:00:19. > :00:22.How or where and two out of the blue, with Graham Little and Joanne
:00:22. > :00:26.Salley thought stop we are live from the of a summit us tonight, a
:00:26. > :00:30.musical pedigree includes to let in at Gary Lightbody and supporting
:00:30. > :00:38.David Gray. Now a latest album has topped the Irish charts, Lisa
:00:38. > :00:42.Hannigan will be singing live for us. He has already buy it a big art
:00:42. > :00:48.award in London this year. Tonight, he is moulding a masterpiece in 60
:00:48. > :00:53.minutes, sculptor Patrick Colhoun and. And he is about to make waves
:00:53. > :01:03.in a major new TV series about the Titanic, it is actor Gerard
:01:03. > :01:07.
:01:07. > :01:11.McCarthy! Agreed to have here. Mick is a comfortable. In it is great to
:01:11. > :01:15.be home. You have spent a lot of time in Dublin and London, do you
:01:15. > :01:19.get home not much? And try to get home at least once a month, very
:01:20. > :01:27.recently it has been about once a week. A do still bring you watching
:01:27. > :01:33.them from your mum. See his like no. Do not start that! What do you miss
:01:33. > :01:38.most about this place when you are away? We it has to be the sense of
:01:38. > :01:41.humour. When you are home, the crack you have with your mates and
:01:41. > :01:45.the crack you have with complete strangers, is very exclusive to
:01:45. > :01:48.Northern Ireland, so that is heavily what I'm is the most.
:01:48. > :01:53.men of the plane touches down, you can have banter with the taxi
:01:53. > :01:57.driver. We will be speaking to Gerard about the great actors he
:01:57. > :02:02.has worked with and then of course there is the cast of Hollyoaks.
:02:02. > :02:08.First a, a big thanks to Davy Francis who sent this in. He
:02:08. > :02:12.decided he wanted to commemorate the presenters of Out of the Blue.
:02:12. > :02:19.Thank you very much. Good to see that we are inspiring some art of
:02:19. > :02:23.our own! Grain, you look a bit old in that picture. Christmas for
:02:23. > :02:27.theatres up and down the land means a ritual chorus of lamp rubbing and
:02:28. > :02:31.the hauling out of course costumes. Panto is back and is apparently
:02:31. > :02:35.timeless obsession with men laying on the lipstick and dressing up as
:02:35. > :02:45.Danes. Mark Maclean it dared to share one famous cross-dresser's
:02:45. > :02:46.
:02:46. > :02:50.dressing room. This year, the grande dame of comedy, may make
:02:50. > :02:54.that reach because there until it in the grand opera house. She takes
:02:55. > :02:59.centre stage for the 22nd year running. My mummy and daddy love me.
:02:59. > :03:03.My mummy wanted a weaker and, at my daddy wanted a wee boy, both of
:03:03. > :03:08.them are delighted! They may not thank me for dragging it up, but
:03:08. > :03:12.some of our finest male entertainers, Jimmy Young, the two
:03:12. > :03:18.armies, Barry Humphries, or have a great reputation that bidding on
:03:18. > :03:24.women's close to earn a living. What is it that makes a man want to
:03:24. > :03:33.don-a-dress and UN whose idea was it in the first place? I have come
:03:33. > :03:40.for a sneak peek been made but that is's dressing room. Come end!
:03:40. > :03:45.or should I say John Lennon. I am almost there. Looking good. How
:03:45. > :03:52.long have you been at this game, dressing up as a woman? About 40
:03:52. > :03:59.years. Actually, 25 years. How does putting it on a dress allow you to
:03:59. > :04:06.get away with more? I think it is because I am another character.
:04:06. > :04:15.Don't you be laughing at love, at least I can change. John can think
:04:15. > :04:21.something, but why he is dressed as May, he can get away with it. I
:04:21. > :04:31.have a... UK been aware of it, as long as you are dressed as May. You
:04:31. > :04:34.
:04:34. > :04:39.fancy me don't shoot. Any one there, looking at these Abri brought in!
:04:39. > :04:44.One of John's cross-dressing predecessors, Jimmy Young knew no
:04:45. > :04:54.boundaries. He was one of the first comics to confront the troubles.
