0:00:08 > 0:00:12For more than half a century, the BBC has captured the changing face
0:00:12 > 0:00:15of everyday life in Londonderry and the North West.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23In good times and bad times, this vibrant region has given us
0:00:23 > 0:00:26some of our finest singers and writers.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32These are the archives, and those were the days!
0:00:33 > 0:00:40Archive is invaluable. It's the way we kind of know about our past.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42And they help us to move forward.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50I'm kicking myself all the time that I didn't keep a lot of mementoes.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52I think it's only as you get a little older that
0:00:52 > 0:00:55that sense of history kicks in and you realise how important it is
0:00:55 > 0:00:57to have that perspective.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02I think that what's most important about looking back
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and looking through the archive of the past,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I'm filled with hope about what we can make of the future.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10That's the real importance.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23# In the chilly hours and minutes
0:01:23 > 0:01:27# Of uncertainty, I want to be... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:34In 1965, living conditions in Derry City comprised of row upon row
0:01:34 > 0:01:36of cramped terraced houses,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40often with several generations of family under the same roof.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43The documentary A Change of View
0:01:43 > 0:01:48called in on the citizens as they said goodbye to an old way of life.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50# ..I can catch the wind... #
0:01:52 > 0:01:54I think it was brought to the attention of even people
0:01:54 > 0:01:57who lived here in a different part of the city,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01that there were people living in genuine poverty and want
0:02:01 > 0:02:06and the most appalling, almost slum-like conditions.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10And quite honestly, I don't think that that was particularly unusual.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12# ..To love you now
0:02:12 > 0:02:15# Would be the sweetest thing... #
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Overcrowded. You'd have two or three generations in the one house.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22If someone got married, you came back from the church
0:02:22 > 0:02:24and set up home in your parents' home,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and you were given a room, and then you had babies.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31And it would not be uncommon. Then when those babies grow up,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35your mammy and daddy are still living with the granny.
0:02:35 > 0:02:36You would have a baby,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39there'd be three generations in one house. It was not good.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44I'd have been here since the ninth generation.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47School at ten years old.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52And I went into work at 12 years old.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58And I earned half a crown a week.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04There was a shot of an older woman in a black shawl,
0:03:04 > 0:03:09and talking just about her family life around her.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11But it was as though the limits
0:03:11 > 0:03:15of her life were the limits of that housing area that she lived in,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18that she hadn't gone any further than that
0:03:18 > 0:03:22and therefore had this deep, deep-seated connection
0:03:22 > 0:03:26to that small area around her, but also to Derry as a place.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29But one wonders how much of Derry she even knew.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Did you see the conditions that she lived in?
0:03:35 > 0:03:38There was a cold water tap in the yard.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42The toilet was at the bottom of the yard.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47The streets were cobbled, the houses were shabby,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52and there was no quality of life for her.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57They're going to build council estates up in Creggan.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Well, the excitement and the hope in Derry!
0:04:01 > 0:04:04They had bathrooms! Indoor!
0:04:04 > 0:04:07SHE LAUGHS
0:04:07 > 0:04:09We had toilets indoor!
0:04:10 > 0:04:16That was 1969. The height of luxury. Bathroom in the Bogside.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21# In this sturdy old part of the city... #
0:04:21 > 0:04:23The actual filming, it may have been an accident,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27but it seemed to me as though in the old houses,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29it was being filmed in a very dark kind of way.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31And then when they went to the new housing,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34it was as though they'd shot it all on a sunny day.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Because these were bright places and they were open.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Now, some people did express...
0:04:39 > 0:04:42younger families expressed happiness at being in this new place.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47Now, the most important thing in us making this change, that I see,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49was before, in the old house,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52you were ashamed to bring people, to ask them in,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56because the conditions was wretched. But now you couldn't care less.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00You could bring in whoever you wished.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The dichotomy between the young and the old -
0:05:02 > 0:05:04the young wanted out, to go somewhere else,
0:05:04 > 0:05:05the old didn't want to leave.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09I don't care for it at all, to tell you the truth.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11I'm old now, you know,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14and these young people are all dying about it.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18But I'm not dying about it, to tell you the truth.
