Fleming, in association with BBC Radio 4’s Listening Project. For details of organisations which offer advice and support with any of the issues that have been raised in this programme -...

Instagram personality That Belfast Girl explains the perks of sharing your personal life online & meets the local influencers who are going viral on social media. From battling cancer on Instagram, to raising awareness of diabetes in laugh-out-loud TikTok videos, and the growing movement of body positivity, we meet the women brave enough to bare all online. With influencers: Instagram - @all.t...

How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles began

How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles began

Brian from Derry in Northern Ireland finally found the courage to live openly as a transvestite in California, and found happiness with his wife Debbie from Kentucky.

From overcoming homelessness, to tackling suicide, having a crisis of faith to being 'queer on stage'. Local people share their life experiences, struggles and triumphs around topics often considered taboo, with presenter Mairead Campbell. Produced by Cathy Moorehead.

Comedian Ciaran Bartlett uncovers three strange but true tales of executions and escapes from Crumlin Road Gaol from 1854 to 1960. Dr Lynsey Black examines the first public execution at Crumlin Road Gaol, of soldier Robert O’Neill in 1854 which ‘entertained’ over 15,000 members of the public. Crime writer Steve Fielding shares the case of travelling circus member - Eddie Cullens in 1932 and the mu...

Conor Garrett finds out if family friend David can break the hoarding habit of a lifetime

Though they share a home, Marie Louise Muir often feels excluded from her autistic daughter’s world. Can the arts help her to enter and understand?

Raised in the Fermanagh village of Bellanaleck amid story-tellers, yarns and football, Brian D’Arcy never dreamed he would become a priest until a meeting with a Passionist at The Graan Monastery set him on the road to priesthood against his parent’s wishes. Now, as he celebrates 50 years as a priest, Father Brian reflects on a long career of faith, fame and controversy. As he revisits the village...

Part 2 of 2. In the leafy suburbs of South Belfast, journalist Ita Dungan discovered thousands of receipts in the attic of her Victorian terraced house. They reveal the middle class life enjoyed by Robert Smith, his wife Jeannie and their four children - Robert Cecil, Florence Eileen, Edward Ivan McCullagh and Donald Edgeworth. With the help of historian Dr Alice Johnson and newspaper reports, Ita...

Part 1 of 2. In the leafy suburbs of South Belfast, journalist Ita Dungan discovered thousands of receipts in the attic of her Victorian terraced house. They reveal the lavish middle class life of a man, woman, their family and servant from the 1860s all the way up until 1916. Receipts for velvet jackets and feather boas, their grand furniture and holidays away give clues to the life they once enj...

Before I Was An Orphan tells the true story of local journalist Alex Kane. Despite not speaking a word until he was adopted from an orphanage at six years old, he now ironically makes his living as a political pundit and commentator. Alex has no memory of life prior to moving in with his adoptive mum Adelaide and her husband Sam, but suffers night terrors to this day about opening a door back into...

Garrett Carr on the radical commune which broke the silence of rural Donegal in the 1970s

Joe Nawaz recalls growing up in Belfast with an Irish mother and a Pakistani father. His story sweeps from the partition of India in 1947 through to the Ulster Workers Strike of '74 and beyond. Teenage angst and struggles with identity caused Joe to shy away from his Muslim heritage and to rebel against his strict father. With humour and candour he remembers how he used to long to be Catholic and...

The moving, challenging and groundbreaking story of Ellen Murray, leading light in Northern Ireland's transgender community. Immersed in her daily life, this programme records Ellen in her public and private worlds as she campaigns for her community and reflects on her own extraordinary life.

It happens behind front doors in every village, town and city in Northern Ireland. Police respond to a domestic incident every 18 minutes and yet critics say the justice system doesn't take it seriously. It means pain, upheaval, and often lasting fear for the victims. In this revealing documentary, the BBC hears directly from women struggling to find safety and gets access to women's refuges to fi...