:04:54. > :04:58.How d'you know if you are a Catholic or a Protestant? He is
:04:59. > :05:04.gags were loved by both sides of the sectarian divide. Nobody could
:05:04. > :05:09.stand up and start sliding the other side of as he did with or
:05:09. > :05:17.insular will. You could not stand up and do that as a guy, because
:05:17. > :05:22.people would think that was what she believed. When you are dressed
:05:22. > :05:24.up you will get away with it. Ironically, the Church encourage
:05:24. > :05:29.performers to cross dress in Elizabethan times. The English
:05:29. > :05:33.clergy because bridge laws that banished women from the stage, some
:05:33. > :05:37.men had to take the lead female roles. The church was deeply
:05:37. > :05:41.concerned that women did not know their place. In the theatre, that
:05:41. > :05:44.meant that they would have been centre stage in the Elizabethan
:05:45. > :05:50.society. Shakespeare was not the first to get his meal actors to
:05:50. > :05:53.dress up in drag. The earliest origins of West End Theatre are in
:05:54. > :05:59.ancient Greece and the greatest roles or all performed by men,
:05:59. > :06:02.because women were prohibited from appearing in theatre and
:06:02. > :06:06.participating in the do. They were almost like slaves, certainly
:06:06. > :06:10.second class citizens, so it was effectively an all-male stage,
:06:10. > :06:15.performing these great roles. more recent times, and the early
:06:15. > :06:18.salad, Dame Edna and the Little Britain boys have all become a name
:06:18. > :06:28.cross-dressers on British TV and Brendan O'Carroll's Head Mrs
:06:28. > :06:35.Brown's boys show that so the audience had not tired of this.
:06:35. > :06:41.is a man in a dress. I think a man wearing a dress is naturally funny.
:06:41. > :06:51.I don't get it. A I think men who dress up as women will be hilarious.
:06:51. > :06:53.
:06:53. > :07:01.I don't get it., on Sun, Give Me Your arm. A relocate a? Go fancy a
:07:01. > :07:06.drink? I think Ralph was OK until you walk down Victoria Street.
:07:06. > :07:13.Regular listeners to his radio show may think that is how he presents
:07:13. > :07:17.it every evening. It is not a first for you Gerard? My character in
:07:17. > :07:23.Hollyoaks that I played for five years was a cross-dresser, and it
:07:23. > :07:28.was not, be like that, he but it was any, never having met anyone
:07:28. > :07:33.like that, it was quite weird to play someone who was very serious
:07:33. > :07:38.about it and it was not played for gags. The only reference that I had
:07:38. > :07:41.growing up was Boy George and it beard towards that side of the
:07:42. > :07:47.whole new romantic thing. You're only supposed to be in Hollyoaks
:07:47. > :07:51.for three months, but obviously you were there for years. Are you happy
:07:51. > :07:55.enough that you stay that long? Was it fun? They brought me up because
:07:55. > :07:59.they wanted to drive his character and the producer was adamant that
:07:59. > :08:04.he wanted the character in the show and Channel 4 were not sure that
:08:04. > :08:09.would work, so they agreed to bring the end for 12 episodes on a three-
:08:09. > :08:13.month contract and my agent says if it works, brilliant, into Manns
:08:13. > :08:16.people have forgotten about it. I ended up staying for five years. I
:08:16. > :08:21.think because the character was so out there and we do have so much
:08:21. > :08:25.fun with the story lines, then make up eccentric, it stopped me from
:08:25. > :08:30.getting bored, which is why the five years when so quickly.
:08:30. > :08:34.returned once, and the door is open, would you be tempted to go back?
:08:34. > :08:38.Yeah. He if they want to me and I was available, I would definitely
:08:38. > :08:42.go because I had such a great time. It was so much fun and I owe them
:08:42. > :08:47.so much. It was my first job in front of a camera and to get that
:08:47. > :08:50.experience of doing that every day for five years was prices. If they
:08:50. > :08:55.asked me and I could do it, I definitely would. It must be hard
:08:55. > :09:01.work? Are hard as part would be getting up at 6:30am to be in make-
:09:01. > :09:06.up, but that was outweighed by the 35 stunning girls that you work
:09:06. > :09:10.with every day! I you don't mind getting out of bed at 5:30am then.