0:05:25 > 0:05:31That generation who were eventually rehoused in the shiny, new,
0:05:31 > 0:05:36all mod-con accommodation of the new development
0:05:36 > 0:05:39were sometimes not all that keen on it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43They had lost the camaraderie and the neighbourliness of the street.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46When we get on in years, we don't like to be shifted.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49And now, as we are shifted,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53I feel a great change in the houses.
0:05:53 > 0:05:59You come right out of the door and nobody speaks to you.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Only you're looking over at this man's house
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and somebody else may be looking into some woman's room.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Derry is comparatively small as a city, but really,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15it's only a collection of parishes stuck together, each of which
0:06:15 > 0:06:17has its own distinct identity.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20That identity is being erased gradually
0:06:20 > 0:06:22because we've all got terribly cosmopolitan.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25But to the generations before us,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28to us still, and I wonder...
0:06:28 > 0:06:30will it be for our children,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34will it remain, "Wee Derry, sure, it'll do us"?
0:06:41 > 0:06:42As the '60s gave way to a new decade,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46it was the declining job prospects of the '70s
0:06:46 > 0:06:50that would come to define a new generation.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55In hard-hitting BBC documentary series In Question,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59reporter Don Anderson discovered the dilemma
0:06:59 > 0:07:03faced between working for low wages or opting for life on the dole.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07If you want unemployment, come to Derry, it has been said so often.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09While there are other parts of the Province
0:07:09 > 0:07:13that suffer from chronic unemployment, nowhere can you find
0:07:13 > 0:07:18so easily the many faces of this social evil as in Londonderry.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22Derry was characterised by mass unemployment.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25One of the most common greetings in those days was,
0:07:25 > 0:07:26"How are you? Are you working?"
0:07:26 > 0:07:31It may have been the most common topic of conversation.
0:07:33 > 0:07:34Unemployment is very much
0:07:34 > 0:07:37part of the story of Derry.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39We grew up with that, we grew up knowing that
0:07:39 > 0:07:42that was the case, it always was the story about this place.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44- What age are you?- 27.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- How long have you been unemployed? - Ten years.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51- How much are you taking from the broo here?- £12.09 a week.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54I'm far better on the broo because I've £12.02 clear in my hand.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'Nowadays, it's hard to get people to talk about their wages,'
0:07:57 > 0:08:00there was nothing like that going on in that film.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03People were happy to tell you, this is what I might earn
0:08:03 > 0:08:06if I get a job, this is what I get if I'm on the dole,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09and what would you do if it was you?
0:08:09 > 0:08:12- You had a job, hadn't you? - I had, yes.- Where?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Sion Mills, about 16 miles from here.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19I started on Monday and they expected me to work up there
0:08:19 > 0:08:20for about £12 a week, which was...
0:08:20 > 0:08:24I'd take home about £9.10, or £9.08,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and I had to pay my bus fare after six weeks
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and that came to about £4 a week in bus fares.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33They expected me to work on that,
0:08:33 > 0:08:38and pay your grub money up there in the factory. And what have you?
0:08:38 > 0:08:39You've nothing at all.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Wages in Derry were historically and traditionally very low.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47If you could get more on the dole for your family
0:08:47 > 0:08:50than you could get while working,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54would it be your moral duty to stay on the dole,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57even when work was offered to you?
0:08:57 > 0:09:00I remember a young priest trying to offer that
0:09:00 > 0:09:02this would be immoral behaviour
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and saying, what about a fair day's work,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and the Beatitudes? Or whatever it is!
0:09:07 > 0:09:12Local people were standing around saying, we might believe you
0:09:12 > 0:09:14when it comes to eternal life, Father,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17but when it comes to this life, you're wrong about that one!
