Episode 2 Out of the Blue

Hello and welcome to Out of the Blue with Graham Little. And Joanne

Salley. We're live from Belfast. With us tonight: They're not a

throw-back to the 1930s, they are The 1930s. The band, that is.

You'll hear how 2011 they sound later.

He's put Superman and The Simpsons in the frame, comic book artist

John McCrea is already underway on a 60 minute masterpiece.

And the real McCrea could be yours! We'll tell you how later.

And, he held us spell-bound as snooker legend Alex Higgins. Now he

has us hooked as a Norn Iron bad boy on Thursday nights.

An coming with you. You don't have to do that. I want to make sure I

get my car back. Besides, you got me out of a few scrapes in the past.

Please welcome Richard Dormer. Richard, Hidden was set in London,

but actually filmed mostly in Northern Ireland. With Game of

Thrones being made here, too, are film-makers waking up to the

potential of a Troubles-free Northern Ireland? I think so.

Demesne King is that it is a lot cheaper to film in Belfast and

London because it is so much easier to close down streets and stuff, so

I think the BBC realised, also be love their crews and the people

here. I think there is a real future here. You can't beat

Northern Ireland! More from Richard later, about Hidden, about

Hurricane and about a living Belfast legend he's about to put on

the big screen. Richard hails from Armagh which, until 54 years ago,

had its own railway station. In fact some of Northern Ireland's

long-lost stations were fondly regarded as stops on some of the

world's great railway journeys. Those journeys were shamelessly

romanticised in travel posters aimed at getting families on board

and en route. Although most of the lines have gone, the line drawings

can still make you gasp. The price of them certainly will. Carrie

Neely's been getting all steamed up There is something about steam in a

railway station. Until 50 years ago the romance of steam travel stared

out from the walls of they railway stations. These posters are in a

different league to the stuff we see today. These are works of art

and Northern Ireland has seen some of the best of them. These giant

postcards From Another Era are currently hot property, collector's

items sometimes were thousands of pounds. 100 years ago Britain was

convulsed by massive social changes. Women campaign for the vote, a new

welfare and pensions provisions became Lough and the gramophone

gave the world as soundtrack to the first dance crazes. We didn't just

get around the dancefloor, we started to get around the country

as cheaper trips and holidays kier families a break from the terraces

and factories of city life. Growing prosperity led to an increased

demand in trouble. People wanted to escape the 9-5. There for 1923

there were hundreds of little real way country's opera written all

over Britain. In 1923 the Government decided that this was

ridiculous and a group them into four major railway companies, all

private. It was the London - - London, Midland and Scotland

company that had the route across the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dun

Leary. Ireland had the golf courses, the fishing, or open spaces they

you just did not get in Britain. Who were the main artists? In 1924

Norman Wilkinson, he was the advertising manager for the London,

Midland and Scotland railway had this brilliant idea and decided to

ask members of the Royal Academy to design railway posters. This was

really frowned upon to start with because people thought high art and

commercial art would not mix, but it was an incredible success and

all the railway stations became art exhibitions. Paul Hendry became as

prick - - prolific as well consent, standing up with this stunning

posters. One recently fetched more than a quarter of a million euro.

These posters are still wanted. Richard Price Stephen started

collecting them as a hobby and now with online global scales, a market

stall under some website it is a serious business. My father was in

the Royal Air Force are we were always on the move and we always

seem to be waiting for trains. I remember them in this stations. It

was 25 years ago when I bought my first one, but then I progressed

and I have been buying ever since. Is there a big difference in price

between the posters and the originals? Yes. We would sell the

poster for about �18.50 and the original would cost, on a good day,

maybe �2,000. When the steam train ran out of puff in the early 60s,

the posters that glorified their world suddenly dated, too. With the

advent of cheap foreign holidays, advertising moved away and began

romanticising the Continent. You could imagine people staring at

these posters, waiting for a train that would miss them of the places

may be just up the coast, but that looked a whole world away. Now,

with families having to cut back, maybe a comeback is on the cards

for the travel poster. I wonder what a Richard Dormer

poster would fetch 50 years down the line? About �1.50, probably!

Hidden reaches its climax this week on BBC One. The last I saw you, you

were holding on to your insides after being shot. It was a very

violent end to the third episode. I can tell you too much about what

happened, but I think the end of episode for, I think it will keep

you guessing. It is a real cliffhanger. Everything about it is

exciting. Your character Frank Hanna's a bit of a lad, with a nose

for trouble. Is it more fun playing a bad boy? I think every actor

enjoys playing the bad person because you get to do what you

would not to normal life. You get to be a bit wild and dangerous.