:09:10. > :09:16.You went from a West Belfast to the West End and it was Kenneth Branagh
:09:16. > :09:20.that you have to find we are acting career? Kenneth Branagh set up the
:09:20. > :09:24.Renaissance scholarship and it amaze me, at so many people do not
:09:24. > :09:27.know Kenneth Branagh is from Belfast, but he set up his
:09:27. > :09:34.scholarship that pays for Northern Irish guineas to go and train as an
:09:34. > :09:39.actor, whether or not is in England or America and I applied for it in
:09:39. > :09:42.2000 and was lucky enough to get awarded it. It's me it everything
:09:42. > :09:48.at college at so much easier, living away from home for the first
:09:48. > :09:53.time. I went to Epsom for two years to study musical theatre, graduated
:09:53. > :09:59.and went into the Abba musical, Mamma Mia, within a couple of
:09:59. > :10:05.months. I did that for a few years, Carousel, Saturday Night Fever,
:10:05. > :10:11.directed by Arlene Phillips, so it was fun. That was it her. To come
:10:11. > :10:14.all that way up of course. It has been a crazy journey. It proudly
:10:14. > :10:17.took its name from an American president the who played his part
:10:17. > :10:21.in the Northern Ireland peace process. The design of the Clinton
:10:21. > :10:25.Centre in Enniskillen is something of a talking how -- point in the
:10:25. > :10:35.town. So as part of our Love it or Loathe it series we asked locals of
:10:35. > :10:39.
:10:39. > :10:45.the see the building as a monument to appease or a monumental mistake.
:10:45. > :10:49.I am Jeni McRae, the ex-president and Enniskillen and chamber of
:10:49. > :10:53.Compton's and this is the centre. It was built on the bomb site and
:10:53. > :10:56.I'm sure you remember the Remembrance Day bombing in
:10:56. > :11:01.Enniskillen in 1987. The name was given to it from the former
:11:01. > :11:06.President Bill Clinton and he dedicated the centre to peace and
:11:06. > :11:10.prosperity in Ireland. This is a wonderful piece of modern art. It
:11:10. > :11:17.was designed by a local architect from Enniskillen and you can see it
:11:17. > :11:22.is very modern. I absolutely love it. I think it suits the town. It
:11:22. > :11:27.is very attractive. It is very simplistic, it has straight lines
:11:27. > :11:31.and is a very unusual shape and the Blue is to contrast with the water
:11:31. > :11:41.beside it. It was the same old traditional building, it would not
:11:41. > :11:45.
:11:45. > :11:49.have the same effect. It is a new building for new beginnings I have
:11:49. > :11:53.been a resident of them has gone for 45 years. As a lover of all
:11:53. > :11:58.buildings I have loved living in Enniskillen, in its history, its
:11:58. > :12:04.character and its buildings are all beautiful. Until this are right
:12:04. > :12:10.behind me. There is no character. It is not in keeping with the town.
:12:11. > :12:15.Two this site, we had the war memorial. It is now dwarfed by this
:12:15. > :12:20.monster! When you come up his street, your first impression it is
:12:20. > :12:25.a has Enniskillen got a present. It is in a brown malt looking at you.
:12:25. > :12:32.It is meant to mean peace, there is nothing of these will about Pat or
:12:32. > :12:42.brown. Be only locals who use it are the local water rats, who are
:12:42. > :12:43.
:12:43. > :12:48.busily colour blind. Ms Gillan the with this is losing its own culture.
:12:48. > :12:58.He had heard the arguments for and against, can you come forward and
:12:58. > :13:01.
:13:01. > :13:06.vote with your feet? As a victim of the Enniskillen bombing, where my
:13:06. > :13:11.father was murdered, I think this building is disgusting. It is an
:13:11. > :13:17.eyesore. A I've been is building it there is a great assets and a
:13:17. > :13:23.contrast really with the older buildings they lit stir tea.