0:09:19 > 0:09:25There was one part of it where a new company came to Derry
0:09:25 > 0:09:27to make hi-fi systems.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31It was attracted to Derry from Birmingham under what were then
0:09:31 > 0:09:34the grant system, a tax break. They came to Derry -
0:09:34 > 0:09:38jobs for everybody in Derry, female and male!
0:09:38 > 0:09:41It opened to make record players.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43Everybody in Derry had a record player,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45because we got them discounted.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47It was great!
0:09:47 > 0:09:53# When you're weary
0:09:53 > 0:09:58# Feeling small... #
0:09:58 > 0:10:01There comes a day in Derry when the factory closes.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05We walk up to the work, the factory closes. It was...
0:10:05 > 0:10:09The grants had just run out. The tax breaks had just run out
0:10:09 > 0:10:12on the exact day that factory was closed.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16# ..I'm on your side... #
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Mammy would say, "Do you hear that?" I'd say, "What, Mammy?" She says,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"You can't hear it?" I says, "I can hear nothing!"
0:10:22 > 0:10:25She said, "That's it. Will you not miss the sound of the feet slapping
0:10:25 > 0:10:27"on the way to their work?"
0:10:27 > 0:10:29She loved that in the morning.
0:10:29 > 0:10:35# ..Like a bridge over troubled waters... #
0:10:35 > 0:10:39I think it is remarkable when you look back at that period,
0:10:39 > 0:10:43how many people, despite the fact that there was little difference,
0:10:43 > 0:10:48if any, between what they would earn in full-time employment
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and what they would receive on the dole, a remarkable number of people
0:10:52 > 0:10:57continued to go out and not only accept work, but to search for work.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01That, in itself, was a triumph over circumstances.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06# Loving you isn't the right thing to do... #
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Alongside the city's ongoing unemployment issues
0:11:11 > 0:11:14was the heightened reality of the Troubles.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19And in 1978, BBC cameras spent a week in Derry, on patrol
0:11:19 > 0:11:22with soldiers and meeting locals to give viewers
0:11:22 > 0:11:26an unprecedented snapshot of these changing times.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29The historic programme that delivered this priceless archive
0:11:29 > 0:11:31was City On The Border.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34# ..You can go your own way
0:11:34 > 0:11:36# Go your own way... #
0:11:36 > 0:11:39It was fascinating for me to see that film in 1978
0:11:39 > 0:11:42because at that stage, I wasn't a film-maker. I do remember it,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45but when I look back at it now, it's incredible to me
0:11:45 > 0:11:48the access that the company had to the Army.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The Army clearly felt they were in a safe pair of hands.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56# ..Everything turned around... #
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Really long pieces of footage with interviews with them,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01with them on the street.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Actually sitting side by side with them, as they went round Derry.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Delta, Juliet, India, 710.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15And even when they were looking at the searches going into the city,
0:12:15 > 0:12:20seeing that searching again actually brought me up short.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22# ..You can go your own way... #
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Because you forgot.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28You really forget what it was like when you went shopping.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Every town, you had to be searched going into it.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Every shop, you had to be searched going into it.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38# ..You can go your own way... #
0:12:38 > 0:12:42There's a scene later on where the cameraman asks
0:12:42 > 0:12:47an ordinary squaddie on the street, does he like being a soldier,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49does he like serving over in Northern Ireland?
0:12:49 > 0:12:51And he laughs and laughs and laughs and laughs.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53Do you enjoy this sort of soldiering?
0:12:53 > 0:12:55HE LAUGHS
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Are you serious?!
0:12:59 > 0:13:00HE LAUGHS
0:13:00 > 0:13:05No. Anybody who likes this, you know, must be barmy.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10You know... I don't like it one bit.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12# ..You can go your own way... #
0:13:12 > 0:13:14They do that thing that
0:13:14 > 0:13:16I think is terribly important for every human being,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19they think themselves into the other person's point of view.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Would we like armed soldiers walking about our towns?
