Synopsis
The 20th century sees partition in Ireland. A sense of national unity emerges in the aftermath of the Second World War, but economic challenges in the 1970s create new divisions and questions about the union's future.
- Programme: Union with David Olusoga
- Episode: 4: Union and Disunion
- Channel: BBC Two
- Broadcast year: 2023
- History
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Union with David Olusoga
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga tells the story of attempts to form a united Britain in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period defined...
2: Creating Britishness | Union with David Olusoga
2: Creating Britishness | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga reveals how, in the 18th century, a new British identity was forged in the face of multiple threats from wit...
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
The 19th-century union appears secure, but beneath the surface run deep divisions, leading to the emergence of a new working-cl...
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga tells the story of attempts to form a united Britain in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period defined...
2: Creating Britishness | Union with David Olusoga
2: Creating Britishness | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga reveals how, in the 18th century, a new British identity was forged in the face of multiple threats from wit...
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
3: The Two Nations | Union with David Olusoga
The 19th-century union appears secure, but beneath the surface run deep divisions, leading to the emergence of a new working-cl...
More resources about The Troubles
1: Bomb and the Ballot Box | Endgame in Ireland
1: Bomb and the Ballot Box | Endgame in Ireland
Investigates 'Battle of the Bogside', which involved clashes between disaffected Catholics and the RUC in Londonderry in Augu...
3: Enemies | Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
3: Enemies | Thatcher: A Very British Revolution
Mrs Thatcher confronts her enemies, leading the country to war, taking the economic fight to her opponents in the trade unio...
S2E4: 1998 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S2E4: 1998 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This episode focuses on 1998: the year when the peace process comes to fruition with the Good Friday Agreement but the DUP are set aga...
S4E1: 1970 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S4E1: 1970 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
The "honeymoon period" the army enjoyed with the Catholic community begins to sour as sectarian tensions rise.
S5E5: 1983 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S5E5: 1983 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
The NI Assembly continues to sit but remains without any powers due to a nationalist boycott. The year sees the beginning of the contr...
1: It Wasn't Like a Movie Anymore | Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
1: It Wasn't Like a Movie Anymore | Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
A time of relative peace in Northern Ireland escalates to full-blown conflict. When tensions between...
1: Love Lies Bleeding | ScreenPlay
1: Love Lies Bleeding | ScreenPlay
A Republican prisoner in Belfast's Maze Prison is released for 24 hours to help track the killers of his one-time girlfriend.
S1E1: 1969 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S1E1: 1969 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
A bad moon arisin - from Civil Rights to the outbreak of the Troubles.
S1E2: 1974 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S1E2: 1974 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This town ain't big enough for both of us. From power sharing to power cuts.
S2E1: 1971 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S2E1: 1971 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This episode focuses on 1971. Events take a darker turn when the first British soldiers die in the Troubles, Brian Faulkner becomes pr...
S2E3: 1982 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S2E3: 1982 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This episode focuses on 1982: the year when Jim Prior's political initiative Rolling Devolution brings surprising electoral success fo...
S3E1: 1972 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S3E1: 1972 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focusses on 1972. A tumultuous year with the watershed events of Bloody Sunday and the imposition ...
S3E4: 1993 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S3E4: 1993 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This episode goes back to 1993, a year which sees John Hume and Gerry Adams involved in talks which could lead to an IRA ceasefire. Me...
S4E2: 1973 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S4E2: 1973 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This episode of Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1973. Northern Ireland is suffering unrelenting violence and the UDA becomes incr...
S4E3: 1976 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S4E3: 1976 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
This week Pop Goes Northern Ireland focuses on 1976. This is one of the worst years of violence during the Troubles, and the year star...
S5E8: 1991 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
S5E8: 1991 | Pop Goes Northern Ireland
The violence continues throughout the year. In February the IRA launch an attack on the cabinet when a mortar bomb explodes in the gar...
The Day Mountbatten Died
The Day Mountbatten Died
The story of the events of 27 August 1979, the day Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA.
Ulster Strike | Midweek
Ulster Strike | Midweek
Report by Tom Mangold from Northern Ireland on the strikes organised by the Ulster Workers Council against the Sunningdale Agreement.
2: Talking to Terrorists | Endgame in Ireland
2: Talking to Terrorists | Endgame in Ireland
In April 1981, Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner on hunger strike, won a seat at Westminster, inadvertently starting the endgame in ...
3: So Many Broken Hearts | Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
3: So Many Broken Hearts | Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland
The impact of the hunger strikes is seen through the eyes of three women. Tit-for-tat killings, car bombs and...
More from David Olusoga
Number 10 Guinea Street in Bristol | A House Through Time
Number 10 Guinea Street in Bristol | A House Through Time
David Olusoga begins his investigation into the history of number 10 Guinea street in Bristol.
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
1: The Making of Britain | Union with David Olusoga
David Olusoga tells the story of attempts to form a united Britain in the 17th and early 18th centuries, a period defined...
Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
Ring Vaccination and the Eradication of Smallpox | Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer
In the late 1960s, William Foege was running out of smallpox vaccine in Niger...
The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files
The Unwanted: The Secret Windrush Files
How black immigrants who made Britain their home came face to face with the government's 'hostile environment'. David Olusoga exposes...
6: First Contact | Civilisations
6: First Contact | Civilisations
David Olusoga shows how art was always on the frontline when distant cultures met.
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
Kitchener and British Empire Historiography | A Timewatch Guide
David Olusoga explains how perceptions of empire have shifted throughout different generations.
3: Moral Mission | Black and British: A Forgotten History
3: Moral Mission | Black and British: A Forgotten History
In part three of this groundbreaking series, historian David Olusoga explores the Victorian moral crusade against s...
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
The beginnings of the British slave trade | Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners
David Olusoga investigates the beginnings of the British slave trade in Barbados.
The Indian Corps and trench warfare | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
The Indian Corps and trench warfare | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga discusses the Indian corp experiences of industrialised trench warfare.