:13:23. > :13:33.looks unfinished. It symbolises that the town is changing. It is
:13:33. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:44.Making the homesick! You have gone from Hollyoaks to Shakespeare, that
:13:44. > :13:48.is a very different challenge? was a random phone call because I
:13:48. > :13:52.was coming to the end of my Hollyoaks contract and my agent
:13:52. > :13:57.said, what do you want to do? I definitely wanted to get back and
:13:57. > :14:02.do some kind of play. I said I wanted to do something far removed
:14:02. > :14:12.from Hollyoaks. The last time I had done Shakespeare was at drama
:14:12. > :14:18.school. I got the phone call whilst I was still filming, do you want
:14:18. > :14:23.this role at the Globe? Shakespeare? At the Globe? The
:14:23. > :14:28.first time I have done it. I would be mad to do it and mad to not do
:14:28. > :14:33.it. I took the job and two weeks after I finished Hollyoaks, and was
:14:33. > :14:39.on stage. Still on screen at the same time. Then Los Angeles and
:14:39. > :14:46.newer? Merry Wives of Windsor, it was a massive hit. Be transferred
:14:46. > :14:52.to Los Angeles, then a New York. This part, I thought it was going
:14:52. > :14:57.to be three months, it was seven months. It just ran. Was there a
:14:57. > :15:03.difference with American audiences? Yes. The thing about performing at
:15:03. > :15:08.the Globe is its massive, it has been reconstructed in exactly the
:15:08. > :15:15.same way as it was. It is performed without lights or set. You don't
:15:15. > :15:20.have anything that was not around in the time of Shakespeare. You
:15:20. > :15:26.adapt to that and then in America, we cannot see the audience and we
:15:26. > :15:32.had lights and the set was moving. The American audience got a very
:15:32. > :15:36.different sense of humour. When in Los Angeles on the press doubt, Tom
:15:36. > :15:39.Hanks was there and he has this distinctive laugh and he was
:15:39. > :15:45.laughing and I was thinking in character, that is Woody from Toy
:15:45. > :15:50.Story! The only time in history when a Shakespearean character has
:15:50. > :15:55.thought that! The best experience ever but the scariest thing because
:15:55. > :16:00.it's also the thing were you think, if I forget my lines, I cannot make
:16:00. > :16:05.it up. In any other production, you just improvise, you get around.
:16:05. > :16:08.That's not the kind of stuff that you can forget and make-up. We will
:16:08. > :16:17.do some more name-dropping because you have worked with Neve Campbell,
:16:17. > :16:23.Derek Jacobi, how did you find that? Amazing. The luckiest thing
:16:23. > :16:29.about my career is that no matter where I have worked, it is all this
:16:29. > :16:36.with people that I have learnt so much from. And that amazing set of
:16:36. > :16:39.actors included. They are working on Titanic with me. You watch them
:16:39. > :16:46.working and it then becomes fairly evident how their careers have
:16:46. > :16:51.panned out the way that they have and how they have got here. Derek
:16:51. > :16:55.Jacobi, in his 70s, and I watched him on set, never forgetting any
:16:55. > :17:02.lines for never having to do anything twice. And then you
:17:02. > :17:06.remember that the reason why he is so well regarded is because he is
:17:06. > :17:13.one of the best theatre actors we have. And he isn't used to getting
:17:13. > :17:19.a second chance. You watch him and think, you are incredible. Those
:17:19. > :17:26.kind of people, you just soak it all in. Thank you very much for
:17:26. > :17:30.joining us. Best of luck with the Titanic serious. Our next story is
:17:30. > :17:33.of an extraordinary woman who could not have done more to encourage
:17:33. > :17:37.talent in Northern Ireland. She survived the Nazi camps of the
:17:37. > :17:43.Holocaust before making it to Belfast, where she became an award-
:17:43. > :17:47.winning choreographer of modern dance. Helen Lewis was barely 5 ft
:17:47. > :17:57.tall but her impact was massive. Not even frostbitten feet would
:17:57. > :18:00.
