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November Programme Information

Movie mavericks

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Comber twins Noel and Roy Spence make movie magic

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Spence Brothers is a nostalgic tale of two quirky, sentimental and brave creators of ingenious, filmed entertainment that has rocked Northern Ireland.

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In the middle of the countryside, outside Comber, you might do a double take on passing the Tudor Cinema in all of its Fifties Art Deco splendour.

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Two minutes up the road is the Excelsior Cinema. These gems of a time gone by belong to brothers Noel and Roy Spence, mavericks of cinema production and architecture and collectors of memorabilia.

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Although both spent the bulk of their professional careers teaching, projecting film shows, building Santa's grottos and home cinemas, the Spence brothers are filmmakers and entertainers to the core.

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From rock 'n' roll movies such as Greenisland Rock to home-grown short stories and thrillers like The Face on the Wall, the Spences are a legend in themselves.

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This documentary takes a tour of their ornate cinemas, their spectacular films and their fascinating creative world - a creativity that has spawned true Northern Ireland versions of Frankenstein's Monster, The Blob, werewolves, aliens and even leprechauns!

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Born in Comber on Christmas Day 1944, twins Noel and Roy had been totally fascinated by moving image toys and magic lanterns since early childhood.

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Then, after saving up pocket money, they were able to buy their first cine-camera at the age of ten, and have never looked back.

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Spence Brothers is produced by Notasuch Films and is due to be shown in November.

Autumn on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland

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Mission Improbable

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New documentary about Mormon missionaries in Northern Ireland

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The experiences of Mormon missionaries to Northern Ireland reveal a story about faith, adventure, expectation, rejection and loneliness, as these young people learn to deal with an unknown culture, reluctant converts, slammed doors and many, many rules.

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Mission Improbable is an observational documentary, filmed over several months, which seeks to get under the skin of several Mormon missionaries serving in Northern Ireland.

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It looks to discover their motivation and reveals the sacrifices they make in leaving all that they know to come to a strange land to share their version of the Gospel.

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Why do they do it? What keeps them going and how do they react to both the positive and negative aspects of the experience?

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Northern Ireland is a difficult area in which to proselytise – but the missionaries do have successes here and the film also features local stories and local people as well as the missionaries themselves.

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Mission Improbable is produced by Independent Pictures for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland and is due to be broadcast in November.

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Keeping sport alive

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New documentary series celebrates four sporting traditions

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Sporting Traditions is a series of documentary films celebrating four distinctive sports in Northern Ireland.

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The series explores the drama and culture of point to point, one of the oldest forms of horse racing in Ireland; travels to the Glens of Antrim to look at the tradition of hurling in the small village of Cushendall; and visits County Armagh to reveal the heritage and passion of road bowls.

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The series also goes to Strangford Lough to tell the fascinating story of the 12 Rivers, one of the oldest one-design yachts still racing in the United Kingdom.

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The stories in each programme are told by the people who keep each distinctive sporting tradition alive, passing it on to a new generation.

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Sporting Traditions is produced by Ian Kirk-Smith, Louis Edmondson and Johnny Muir and is due to be broadcast in November.

Autumn on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland

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Gerry's Wild West

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Shock and awe for the Stroke City kid

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland's Gerry Anderson admits to being shocked and still reeling after having many of the certainties about the Great Love of his Life shattered.

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His 'Great Love' is America's Wild West - the subject of his highly-entertaining new documentary series for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland, filmed in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Colorado earlier this year.

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Gerry Anderson said he was still in two minds about the series: "It's not because it isn't highly informative, witty, and really good crack, but because I'm not at all sure that I don't prefer the West the way I thought it was.

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"You know, the days when men were men and women were women when there were goodies and baddies and 'extras' used to shake their fists in the air a lot; when Indians were just men who said 'How' and were not called Native Americans; the days when, deep down, you knew that Roy Rogers couldn't act and Gary Cooper couldn't sing – or was it the other way around? - and it didn't matter."

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Gerry continues: "Best of all, I thought, before we went filming - there will be absolutely no connection with any part of Ireland, whatsoever. Boy was I wrong! If I'd known beforehand what we found out about Billy the Kid, for example, or my particular hero Kit Carson, would I have done the show? I have to tell you that I honestly don't know."

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Gerry's Wild West is a Chistera production and is due to be broadcast in November.

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All at sea

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One local man's experiences of life on a nuclear submarine

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'The Poo Pipe', 'The Prosser' and 'The Fin' are words which may mean nothing to anyone at the moment, but will become clearer after watching the four-part series Officer and Commander on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland.

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A film crew from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland has followed local man Commander Steve Aiken as he commands the newly re-commissioned Royal Navy nuclear submarine, HMS Sovereign - taking it from the training of the crew, repairs and preparations to put to sea, on sea trails around the coast, to major international NATO exercises and finally time off for a 'run ashore'.

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Commander Aiken may not be the first commander from Northern Ireland to take charge of a nuclear submarine, but he is the first one who has continued to live in his native County Antrim and this series will also reflect his love of his home.

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The television crew spent many weeks on board, sharing with the Royal Navy crew their day-to-day routines in cramped conditions with no natural light, the constant fire-fighting and safety exercises, the boredom and also the entertainment!

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It can also be hazardous... as Commander Aiken replied when asked if it was dangerous: "You take a metal tube, fill it with hi-tech equipment, hazardous materials, explosives and a nuclear reactor and then you sink it! What part of dangerous do you not understand?"

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Officer and Commander is produced by Louis Edmondson and is due to be screened in November.

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Children in Need

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Fun and frolics with Pudsey all in the name of charity

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland's favourite furry fundraiser Pudsey Bear returns for another evening of madness and mayhem in November for this year's ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Children in Need.

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As always, Pudsey will be joined by a host of local and national stars on Friday 18 November for an evening of fun and fundraising.

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With everything from bathing in baked beans to scaling buildings and dragging beds around the countryside, the whole of Northern Ireland is gearing up to take part in fundraising madness.

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And no doubt plenty of local celebrities will be on hand to join in the fun and help raise thousands of pounds in what is billed as the craziest night of the year in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Northern Ireland calendar!

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This year celebrating 26 years of fundraising, last year's Northern Ireland total reached more than £500,000 to help local community groups and individuals, which is what ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Children in Need is all about.