0:00:13 > 0:00:17Hello and welcome to Out of the Blue with Graham Little. And Joanne
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Salley. We're live from Belfast. With us tonight: They're not a
0:00:20 > 0:00:24throw-back to the 1930s, they are The 1930s. The band, that is.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27You'll hear how 2011 they sound later.
0:00:27 > 0:00:34He's put Superman and The Simpsons in the frame, comic book artist
0:00:34 > 0:00:38John McCrea is already underway on a 60 minute masterpiece.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41And the real McCrea could be yours! We'll tell you how later.
0:00:41 > 0:00:50And, he held us spell-bound as snooker legend Alex Higgins. Now he
0:00:50 > 0:00:56has us hooked as a Norn Iron bad boy on Thursday nights.
0:00:56 > 0:01:06An coming with you. You don't have to do that. I want to make sure I
0:01:06 > 0:01:08
0:01:08 > 0:01:14get my car back. Besides, you got me out of a few scrapes in the past.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Please welcome Richard Dormer. Richard, Hidden was set in London,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19but actually filmed mostly in Northern Ireland. With Game of
0:01:19 > 0:01:28Thrones being made here, too, are film-makers waking up to the
0:01:28 > 0:01:32potential of a Troubles-free Northern Ireland? I think so.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37Demesne King is that it is a lot cheaper to film in Belfast and
0:01:37 > 0:01:42London because it is so much easier to close down streets and stuff, so
0:01:42 > 0:01:48I think the BBC realised, also be love their crews and the people
0:01:48 > 0:01:50here. I think there is a real future here. You can't beat
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Northern Ireland! More from Richard later, about Hidden, about
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Hurricane and about a living Belfast legend he's about to put on
0:01:57 > 0:02:00the big screen. Richard hails from Armagh which, until 54 years ago,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03had its own railway station. In fact some of Northern Ireland's
0:02:03 > 0:02:07long-lost stations were fondly regarded as stops on some of the
0:02:07 > 0:02:10world's great railway journeys. Those journeys were shamelessly
0:02:10 > 0:02:15romanticised in travel posters aimed at getting families on board
0:02:15 > 0:02:19and en route. Although most of the lines have gone, the line drawings
0:02:19 > 0:02:29can still make you gasp. The price of them certainly will. Carrie
0:02:29 > 0:02:39
0:02:39 > 0:02:45Neely's been getting all steamed up There is something about steam in a
0:02:45 > 0:02:55railway station. Until 50 years ago the romance of steam travel stared
0:02:55 > 0:02:56
0:02:57 > 0:03:03out from the walls of they railway stations. These posters are in a
0:03:03 > 0:03:08different league to the stuff we see today. These are works of art
0:03:08 > 0:03:12and Northern Ireland has seen some of the best of them. These giant
0:03:12 > 0:03:18postcards From Another Era are currently hot property, collector's
0:03:18 > 0:03:25items sometimes were thousands of pounds. 100 years ago Britain was
0:03:25 > 0:03:28convulsed by massive social changes. Women campaign for the vote, a new
0:03:28 > 0:03:37welfare and pensions provisions became Lough and the gramophone
0:03:37 > 0:03:42gave the world as soundtrack to the first dance crazes. We didn't just
0:03:42 > 0:03:46get around the dancefloor, we started to get around the country
0:03:46 > 0:03:50as cheaper trips and holidays kier families a break from the terraces
0:03:50 > 0:03:57and factories of city life. Growing prosperity led to an increased
