Frankie McCafferty

In 1970’s Northern Ireland, a young boy, bereft of his mother, defies his father to get the Glam Rock album he so desperately wants. It’s Belfast - early 70’s… BOOM! Something’s in the air and it’s not a bomb, it’s a revolution. Glam Rock is drowning out the noise of armoured cars. As British soldiers patrol the streets, kids are glued to Top Of The Pops, entranced by Marc Bolan, the androgynous, satin-clad, glitter-god. In a high-rise flat lives a recently bereaved father and his ten-year-old son PJ, who is desperate to get his hands on the new T. Rex album Electric Warrior. The problem is he’s skint and his Da is on the dole. PJ comes up with a cunning plan to get the dough, involving a sock, a prosthetic leg and a pawnbroker. Ruthless is a humorous, heartwarming story of how a prosthetic leg and a T. Rex album become the conduit for overcoming grief.

Celebrating Lee Miller, a model turned photographer turned war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal or pigeonhole her in any way.

7.5/10

This follow up to the Rebellion miniseries unfolds at the height of what became known as Ireland's War of Independence, and follows the lives of those caught up in the vicissitudes of history.

7.4/10

A middle-aged Irish farmer, who still lives at home with his mother, sets off on a mission of revenge when the old lady is murdered.

6.5/10
9.2%

Set in a post-Troubles Northern Ireland, The Truth Commissioner follows the fictional story of Henry Stanfield, played by Roger Allam, a career diplomat who has just been appointed as Truth Commissioner to Northern Ireland. Eager to make good as a peacemaker, the Prime Minister urges a commission following the South African model of Truth and Reconciliation. But, though Stanfield starts bravely, he quickly uncovers some bloody and inconvenient truths about those now running the country; truths which none of those in power are prepared to have revealed.

5.6/10

Drama series set in 1943 following the Coyne family and their neighbours as they struggle to maintain a normal life after a US Army Air Force base is set up in the middle of their rural parish.

7.4/10

For twenty-seven years Hart has sought sanctuary in the anonymity of the same suite, the Girona, in the same hotel, on the same night of the year – the 26th October. Into his life walks Sophie, a beguiling young woman with the hint of a dark past, could she be the ghost of his long dead wife?

Set in Belfast against the backdrop of the 1986 World Cup, Shooting for Socrates tells the story of a momentous time in Northern Ireland's football history through the eyes of players, fans and the media. The film also follows the lives of passionate football supporter Arthur and his son Tommy from East Belfast. The lead up to a momentous day in the life of a young boy (his 10th birthday) mirrors the build up to the big day for the Northern Ireland football team as they play the greatest match of their lives.

5.9/10
2.9%

A woman searches for her adult son, who was taken away from her decades ago when she was forced to live in a convent.

7.6/10
9%

Frankie is a car park attendant at the spectacular Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim. His friend Cathy and her husband Paul are in trouble. Nevertheless as Frankie always says, "Something will turn up!"

In a misguided attempt to protect his family and pay back gambling debts to the local Mobster, Jimbo robs a fish market, which is coincidentally owned by the same Mobster. On the run, Jimbo is cornered in a local curio shop, where he takes hostage an assortment of colourful characters, including a man who may be his illegitimate father. Surrounded by the Police, the SAS and the Mobster's crew, the young man must find a way out of his precarious predicament with the help of his oddball captives.

5.5/10

Make it new John tells the story of the DeLorean car, its creator John DeLorean and the workers of the Belfast-based car plant who built it. The film deftly contrasts the DeLorean dream with its spectacular downfall during a critical period in Northern Ireland's history, and the canonisation of the car - the DMC12 - as a symbol of the American myth of mobility. As with the earlier works such as Bernadette (2008) and Falls Burns Malone Fiddles (2003), in Make it New John, Campbell fuses a documentary aesthetic with fictive moments, using existing archive news and documentary footage from the 1980s as well as new 16mm footage which imagines conversations between DeLorean factory workers. Campbell questions the documentary genre and reflects here on broader existential themes and narrative drives.

It's 1989, and in a Belfast torn apart by conflict and terrorism, petty criminal Marty McGartland is recruited by the British police to infiltrate the IRA. Guided by Special Forces officer 'Fergus', McGartland gains unparalleled insight into the organisation's dealings, providing his British handler with priceless, life-saving information. Based on a true story.

6.9/10
8.3%

Documentary tracing the life of James Ellis, one of Northern Ireland’s best loved actors.

A former alcoholic returns home after ten years in prison for the murder of her husband. As her recollection of the murder returns, things take a different turn.

6.5/10
9.5%

Spike Milligan's book about the divided Irish village of Puckoon comes to the big screen.

5.8/10

Two Dubs, Sean and Ger, get wind of the proverbial pot of gold and what should be a straight-forward job becomes a fiasco. But, there's an old Irish saying - "Filleann an feall ar an bhfeallaire - What goes around comes around".

7.7/10

Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.

7.3/10
5.2%

Sweety Barrett is a giant of a man with the mind of a child. An easy target in a corrupt world, Sweety becomes embroiled in a smuggling operation unleashing a spiral of dangerous and unexpected events.

6.3/10

Dowd, an IRA prisoner in the H-blocks, is gloomily facing his sentence, until he joins a comrade in a risky escape. Dowd begins a new life in New York, but he might as well be in prison again - until he strikes up a friendship with co-worker Tulio and gets to know his close group of Guatemalan exiles.

5.8/10

A former Irish Republican Army fighter, Gingy McAnally (Anthony Brophy), is reluctant about being called back into service after serving time in prison. He executes the grisly task but ends up captured by a sympathetic British police lieutenant named Ferris (Cary Elwes). The intimidating Chief Inspector of the Belfast Police (Timothy Dalton) convinces Gingy that his best hope is to become an informant and turn in other IRA operatives. As Gingy's marriage unravels under the stress, he is forced to come to terms with the fact that in this war both sides lose. Three men, three political circles, each fighting for their lives, each with their own agenda in the battle for Northern Ireland.

6.4/10

Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2001.

7.4/10

A wealthy young Italian man is sent to Ireland to learn English, only to fall in love with the daughter of the host family he is staying with.

10-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie - a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate..

7.5/10
9.5%

A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. He and his four friends are coerced by British police into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends fifteen years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence.

8.1/10
9.4%

A young man leaves Ireland with his landlord's daughter after some trouble with her father, and they dream of owning land at the big giveaway in Oklahoma ca. 1893. When they get to the new land, they find jobs and begin saving money. The man becomes a local barehands boxer, and rides in glory until he is beaten, then his employers steal all the couple's money and they must fight off starvation in the winter, and try to keep their dream of owning land alive. Meanwhile, the woman's parents find out where she has gone and have come to America to find her and take her back.

6.6/10
4.7%

The murders of two MI6 agents in Northern Ireland add up to an explosive political situation.

8.7/10

A Protestant Irish family is caught up in a conflict between Irish Republicans and the British army.

5.6/10

Teddy Knox, a failed inventor, finds the key to a Stone Age riddle.

7.3/10

In 1960s Belfast, a boy comes of age while devising a plan to steal cigarettes.