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Manchester, Liverpool? We wouldn't like it.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27It's the same feeling by these people.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30But when's it going to change?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34You had this one crucial individual,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38Eamonn Mulloch, who was focused on, and he's talking about
0:13:38 > 0:13:41having set himself up as a kind of unpaid social worker.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43You could see him going round trying to help people.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47And his take on the Troubles was highly intelligent.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52Those involved in violence are involved against the express wishes
0:13:52 > 0:13:56of the overwhelming majority of the people in this estate
0:13:56 > 0:13:57and other estates.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00If I am prepared to condemn the mindless violence
0:14:00 > 0:14:03of the paramilitaries, I'm obliged to condemn
0:14:03 > 0:14:05the social violence of the state,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07by creating a situation where
0:14:07 > 0:14:1145 percent of the insured male population is out of work.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15What I think was most challenging about the film was that
0:14:15 > 0:14:21it did not see the Troubles as a political or religious problem.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23It saw the politics and the religion
0:14:23 > 0:14:25as a product of an economic problem,
0:14:25 > 0:14:27and that was highly radical for the time.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Och, aye!
0:14:29 > 0:14:34'There was a wonderful scene in the bingo where, at the end of it,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36'an old woman'
0:14:36 > 0:14:40sang about working in Derry and about work in Derry.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46# And it goes by the name Londonderry
0:14:46 > 0:14:50# It is famous for shirt-makers
0:14:50 > 0:14:52# All of you know
0:14:52 > 0:14:58# Just as well as for brandy and sherry... #
0:14:58 > 0:15:02'It underlined that feeling I had about the economic situation,
0:15:02 > 0:15:04'that this was about'
0:15:04 > 0:15:06how she felt her life had played itself out,
0:15:06 > 0:15:12and yet within that, huge pride about being a working-class woman in Derry.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15# ..I am bound to recall... #
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It has a strong connection to the unemployment piece
0:15:18 > 0:15:20and to the housing piece that we've been talking about as well.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22But it's the City On The Border one
0:15:22 > 0:15:25who really expresses that in a very strong way,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27that this is an economic issue and if we don't solve
0:15:27 > 0:15:29these economic problems,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32then we're not going to solve the political and religious problems.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35City On The Border highlighted these troubled times
0:15:35 > 0:15:38through the words of many contributors.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42But no-one so movingly illustrated this divided city
0:15:42 > 0:15:45than the renowned artist Bobby Jackson.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48# Nothing but a heartache... #
0:15:48 > 0:15:51The very venerable and remarkable Bobby Jackson
0:15:51 > 0:15:54is featured in the film. He featured in a lot of films
0:15:54 > 0:15:56because he was such an amazing man.
0:15:56 > 0:15:57He was a great painter,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00he was the vesper of the Protestant cathedral here.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04But he says this wonderful thing about the redevelopment of the city.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06If you stand in the middle of this road here, which is
0:16:06 > 0:16:09just not a stone's throw from here, and you look to the left,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12you see all these lovely houses. Protestant houses.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14And if you take a turn and you look to the right,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17you see all these lovely houses. Catholic houses.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22- And then he makes this kind of very plangent plea.- Where is unity?
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Where's "love thy neighbour"? When we're all divided.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31And where that division is, there's never going to be peace.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34# ..It ain't right, with love to share... #
0:16:34 > 0:16:36When you look now at the scene that we see in the film,
0:16:36 > 0:16:41the corrugated fence that shuts off the Fountain has now been
0:16:41 > 0:16:42turned into a brick wall.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Although we have peace, that wall's still there.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46And I think that is a mission for us,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49that we should try and see if people can actually think about
0:16:49 > 0:16:51trying to change that set of circumstances.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54THEY LAUGH
0:16:54 > 0:16:57There was lots of good humour during the Troubles, you know.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00I think it's that thing hat you hear about
0:17:00 > 0:17:01Accident and Emergency wards,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04where doctors and nurses have a lot of black humour.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06It was like that here.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10But that's exactly the sort of film
0:17:10 > 0:17:11that would have made us say,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14"We can tell this story, but in a different way.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17"We have the right to tell it." That would have been
0:17:17 > 0:17:19certainly an influence on the fact that
0:17:19 > 0:17:21I became a film-maker, for sure, you know.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23And other people as well as me, you know.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27# Stand in the place where you live
0:17:27 > 0:17:30# Think about direction, wonder why you... #
0:17:30 > 0:17:31Action!