0:03:57 > 0:04:00demand in trouble. People wanted to escape the 9-5. There for 1923
0:04:00 > 0:04:05there were hundreds of little real way country's opera written all
0:04:05 > 0:04:09over Britain. In 1923 the Government decided that this was
0:04:09 > 0:04:15ridiculous and a group them into four major railway companies, all
0:04:15 > 0:04:20private. It was the London - - London, Midland and Scotland
0:04:20 > 0:04:26company that had the route across the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dun
0:04:26 > 0:04:36Leary. Ireland had the golf courses, the fishing, or open spaces they
0:04:36 > 0:04:36
0:04:36 > 0:04:40you just did not get in Britain. Who were the main artists? In 1924
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Norman Wilkinson, he was the advertising manager for the London,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Midland and Scotland railway had this brilliant idea and decided to
0:04:49 > 0:04:54ask members of the Royal Academy to design railway posters. This was
0:04:54 > 0:04:59really frowned upon to start with because people thought high art and
0:04:59 > 0:05:06commercial art would not mix, but it was an incredible success and
0:05:06 > 0:05:10all the railway stations became art exhibitions. Paul Hendry became as
0:05:10 > 0:05:20prick - - prolific as well consent, standing up with this stunning
0:05:20 > 0:05:22
0:05:22 > 0:05:28posters. One recently fetched more than a quarter of a million euro.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32These posters are still wanted. Richard Price Stephen started
0:05:33 > 0:05:38collecting them as a hobby and now with online global scales, a market
0:05:38 > 0:05:41stall under some website it is a serious business. My father was in
0:05:41 > 0:05:49the Royal Air Force are we were always on the move and we always
0:05:49 > 0:05:54seem to be waiting for trains. I remember them in this stations. It
0:05:54 > 0:05:58was 25 years ago when I bought my first one, but then I progressed
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and I have been buying ever since. Is there a big difference in price
0:06:03 > 0:06:10between the posters and the originals? Yes. We would sell the
0:06:10 > 0:06:15poster for about �18.50 and the original would cost, on a good day,
0:06:15 > 0:06:20maybe �2,000. When the steam train ran out of puff in the early 60s,
0:06:20 > 0:06:27the posters that glorified their world suddenly dated, too. With the
0:06:27 > 0:06:30advent of cheap foreign holidays, advertising moved away and began
0:06:30 > 0:06:35romanticising the Continent. You could imagine people staring at
0:06:35 > 0:06:40these posters, waiting for a train that would miss them of the places
0:06:40 > 0:06:44may be just up the coast, but that looked a whole world away. Now,
0:06:44 > 0:06:54with families having to cut back, maybe a comeback is on the cards
0:06:54 > 0:06:56
0:06:56 > 0:07:05for the travel poster. I wonder what a Richard Dormer
0:07:05 > 0:07:09poster would fetch 50 years down the line? About �1.50, probably!
0:07:09 > 0:07:16Hidden reaches its climax this week on BBC One. The last I saw you, you
0:07:16 > 0:07:20were holding on to your insides after being shot. It was a very
0:07:20 > 0:07:25violent end to the third episode. I can tell you too much about what
0:07:25 > 0:07:29happened, but I think the end of episode for, I think it will keep
0:07:29 > 0:07:34you guessing. It is a real cliffhanger. Everything about it is
0:07:34 > 0:07:44exciting. Your character Frank Hanna's a bit of a lad, with a nose
0:07:44 > 0:07:44
0:07:44 > 0:07:48for trouble. Is it more fun playing a bad boy? I think every actor
0:07:48 > 0:07:55enjoys playing the bad person because you get to do what you
0:07:55 > 0:07:58would not to normal life. You get to be a bit wild and dangerous.