:18:00. > :18:06.stop her from dancing. From the age of six, Helen Lewis de there was on
:18:06. > :18:11.the one thing she wanted to do. Dance. Born in 1916 into a cultured
:18:11. > :18:15.Jewish family living in what was then Czechoslovakia, at age 22 she
:18:15. > :18:21.found herself in Prague, freshly graduated from the celebrated
:18:21. > :18:26.School of Dance and married to her new husband, Paul. It seemed to be
:18:26. > :18:31.going well but for a girl with her background it was simply a case of
:18:31. > :18:37.wrong place, wrong time. By summer of 1939, all of Czechoslovakia was
:18:38. > :18:42.under Nazi occupation. Helen had just finished her dance training
:18:42. > :18:46.and she was ready to take on the major roles in the company she was
:18:46. > :18:53.wet but at that stage, she could not because she was Jewish and she
:18:53. > :18:58.was not even allowed to teach. In time, she was deported. When she
:18:58. > :19:04.was in Auschwitz, she survived two selections to the gas chambers. The
:19:04. > :19:09.first one, she had Clones over one arm. And for some miraculous reason,
:19:09. > :19:14.she switched her clothes to the other, thus hiding the scars on her
:19:14. > :19:22.tummy and she was allowed through. She had survived one, how could she
:19:22. > :19:25.survive another? On this occasion, there was a queue going towards the
:19:25. > :19:33.panel of people making the selection and acute coming away
:19:33. > :19:37.from them, out past. And she waited for her moment. And whenever she
:19:37. > :19:44.saw them looking away, she stepped in to the queue that was coming
:19:44. > :19:48.away. Helen's next destination was this concentration camp. At one
:19:48. > :19:53.stage she was asked to dance and she said she was starting with
:19:53. > :19:57.hunger, really cold. She did not think she had any energy, she could
:19:57. > :20:02.not think of dancing because with all of those injuries, all of the
:20:02. > :20:07.operations whilst in the camp, she had been told she could not dance
:20:07. > :20:11.again but she did and she thought, were did she get that energy? She
:20:11. > :20:15.could never understand. Helen survived the final death march by
:20:15. > :20:22.lying in a ditch. But both her young husband and her beloved
:20:22. > :20:26.mother died in the camp. returned to Prague and there was
:20:26. > :20:31.absolutely nobody. But fate intervened. Harry Lewis, a former
:20:31. > :20:37.friend from Prague who had fled to Belfast before the war, spotted her
:20:37. > :20:43.published by the Red Cross. How retract Helen down, they fell in
:20:43. > :20:46.love and married in proud in 1947. He brought his new bride back to
:20:46. > :20:52.Belfast, as she described it, a faraway city in a foreign land. And
:20:53. > :20:55.once again, dancing shipped your life. In 19 to P6, Grosvenor High
:20:55. > :21:02.School after to choreograph a school production of the bartered
:21:02. > :21:10.Bride. It was a very first time modern dance was seen in Northern
:21:10. > :21:14.Ireland. Nick Bryson is a former pupil. I just imagine this huge
:21:14. > :21:24.impact, whenever she arrived and she brought dance to Northern
:21:24. > :21:26.
:21:26. > :21:29.Ireland as an art form. I Always remember Helen telling me, where is
:21:29. > :21:34.where in the performance space and what is what part of the body and
:21:34. > :21:39.high is what movement quality you move that body part with. I think
:21:39. > :21:44.Helen brought to us from overseas, from Europe, and give them context
:21:44. > :21:49.in Northern Ireland. Helen went on to choreograph for the Lyric
:21:49. > :21:54.Theatre as well as many operas. In 1969 she formed the Belfast modern
:21:54. > :21:58.Danske, which launched the careers of many professional dancers.
:21:58. > :22:02.Passionate about her art, in 2001 she was appointed an MBE for
:22:02. > :22:10.services to contemporary dance. Testament to the impact she had
:22:10. > :22:20.made in Northern Ireland. nurtured and love of dance in me.
:22:20. > :22:23.Go against the music quickly... And an ability to dance and teach.
:22:23. > :22:31.was a huge inspiration, she gave me belief that I could go into
:22:31. > :22:35.professional dancing. Helen passed away in 2009 at the age of 93. Even
:22:35. > :22:39.through the darkest days, she remained committed and passionate
:22:39. > :22:45.about what she loved most. And her legacy lives on in the country she
:22:45. > :22:47.came to call her own. What an inspirational woman. He has just
:22:47. > :22:53.had 60 minutes to make a contemporary sculpture out of clay.
:22:53. > :22:57.How did you get on? The form has been made and I still have work to
:22:57. > :23:05.do. It has to be dried out and refined. It has to be glazed and
:23:05. > :23:09.fired again. But the form is there. We will have a look. This is what
:23:10. > :23:14.it will look like. It is the top of your head? Partial self-portrait.
