A Special Relationship
3 x 30' - BBC2 NI (2017)
In this three-part series Scottish journalist Lesley Riddoch explores the relationship between Northern Ireland and Scotland, and how it is expressed through culture, language, work and faith.
Episode 1
In programme one she travels to the windswept citadel of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada in Argyll, meets the young Highland dancers of County Tyrone and discovers how Irish and Ulster Scots play an important part in our shared heritage.
Episode 2
In the second programme of the series journalist Lesley Riddoch discovers how communities in Scotland and Northern Ireland share strong ties through music, language, poetry and football. She meets members of Colmcille Pipe Band from Londonderry as they prepare for the UK pipe band championships, talks to Scottish broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove about the uncomfortable legacy of Celtic and Rangers' historic rivalry. And in Ballywalter, a poem from her childhood reminds her of the close links between Scotland and the Ards Peninsula.
Episode 3
In the last programme in the series, Lesley Riddoch explores the rich connections between Scotland and Northern Ireland as expressed through faith and evident in business, agriculture and the arts. At an auction in Lanark she discovers the enduring links between Scottish and Ulster farmers, meets a Northern Irish composer in Glasgow winning over Scottish audiences with a performance inspired by Belfast and from Dundee to the Outer Hebrides meets the Northern Irish for whom Scotland is home from home.