0:07:58 > 0:08:08good to see another Northern Irish character on screen in something
0:08:08 > 0:08:08
0:08:08 > 0:08:13other than The Troubles. It is really good. When I went into the
0:08:14 > 0:08:18dish and further part, it was originally meant to be a Londoner,
0:08:18 > 0:08:23but I saw the name and thoughts, Hamas, it is an Ulster name and I
0:08:23 > 0:08:27just said a really want to do this in a Northern Irish accent. I read
0:08:27 > 0:08:37it and they agreed. Hurricane, the play you wrote and starred in as
0:08:37 > 0:08:43
0:08:43 > 0:08:48that other bad boy, Alex Higgins, was some journey for you. I got
0:08:48 > 0:08:52really under the skin of that part and it took a lot - - and it took a
0:08:52 > 0:08:56lot out of me. The last time I did it in the opera house I was praying
0:08:56 > 0:09:05that I would not fall over halfway through. A genius at the snooker
0:09:05 > 0:09:14table, but a bit of a mess away from it. I was in the audience
0:09:14 > 0:09:21wants when he was there. What did he make of your portrayal? He just
0:09:21 > 0:09:26loved it. He just kind of got it, you know? He saw the essence of
0:09:26 > 0:09:31what it was. There is a lot of dark stuff in there, but the same
0:09:31 > 0:09:34grammar is highs and lows and every dramatic life has to have their
0:09:34 > 0:09:38highs and lows. He completely endorsed it. Alex himself
0:09:38 > 0:09:46repeatedly refused to sign over the rights for the film, even though it
0:09:46 > 0:09:52could have made him a lot of money. The only advice TGF for me was less
0:09:52 > 0:09:56wider, more grace. Richard's characters are often the kind that
0:09:56 > 0:09:59would start an argument in an empty room. Much more reasonably, Out Of
0:09:59 > 0:10:03The Blue's decided to start one in a crowded street. We've tried to
0:10:03 > 0:10:13home in on what it is that divides us about some things we walk past
0:10:13 > 0:10:25
0:10:25 > 0:10:33I am an architect and artist and I love Transport House. Designed and
0:10:33 > 0:10:40built just after the war. Belfast was a strong confident city with a
0:10:40 > 0:10:44lot of industry. A heart of the industry was the trade union
0:10:44 > 0:10:50movement. It was egalitarian and they chose the style of
0:10:50 > 0:10:57architecture that was open, not about the past but about the future.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02The architecture is strong, not brash but subtle. It has drama. It
0:11:02 > 0:11:09has the innovative use of tiles and a mosaic that shows the industry of
0:11:09 > 0:11:14Belfast. It also shows the workers, who were equal of appointing time.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Just as Belfast is reinventing itself now, Transport House as an
0:11:17 > 0:11:27important building. If you love Belfast you have got to love
0:11:27 > 0:11:34
0:11:34 > 0:11:41Transport House. I am picture of an organisation called so they...
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Transport House is a modernist building. It marks a departure from
0:11:45 > 0:11:49traditional architecture. Was that a good thing? Heaven thinks so. It
0:11:49 > 0:11:55is to rectangular boxes and also has tubes coming up the side which
0:11:55 > 0:12:00might very well be pipes or even columns. It gave rise to these new
0:12:00 > 0:12:05types of buildings, such as river house in High Street, which has a
0:12:05 > 0:12:11very ugly building. That in turn gave rise to even more monstrous
0:12:11 > 0:12:18buildings such as the City Hospital, which is an eyesore. I asked you to
0:12:18 > 0:12:26vote modernism and bowled for a return to real architecture, which
0:12:26 > 0:12:31has the discipline of design. So, which other two of us are
0:12:31 > 0:12:37right? The vote with your feet. do think that it is really dirty
0:12:38 > 0:12:42and it could be knocked down for more apartments. It is one of many
0:12:42 > 0:12:49examples of the historical architecture that is in the city.
0:12:49 > 0:12:56It just shows how things have developed, different creative ideas,
0:12:56 > 0:13:02and it is a good thing. To me that wonders just ugly. I like the mural,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06but it needs updating. Tell us if you feel strongly about
0:13:06 > 0:13:16a building, statue or public piece of art in your neck of the woods.
0:13:16 > 0:13:16
0:13:16 > 0:13:21Love it or hate it, we want to hear Newspaper columnists are forever
0:13:21 > 0:13:24shaking their heads and saying, you couldn't make it up. But now the
0:13:24 > 0:13:27entire cast of a musical at the Belfast Festival have built a whole
0:13:27 > 0:13:37show around doing just that. Ahead of its premiere here. Niamh Perry
0:13:37 > 0:13:45
0:13:45 > 0:13:49had a rather personal reason for They say you shouldn't dwell on the
0:13:49 > 0:13:53past but I have a feeling I will feel as good about this as I do the
0:13:54 > 0:13:58last time. I first saw this three years ago and I just had landed my
0:13:58 > 0:14:02first professional job and on a whim, I thought it would live up to
0:14:02 > 0:14:06the named. It did and there was an added bonus for me, I met my
0:14:06 > 0:14:16boyfriend that night. It brings it all back and it is brilliant and
0:14:16 > 0:14:19
0:14:19 > 0:14:22very funny. Can you give me an amazing setting? London sewers.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27Show-stopper is entirely improvised, a different show every night. The
0:14:27 > 0:14:35title, storyline, a musical style, the works, and it's the audience
0:14:35 > 0:14:39that decides so none of us knows what hits are about to hit us.