:23:14. > :23:19.All that work, you will not do tomorrow because you are very busy?
:23:19. > :23:26.It's a big day, and installing my biggest ever piece of work into the
:23:26. > :23:33.FA McWilliams Gallery, 25 heads. And to be associated with this man,
:23:33. > :23:38.this great sculpture, is magnificent. And I am part of a
:23:38. > :23:44.contemporary exhibition along with artists from the States, Poland,
:23:44. > :23:49.Canada, South Korea, Italy and other places. I have seen white and
:23:49. > :23:55.red clay, but use black clay. love how it builds. I build
:23:55. > :24:00.everything by hand. It sits what I do. And also the mood of the work,
:24:00. > :24:05.it's quite dark and earthy. Quite brooding. Where do you get your
:24:05. > :24:10.ideas from? It is a desire to be different, there are great people
:24:10. > :24:15.working in ceramics but I want to do this my own way. I used spikes
:24:15. > :24:24.and Pierce sings and in some cases, or other materials like latex. Just
:24:24. > :24:30.to be different. It sure does and I wish you all the best. If some of
:24:30. > :24:34.this art work has already been auctioned off, but if you still
:24:34. > :24:39.want to get your hands on a piece, remaining pieces will be auctioned
:24:39. > :24:49.in the year with proceeds going to Children in Need. Keep an eye on
:24:49. > :24:49.
:24:49. > :24:53.Children in Need website... Our music guest this week is the
:24:53. > :24:57.Mercury nominated Lisa Hannigan. Good to see you. It is a fairly
:24:57. > :25:04.hectic time for you, promoting her second album. It's going really
:25:04. > :25:10.well, it's great. She and my next day off his Christmas Eve. It will
:25:10. > :25:15.be a lean Christmas at home. Your second album, that difficult second
:25:15. > :25:21.album, was that your experience? Not really, I felt with the first
:25:21. > :25:25.one I learnt so much and there was so much to learn that I never had
:25:25. > :25:33.recorded in a studio before managed a band were arranged songs. There
:25:33. > :25:37.was a lot to learn. With this one, yes, I felt like I knew enough to
:25:37. > :25:41.enjoy it and really focus on the music. And when it came to putting
:25:41. > :25:46.the tracks down, it took one week? Yes, and the first one was two
:25:46. > :25:50.weeks. That's a pretty good trajectory. You really immerse
:25:50. > :25:56.yourself in all aspects of the business, you design the covers,
:25:56. > :26:01.you are involved in the video and they're usually quite bizarre?
:26:01. > :26:08.I try to make them interesting. I like the old one take videos as
:26:08. > :26:14.much as possible. It saves on editing. And shooting time. We did
:26:14. > :26:19.one with myself in a white dress against a white background and all
:26:19. > :26:24.of the boys off screen were playing instruments with the medium of paid.
:26:24. > :26:29.I start off lovely and clean and by the end, I looked like this crazy
:26:29. > :26:33.swamp monster! You look great tonight. We look forward to hearing
:26:33. > :26:37.you. You can catch place on tour at the Mandela Hall in Belfast next
:26:38. > :26:44.Tuesday. That's it - if you want more information about any of the
:26:44. > :26:52.stories from tonight, check out our website... We're back next year and
:26:52. > :27:02.if you have a story we should cover, please get in touch... For now, we
:27:02. > :27:14.
:27:14. > :27:20.and Little Bird... Have a good # Your heart sings like a kettle.
:27:20. > :27:27.# And your words, they boil away like steam.
:27:27. > :27:32.# And a lie burns long while the truth bites quick.
:27:32. > :27:42.# A heart is built for both, it seems.
:27:42. > :27:43.
:27:43. > :27:53.# You are lonely as a church. # Despite the queuing out your door.
:27:53. > :28:01.
:28:01. > :28:11.# I am empty as a promise no more. # When the time comes.
:28:11. > :28:21.# And rights have been read. # I think of you often.
:28:21. > :28:36.
:28:36. > :28:46.# I was salted by your hunger. # Now you've gone and lost your
:28:46. > :28:47.