good to see another Northern Irish character on screen in something

other than The Troubles. It is really good. When I went into the

dish and further part, it was originally meant to be a Londoner,

but I saw the name and thoughts, Hamas, it is an Ulster name and I

just said a really want to do this in a Northern Irish accent. I read

it and they agreed. Hurricane, the play you wrote and starred in as

that other bad boy, Alex Higgins, was some journey for you. I got

really under the skin of that part and it took a lot - - and it took a

lot out of me. The last time I did it in the opera house I was praying

that I would not fall over halfway through. A genius at the snooker

table, but a bit of a mess away from it. I was in the audience

wants when he was there. What did he make of your portrayal? He just

loved it. He just kind of got it, you know? He saw the essence of

what it was. There is a lot of dark stuff in there, but the same

grammar is highs and lows and every dramatic life has to have their

highs and lows. He completely endorsed it. Alex himself

repeatedly refused to sign over the rights for the film, even though it

could have made him a lot of money. The only advice TGF for me was less

wider, more grace. Richard's characters are often the kind that

would start an argument in an empty room. Much more reasonably, Out Of

The Blue's decided to start one in a crowded street. We've tried to

home in on what it is that divides us about some things we walk past

I am an architect and artist and I love Transport House. Designed and

built just after the war. Belfast was a strong confident city with a

lot of industry. A heart of the industry was the trade union

movement. It was egalitarian and they chose the style of

architecture that was open, not about the past but about the future.

The architecture is strong, not brash but subtle. It has drama. It

has the innovative use of tiles and a mosaic that shows the industry of

Belfast. It also shows the workers, who were equal of appointing time.

Just as Belfast is reinventing itself now, Transport House as an

important building. If you love Belfast you have got to love

Transport House. I am picture of an organisation called so they...

Transport House is a modernist building. It marks a departure from

traditional architecture. Was that a good thing? Heaven thinks so. It

is to rectangular boxes and also has tubes coming up the side which

might very well be pipes or even columns. It gave rise to these new

types of buildings, such as river house in High Street, which has a

very ugly building. That in turn gave rise to even more monstrous

buildings such as the City Hospital, which is an eyesore. I asked you to

vote modernism and bowled for a return to real architecture, which

has the discipline of design. So, which other two of us are

right? The vote with your feet. do think that it is really dirty

and it could be knocked down for more apartments. It is one of many

examples of the historical architecture that is in the city.

It just shows how things have developed, different creative ideas,

and it is a good thing. To me that wonders just ugly. I like the mural,

but it needs updating. Tell us if you feel strongly about

a building, statue or public piece of art in your neck of the woods.

Love it or hate it, we want to hear Newspaper columnists are forever

shaking their heads and saying, you couldn't make it up. But now the

entire cast of a musical at the Belfast Festival have built a whole

show around doing just that. Ahead of its premiere here. Niamh Perry

had a rather personal reason for They say you shouldn't dwell on the

past but I have a feeling I will feel as good about this as I do the

last time. I first saw this three years ago and I just had landed my

first professional job and on a whim, I thought it would live up to

the named. It did and there was an added bonus for me, I met my

boyfriend that night. It brings it all back and it is brilliant and

very funny. Can you give me an amazing setting? London sewers.

Show-stopper is entirely improvised, a different show every night. The

title, storyline, a musical style, the works, and it's the audience

that decides so none of us knows what hits are about to hit us.

a bit like the first night of a show, you kind of know what to do

and where it's going but there's always that extra adrenalin push so

we get that every single blind. We never get the relaxation, we are

always doing an opening night so it is exhausting. There's someone we

would like you to meet. Mr Churchill! Our attitude is, even

with the late night shows, it is a family show or a show for everybody.

I thought it was hilarious, how they interacted with the audience

was really good. It was really good, really unexpected and exciting.

found it was absolutely brilliant, the best thing I've seen for ages.

I can't imagine them in Arran now having a stiff drink after the

intensity of it all! That was absolutely amazing. I

cannot guarantee that you would need your future boyfriend but I

can guarantee you have a wonderful time. This is a fabulous show.

It is at the Waterfront studio from tomorrow until Thursday night.

Richard, you started on the stage and all these big jobs coming in,

does it help to start in the theatre? Yes, definitely. I think

the theatre gives you the discipline that is required when

you're on a set and you will have to concentrate. Also because it is

so physical, it get you fit, trains a mind. Acting as well as learning

lines, it gives you the confidence as well. TV and film are probably a

lot easier after you have been in the theatre. Cocaine is like

Everest. I would imagine you had to be pretty fit to play the role in

the year or next film, Terry Hooley, a legendary film. How well did you

get to know him? Very well. I first met him two years ago, we did a

pilot to get the money to put the film together. For the last two

years, I have gone to know him very well, he's a lovely guy. I am very

fond of him. The film is still in their at it, not out until next

year but Out of the Blue have actually got some footage.