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Inspired by the launch of the Foyle Film Festival in 1987,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39fledgling movie crews filmed all round the city.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41But beyond the big screen,
0:17:41 > 0:17:42things were far from "happy ever after"
0:17:42 > 0:17:45for the young people of Derry.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48So BBC youth programme Article 10 sent reporter Michael Douglas
0:17:48 > 0:17:51to uncover the reality behind
0:17:51 > 0:17:54the media stereotype of Eighties Derry.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59The images are common ones.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00Either Derry/Londonderry
0:18:00 > 0:18:02as a bomb and bullet-ridden city,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04or an almost mythical centre
0:18:04 > 0:18:06of humour, nostalgia, and warmth.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09As if its residents have got some sort of copyright on it.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Even inside Northern Ireland,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13the media tends to support these cliches,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16delivered in bite-sized chunks for easy consumption.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19But as locals will tell you, these things are never that clear-cut.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24# ..Your head is there to move you around... #
0:18:24 > 0:18:271989 was a very interesting year, actually,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29in that it more or less marked the end of
0:18:29 > 0:18:32the height of the Troubles, as far as Derry was concerned.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35# ..Stand in the place where you live... #
0:18:35 > 0:18:38The tide of the country receded.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40So what came to the fore again,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44or what came to the surface again, were exactly the problems
0:18:44 > 0:18:48which had existed in the Forties and the Fifties and the Sixties.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55Lack of economic opportunity, a sense of...
0:18:55 > 0:18:56if not of despair,
0:18:56 > 0:19:02at least sort of a deep anxiety about what the future held
0:19:02 > 0:19:03for young people in Derry.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08It's always been a romantic image about living in Derry.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12But there's also a very sad face to Derry.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15The hundreds of young people every year that leave
0:19:15 > 0:19:17to go to England, to go to London to look for work,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I mean, that isn't very romantic.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26The fact that young people were talking about the problems
0:19:26 > 0:19:31of poverty and the problems of work, strangely,
0:19:31 > 0:19:36the fact that they were doing that indicated a certain hope, almost,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38that we could move on to that agenda.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Isn't it funny how generation after generation
0:19:43 > 0:19:45will tell this story of exodus?
0:19:45 > 0:19:51Of young people finding themselves in a great place, in a place that
0:19:51 > 0:19:55most of them will love and connect with, but that they have to leave.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59I miss the craic and I've a lot of friends here.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And London's a good experience, but if I had the chance of a job
0:20:02 > 0:20:05back home, I'd take it tomorrow, you know?
0:20:05 > 0:20:08# ..Stand... #
0:20:08 > 0:20:10Derry's a changing place, it's a brilliant place.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13This City of Culture, this cultural place, this new Galway.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18If it is to be any of those things, it has to keep its young people.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21And I bet you a lot of these guys who are maybe looking back 20,
0:20:21 > 0:20:2330 years at this footage are going, "That was me then."
0:20:23 > 0:20:27I'd be interested to know where they are now. What they're saying now.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And indeed, if they still think the way they thought then.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36And in 1994, one young man who had departed Stroke City a dreamer
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and returned a D:Reamer made a particularly memorable appearance
0:20:39 > 0:20:43on fellow Derry-man Gerry Anderson's prime-time TV series -
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Anderson on the Box.
0:20:46 > 0:20:47Peter Cunnah and his band
0:20:47 > 0:20:50bounded on stage to perform their
0:20:50 > 0:20:52- seminal number-one hit. - APPLAUSE
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Things Can Only Get Better, so welcome home Peter Cunnah
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and welcome to D:Ream!