0:14:39 > 0:14:44a bit like the first night of a show, you kind of know what to do
0:14:44 > 0:14:49and where it's going but there's always that extra adrenalin push so
0:14:50 > 0:14:58we get that every single blind. We never get the relaxation, we are
0:14:58 > 0:15:08always doing an opening night so it is exhausting. There's someone we
0:15:08 > 0:15:11
0:15:12 > 0:15:21would like you to meet. Mr Churchill! Our attitude is, even
0:15:22 > 0:15:22
0:15:22 > 0:15:26with the late night shows, it is a family show or a show for everybody.
0:15:26 > 0:15:36I thought it was hilarious, how they interacted with the audience
0:15:36 > 0:15:36
0:15:36 > 0:15:41was really good. It was really good, really unexpected and exciting.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46found it was absolutely brilliant, the best thing I've seen for ages.
0:15:47 > 0:15:56I can't imagine them in Arran now having a stiff drink after the
0:15:57 > 0:15:57
0:15:57 > 0:16:01intensity of it all! That was absolutely amazing. I
0:16:01 > 0:16:09cannot guarantee that you would need your future boyfriend but I
0:16:09 > 0:16:16can guarantee you have a wonderful time. This is a fabulous show.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21It is at the Waterfront studio from tomorrow until Thursday night.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27Richard, you started on the stage and all these big jobs coming in,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31does it help to start in the theatre? Yes, definitely. I think
0:16:31 > 0:16:35the theatre gives you the discipline that is required when
0:16:35 > 0:16:43you're on a set and you will have to concentrate. Also because it is
0:16:43 > 0:16:49so physical, it get you fit, trains a mind. Acting as well as learning
0:16:50 > 0:16:58lines, it gives you the confidence as well. TV and film are probably a
0:16:58 > 0:17:04lot easier after you have been in the theatre. Cocaine is like
0:17:05 > 0:17:11Everest. I would imagine you had to be pretty fit to play the role in
0:17:12 > 0:17:19the year or next film, Terry Hooley, a legendary film. How well did you
0:17:19 > 0:17:24get to know him? Very well. I first met him two years ago, we did a
0:17:24 > 0:17:28pilot to get the money to put the film together. For the last two
0:17:28 > 0:17:32years, I have gone to know him very well, he's a lovely guy. I am very
0:17:32 > 0:17:38fond of him. The film is still in their at it, not out until next
0:17:38 > 0:17:44year but Out of the Blue have actually got some footage.
0:17:44 > 0:17:54We're talking about 2000 people, be realistic. Like when you brought us
0:17:54 > 0:18:04
0:18:04 > 0:18:10Good vibrations isn't a record shop, it is not a label, it's a way of
0:18:10 > 0:18:14life! It is a brilliant story and I'm so glad you will be premiered
0:18:14 > 0:18:22to the screen. Will you still be friends with Terry after he sees
0:18:23 > 0:18:27how you betray him in the film? hope so. He has seen some of the
0:18:27 > 0:18:33clips and he had tears in his eyes, he is very proud of it. You and
0:18:33 > 0:18:37your wife were good lot of young actors, is their raw talent here in
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Northern Ireland? Yes, Good vibrations, there were so many
0:18:41 > 0:18:46young actors in that and I think Northern Ireland has a really good
0:18:46 > 0:18:52future if those guys are anything to go by. There are some incredible
0:18:52 > 0:18:57young actors on the way up and with the new Lyric, we have a good
0:18:57 > 0:19:01future. Another writer showcasing work at the Belfast Festival is
0:19:01 > 0:19:04hoping it will go down better than the ship at the heart of it. A Dan
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Gordon's The Boat Factory is inspired by his upbringing in the
0:19:08 > 0:19:14shadow of the shipyards. Dan has also pushed the boat out when it
0:19:14 > 0:19:18comes to the venue. Samson and LIF, two giants
0:19:18 > 0:19:24straddling the Belfast skyline. With a heavy metal message that
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Holland and Wolff shipyards still matters. But it is not what it was,
0:19:27 > 0:19:33the great hubbub of thousands of workers shouting, thousands of
0:19:33 > 0:19:43hammers, ships the size of streets, has long faded. The rest is just a
0:19:43 > 0:19:43
0:19:43 > 0:19:47memory. But for actor and playwright Dan Gordon, the real
0:19:47 > 0:19:51giants of the shipyard were the men themselves, some from his own
0:19:51 > 0:19:57family. They are the inspiration for The Boat Factory. Set in the
0:19:57 > 0:20:01heart of the Docks and Harbour Commissioners office. He wasn't
0:20:01 > 0:20:11much to look at and from the way he was standing, he knew there was
0:20:11 > 0:20:17something wrong with his legs. you deaf, are you simple? My father
0:20:17 > 0:20:21used to come home from the shipyard dirty and tired. He would fall
0:20:21 > 0:20:26asleep on the city, but would be my abiding memory of him when he was
0:20:26 > 0:20:32in the yard, it was a very hard, dirty job.
0:20:32 > 0:20:40Everything here was a matter of scale and proportions. Big man, we
0:20:40 > 0:20:44man. One word picture in your place. It has been a great reaction
0:20:44 > 0:20:48because so many people come up to you and say, I had a grandparent or
0:20:48 > 0:20:54a father or somebody who worked in the yard. People bring me
0:20:54 > 0:21:04memorabilia. It turns it into the Antiques Roadshow sometimes! All
0:21:04 > 0:21:04
0:21:04 > 0:21:10sorts of bits and pieces. The joiner's shop was fast, it was
0:21:10 > 0:21:20like looking up high street. 1000 men and boys all worked here under
0:21:20 > 0:21:22
0:21:22 > 0:21:29the roof. Every bench, to joiners and one apprentice. He answers to
0:21:30 > 0:21:36the foreman who answers to the head foreman who answers to the manager.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40I love the poetry of it and it was great acting. It brought me back to
0:21:40 > 0:21:43when I was a boy at the shipyard and all the things he spoke about,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48they actually did happen. Migrate grander worked in the shipyards
0:21:48 > 0:21:54what was good to see what his life would have been like. It was funny,
0:21:54 > 0:21:56moving, it was about Belfast - a terrific. Amazing being in the
0:21:56 > 0:22:01harbours commissioner's office, it was like being here in the middle
0:22:01 > 0:22:06of what was being talked about. That was a great night. Fantastic
0:22:06 > 0:22:11piece of writing, fantastic rhythm. I learnt things that I had never
0:22:11 > 0:22:21heard of before. Great performances by Dan Gordon, I heartily recommend
0:22:21 > 0:22:22
0:22:22 > 0:22:25That looks fantastic and I can't wait to go along and see it this
0:22:25 > 0:22:28weekend. The Boat Factory runs at the Belfast Harbour Commissioners
0:22:28 > 0:22:33of this until the Saturday. Every week and the show we have an artist
0:22:33 > 0:22:39creating a work of art in only 60 minutes, this week it is comic
0:22:39 > 0:22:48artist John McCrea. This is unbelievable, it is a meeting in
0:22:48 > 0:22:55you 60 seconds. 60 minutes! You work on a coloured ground, what is
0:22:55 > 0:23:05the advantage of that? Most artists are petrified by a blank canvas so
0:23:05 > 0:23:06
0:23:06 > 0:23:11the red or blue background gives me a starting point. You are at name
0:23:11 > 0:23:17dropping all the superheroes, you are working for an American comic
0:23:17 > 0:23:21publishers but he started with a Belfast story. I ran the comic shop
0:23:21 > 0:23:24in Belfast and a friend of mine who used to come into the shop but an
0:23:24 > 0:23:30idea with myself to a British publisher about the Troubles in
0:23:30 > 0:23:40Northern Ireland. It was very successful and it was the making of
0:23:40 > 0:23:40
0:23:40 > 0:23:46both our careers. It was at the back of the Good vibrations? Yes,
0:23:46 > 0:23:55my friend and I used to buy all the records from their and we got to
0:23:55 > 0:24:00know him quite well. Terry gave us his backroom so no rent, he was a
0:24:00 > 0:24:06generous soul. We traded out of their for a while. Now all you have
0:24:06 > 0:24:11to do is sign this fantastic piece of work. If you would like
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Spiderman hanging from your walk, you are in with a chance. All the
0:24:14 > 0:24:24works created by artists on Out of the Blue will be auctioned off with
0:24:24 > 0:24:26
0:24:26 > 0:24:31the proceeds going to BBC children In Need. Time for music night. The
0:24:31 > 0:24:351930s will be performing for us in the studio in a minute. Thanks for
0:24:35 > 0:24:41joining us. You guys are just young lads, only out of school, what
0:24:41 > 0:24:47would you have in common but the 1930s, ordered that confirmation
0:24:47 > 0:24:51come from? That music has a lot of similarities with us, I was
0:24:51 > 0:24:57watching films from the 1930s and I thought it had a nice ring to it,
0:24:57 > 0:25:03it all came together. You just at a school, you've been together 18
0:25:03 > 0:25:08months but you have dates in London, how has it moved so quickly? It has
0:25:08 > 0:25:12been a combination of putting out as many songs as possible, rare in
0:25:12 > 0:25:18a really strong songs and we have been working with a lot of good
0:25:18 > 0:25:21guys. Was a risky putting a record out so quickly? Yes, there was the
0:25:21 > 0:25:25first four songs we had written so it was a risky move but I still
0:25:25 > 0:25:30think people like the songs because they thought they were simple,
0:25:30 > 0:25:36catchy songs so it worked out all right. Before you have made it big
0:25:36 > 0:25:40in the UK, you have your sights set across the pond? Yes, we have had a
0:25:40 > 0:25:44few industry professionals in LA and London so things are looking up
0:25:44 > 0:25:52at the moment. A TV networks, that's where you are pitching at,
0:25:52 > 0:26:02is that the way to do it now? think so, that's where the cash is
0:26:02 > 0:26:03
0:26:03 > 0:26:10which is what you need to get started. Here tradition is folk, to
0:26:10 > 0:26:14people talk about Mumford and sons when they talk about you? We tend
0:26:14 > 0:26:18to avoid comparisons but we are big fans. We're looking forward to hear
0:26:18 > 0:26:25a play. We were led to get ready now and you can entertain us in a
0:26:25 > 0:26:30few minutes. It has gone so fast but only her back next week for
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Hallowe'en with a spooky show. have the Coleraine tale behind
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Brand Stoker's Dracula story. And how a botched nineteenth-century
0:26:38 > 0:26:42hanging gave a Derry writer enough rope to hang a story on. Fittingly,
0:26:42 > 0:26:52we leave you with the 1930s and Flesh and Bones. Red mac next
0:26:52 > 0:26:52
0:26:52 > 0:27:36Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds
0:27:36 > 0:27:44Now it's up to you to think about the story that she went to live.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Now it's up to you to make a move. Run through the trees at night.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53Dance with the girl you like. When you learn to love.
0:27:53 > 0:28:03Run through the trees at night. Passing around the fires you like.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09
0:28:09 > 0:28:18Dance with the girl you like, when you learn to love. Flesh and bones
0:28:18 > 0:28:26cannot hold my soul. I am a protagonist, I shook my fist.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32I'm not happy with the role you give. You stay still too long, you
0:28:32 > 0:28:35start to rot. And not happy with the role you get. Run through the