We're talking about 2000 people, be realistic. Like when you brought us

Good vibrations isn't a record shop, it is not a label, it's a way of

life! It is a brilliant story and I'm so glad you will be premiered

to the screen. Will you still be friends with Terry after he sees

how you betray him in the film? hope so. He has seen some of the

clips and he had tears in his eyes, he is very proud of it. You and

your wife were good lot of young actors, is their raw talent here in

Northern Ireland? Yes, Good vibrations, there were so many

young actors in that and I think Northern Ireland has a really good

future if those guys are anything to go by. There are some incredible

young actors on the way up and with the new Lyric, we have a good

future. Another writer showcasing work at the Belfast Festival is

hoping it will go down better than the ship at the heart of it. A Dan

Gordon's The Boat Factory is inspired by his upbringing in the

shadow of the shipyards. Dan has also pushed the boat out when it

comes to the venue. Samson and LIF, two giants

straddling the Belfast skyline. With a heavy metal message that

Holland and Wolff shipyards still matters. But it is not what it was,

the great hubbub of thousands of workers shouting, thousands of

hammers, ships the size of streets, has long faded. The rest is just a

memory. But for actor and playwright Dan Gordon, the real

giants of the shipyard were the men themselves, some from his own

family. They are the inspiration for The Boat Factory. Set in the

heart of the Docks and Harbour Commissioners office. He wasn't

much to look at and from the way he was standing, he knew there was

something wrong with his legs. you deaf, are you simple? My father

used to come home from the shipyard dirty and tired. He would fall

asleep on the city, but would be my abiding memory of him when he was

in the yard, it was a very hard, dirty job.

Everything here was a matter of scale and proportions. Big man, we

man. One word picture in your place. It has been a great reaction

because so many people come up to you and say, I had a grandparent or

a father or somebody who worked in the yard. People bring me

memorabilia. It turns it into the Antiques Roadshow sometimes! All

sorts of bits and pieces. The joiner's shop was fast, it was

like looking up high street. 1000 men and boys all worked here under

the roof. Every bench, to joiners and one apprentice. He answers to

the foreman who answers to the head foreman who answers to the manager.

I love the poetry of it and it was great acting. It brought me back to

when I was a boy at the shipyard and all the things he spoke about,

they actually did happen. Migrate grander worked in the shipyards

what was good to see what his life would have been like. It was funny,

moving, it was about Belfast - a terrific. Amazing being in the

harbours commissioner's office, it was like being here in the middle

of what was being talked about. That was a great night. Fantastic

piece of writing, fantastic rhythm. I learnt things that I had never

heard of before. Great performances by Dan Gordon, I heartily recommend

That looks fantastic and I can't wait to go along and see it this

weekend. The Boat Factory runs at the Belfast Harbour Commissioners

of this until the Saturday. Every week and the show we have an artist

creating a work of art in only 60 minutes, this week it is comic

artist John McCrea. This is unbelievable, it is a meeting in

you 60 seconds. 60 minutes! You work on a coloured ground, what is

the advantage of that? Most artists are petrified by a blank canvas so

the red or blue background gives me a starting point. You are at name

dropping all the superheroes, you are working for an American comic

publishers but he started with a Belfast story. I ran the comic shop

in Belfast and a friend of mine who used to come into the shop but an

idea with myself to a British publisher about the Troubles in

Northern Ireland. It was very successful and it was the making of

both our careers. It was at the back of the Good vibrations? Yes,

my friend and I used to buy all the records from their and we got to

know him quite well. Terry gave us his backroom so no rent, he was a

generous soul. We traded out of their for a while. Now all you have

to do is sign this fantastic piece of work. If you would like

Spiderman hanging from your walk, you are in with a chance. All the

works created by artists on Out of the Blue will be auctioned off with

the proceeds going to BBC children In Need. Time for music night. The

1930s will be performing for us in the studio in a minute. Thanks for

joining us. You guys are just young lads, only out of school, what

would you have in common but the 1930s, ordered that confirmation

come from? That music has a lot of similarities with us, I was

watching films from the 1930s and I thought it had a nice ring to it,

it all came together. You just at a school, you've been together 18

months but you have dates in London, how has it moved so quickly? It has

been a combination of putting out as many songs as possible, rare in

a really strong songs and we have been working with a lot of good

guys. Was a risky putting a record out so quickly? Yes, there was the

first four songs we had written so it was a risky move but I still

think people like the songs because they thought they were simple,

catchy songs so it worked out all right. Before you have made it big

in the UK, you have your sights set across the pond? Yes, we have had a

few industry professionals in LA and London so things are looking up

at the moment. A TV networks, that's where you are pitching at,

is that the way to do it now? think so, that's where the cash is

which is what you need to get started. Here tradition is folk, to

people talk about Mumford and sons when they talk about you? We tend

to avoid comparisons but we are big fans. We're looking forward to hear

a play. We were led to get ready now and you can entertain us in a

few minutes. It has gone so fast but only her back next week for

Hallowe'en with a spooky show. have the Coleraine tale behind

Brand Stoker's Dracula story. And how a botched nineteenth-century

hanging gave a Derry writer enough rope to hang a story on. Fittingly,

we leave you with the 1930s and Flesh and Bones. Red mac next

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 43 seconds

Now it's up to you to think about the story that she went to live.

Now it's up to you to make a move. Run through the trees at night.

Dance with the girl you like. When you learn to love.

Run through the trees at night. Passing around the fires you like.

Dance with the girl you like, when you learn to love. Flesh and bones

cannot hold my soul. I am a protagonist, I shook my fist.

I'm not happy with the role you give. You stay still too long, you

start to rot. And not happy with the role you get. Run through the