0:20:57 > 0:21:03# Things can only get better
0:21:03 > 0:21:04# They can only get
0:21:04 > 0:21:06# They can only get... #
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Peter Cunnah, I think he was number one in the charts at that time, which
0:21:09 > 0:21:11was a big thrill because of the fact that he was from Derry/Londonderry.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13# ..Better!
0:21:15 > 0:21:18# I... #
0:21:18 > 0:21:20That particular night,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24he was great because he seemed to be a very outgoing personality.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27He was quite lively and, as it turned out, and I'm sure he'll admit
0:21:27 > 0:21:29this himself, he was a little more lively than was good for him.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36You can tell in some of the footage, I'm just so happy.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38I'm bouncing around like Tigger,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40that I'm getting to do this, you know!
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Loved it, obviously.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46# ..Walk my path, wear my shoes
0:21:46 > 0:21:50# Talk like that, I'll be an angel
0:21:50 > 0:21:56# And things can only get better... #
0:21:56 > 0:21:58He was plucked from basically
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Derry in the Eighties, I suppose, late Eighties,
0:22:01 > 0:22:04right to the top of the charts.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Right, that's like taking someone from a cave, you know,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10who'd been brought up and lived in a cave,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12and put them in the middle of the Strip in Las Vegas.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15That's what that's like. Because it's very difficult
0:22:15 > 0:22:17to come from that kind of, well,
0:22:17 > 0:22:22Troubles-orientated life and to become a star like that, you know?
0:22:22 > 0:22:24I thought he was great.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27# ..Life in a different light
0:22:27 > 0:22:30# I found my cause, yeah... #
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It was great to come home, but, erm, it felt really, really good.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37It was funny, because we came back and we'd police cavalcades
0:22:37 > 0:22:41and, like, limos, and it was just really odd...
0:22:41 > 0:22:44Because all I know is that the drummer I talked to you about,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Tim Heggarty, he managed to hijack my limo
0:22:47 > 0:22:52and go up to his mum's up in Victoria Park, and get his mum in
0:22:52 > 0:22:53for a ride around Derry in my limo
0:22:53 > 0:22:56while we were actually on doing a TV show!
0:22:56 > 0:22:58I only found this out later, the cheek!
0:22:58 > 0:22:59But that's the Derry ones for you!
0:22:59 > 0:23:05# ..Things can only get better... #
0:23:05 > 0:23:08I had to walk up Clarendon Street every morning
0:23:08 > 0:23:11to get the bus to school.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Peter would be walking down
0:23:13 > 0:23:16because the bus he got to St Colm's College was...
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I think must have gone somewhere from the Strand Road
0:23:19 > 0:23:22end of town.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24And I'm ashamed to say, you know,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26he was a couple of years older than me,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29so, you know, he was the cool boy.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31He was the cool boy, he came out of his house,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34his hair was all kind of... his fringe...
0:23:34 > 0:23:40And it's so funny, when he became D:Ream, you were just like,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44"Yeah. Of course. Of course there are girls standing outside screaming.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48"Of course they are!" Sure, I was there! I was 13, going...
0:23:48 > 0:23:53Oh! And now... I met him around the time of Things Can Only Get Better
0:23:53 > 0:23:56and even then, I was like... I was 13 again! I was...
0:23:56 > 0:23:58(SQUEAKY VOICE): "Hello, Peter!"
0:23:58 > 0:24:01The tartan suit wasn't my idea, of course.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I just loved to go the other way.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06I just thought, psychedelic skinheads, we had all this money,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10we could buy nice suits and stuff hitherto denied to you.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15You kind of, you do sit down at the table and, you know, you go for it!
0:24:15 > 0:24:18I have no tartan clothing, honest.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Not under these garments hiding, not even in my wardrobe!
0:24:22 > 0:24:24You can rest assured!
0:24:26 > 0:24:27CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Finding a means of expression was always a lifeline
0:24:35 > 0:24:39for the people of Derry. So it seemed only fitting when, finally,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42the city received the accolade it deserved.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46In 2010, the announcement came that it had been named
0:24:46 > 0:24:49UK City of Culture for 2013.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55And BBC Newsline was there to capture the joyous event.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58CHEERING
0:25:01 > 0:25:04As news spread, it seemed everyone in the city
0:25:04 > 0:25:07was celebrating this unique achievement.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12It's absolutely fantastic. Brilliant.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Great news. Great news altogether.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Coming through the Guildhall this morning was just...
0:25:16 > 0:25:18the atmosphere was brilliant.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21There's this cliche about Derry that it's a cultural city,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23that it's the City of Culture.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25But in actual fact, it's true.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32I think there are a number of reasons why it is the case.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35And it has to be said, you have the kind of discrimination
0:25:35 > 0:25:37and poverty which we've seen in the films we've been looking at,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40like housing problems and unemployment and so on,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42and when you put that mix all together,
0:25:42 > 0:25:47the only way in which a people can express that is through their voice.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55Be it in music, be it in literature, be it in poetry, be it in drama.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57That is the only way in which they can express
0:25:57 > 0:26:01that feeling of being a special people, in a special place.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03CHEERING
0:26:03 > 0:26:05It's not unusual for social deprivation
0:26:05 > 0:26:07to produce great popular art.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10When there's nothing to do in an area, what you can do
0:26:10 > 0:26:15is build a little hut, get together, and sing in it.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Or play instruments. And people had the time.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21We had lots of time in the Bogside! There was lots of spare time!
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Music is everywhere in Derry. I mean, it's in the air.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25It's a very passionate thing.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28There is that wonderful legacy, of course, which goes back to
0:26:28 > 0:26:31bands like The Undertones, and you can still see that in bands today.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39You're going to get people that are going to be basically
0:26:39 > 0:26:40included within music.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42The community's going to get so much stronger and then
0:26:42 > 0:26:45you'll have a lot of tourism coming in as well, because of it.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Because they want to be drawn into that scene.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49We are the City of Culture and we are on our way up.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52And we've great hope. We have great hope for our children
0:26:52 > 0:26:54and our grandchildren here in Northern Ireland.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Local people who don't have to leave Derry,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00in the sense of going to find work elsewhere, which maybe
0:27:00 > 0:27:04would have been back in the day, in the olden days, you know.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07And people love coming here, you know.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11So the Arts, it always has had such a special place in Derry.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15But, you know, more so, it's growing enormously in the last few years.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18It IS a big deal! It makes everybody proud.
0:27:18 > 0:27:19# We're from Derry!
0:27:19 > 0:27:21ALL: # We're from Derry!
0:27:21 > 0:27:23# The City of Culture! #
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Culturally, the things that we have loved
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and done for years are still here.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Children today have more scope than we would have had,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and everybody is loving it.
0:27:34 > 0:27:41City of Culture, which is this international, magnificent event.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43CHEERING
0:27:43 > 0:27:46It's a magnificent growth to see that
0:27:46 > 0:27:49what we now refer to as that bright, brand-new day.
0:27:49 > 0:27:55If you wanted a marker, you know, that we're now in a new era,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58this is the new chapter, we'll draw a line under all of that stuff.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01This is the perfect marker.
0:28:01 > 0:28:02# Once upon a time
0:28:02 > 0:28:04# There was a tavern... #
0:28:04 > 0:28:06From those early black-and-white images,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09through decades of success, resilience
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and community spirit, the story of the North West's music,
0:28:13 > 0:28:17culture and traditions show us how we used to live.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21And thanks to a rich archive and the magic of film,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24we can bring those bygone days back to life.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28# Those were the days, my friend
0:28:28 > 0:28:31# We thought they'd never end
0:28:31 > 0:28:33# We'd sing and dance
0:28:33 > 0:28:36# For ever and a day
0:28:36 > 0:28:39# We'd live the life we choose
0:28:39 > 0:28:42# We'd fight and never lose
0:28:42 > 0:28:44# Those were the days
0:28:44 > 0:28:47# Oh, yes, those were the days... #
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd