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We wanted to provide our audiences with some new content and help to bring the arts to them during this challenging time, while also providing another chance to see some acclaimed arts programmes we have broadcast in the past.”

The Season Of Arts on 麻豆社 Northern Ireland will give audiences a unique opportunity to see what drives these artists, musicians, writers and performers in a range of new documentaries and programmes.

It has been a difficult time for the arts, and for audiences who miss the experience of live performance and visiting galleries and events. The Season Of Arts collection, which will start to be made available via the Northern Ireland category on 麻豆社 iPlayer from Friday 22 January, aims to provide some escapism, celebrate the best of local talent and share music, performances and stories.

Among the new content to feature in the season will be profiles on musician Neil Hannon, poet Medbh McGuickan and visual artist Rita Duffy, a documentary on the rise of romantic novelists and a new film on the clash between Oscar Wilde and Edward Carson, authored by Wilde’s grandson, Merlin Holland.

The season will also give audiences the chance to watch previously broadcast documentaries and programmes featuring artists as diverse as Seamus Heaney and Snow Patrol.

Eddie Doyle, Head of Content Commissioning, 麻豆社 NI, says: “We recognise the value and importance of the arts and have always been keen supporters and partners of the sector here in Northern Ireland. We wanted to provide our audiences with some new content and help to bring the arts to them during this challenging time, while also providing another chance to see some acclaimed arts programmes we have broadcast in the past.”

麻豆社 Northern Ireland’s Season Of Arts will be largely available on 麻豆社 iPlayer from Friday, January 22, with some programmes to be added over the following few weeks. The content can be found in the Northern Ireland category in 麻豆社 iPlayer under Season Of Arts. A selection of programmes will also be broadcast on 麻豆社 One Northern Ireland, 麻豆社 Two Northern Ireland, beginning at 10pm Sunday 24 January on 麻豆社 Two Northern Ireland with a tribute to the late poet Derek Mahon.

Highlights of new content in the 麻豆社 Northern Ireland Season Of Arts include:

Neil Hannon: Thirty Years Of The Divine Comedy

In this film, Neil Hannon looks back on his 30-year career to date with the popular music 90s group The Divine Comedy. In this eccentric documentary, scripted by Hannon himself, he invites us into his ‘mind palace’, the place inside his head where his career lives, populated with props and costumes, inspirations and muses, to remind both him and us how it all began. (Also on 麻豆社 One NI on Tuesday 26 January at 10.45pm).

Edward Carson And The Fall Of Oscar Wilde

One hundred years since the founding of Northern Ireland, Edward Carson is remembered as the leader of unionism and architect of Irish Partition. However, in the late Victorian age, he was also known as the greatest lawyer of his generation. In a new 麻豆社 Northern Ireland documentary, Edward Carson And The Fall Of Oscar Wilde, Merlin Holland tells the story of the epic court clash at the Old Bailey in 1895 between his grandfather Oscar Wilde and Edward Carson. It asks does Carson deserve his reputation as the man who ruined Oscar Wilde? (Also on 麻豆社 One NI on Monday 1 February at 10.45pm).

Mills & Boon: Writing For Love In Northern Ireland

This new documentary reveals the story of a bestselling author from rural County Antrim and the writers who have followed in her footsteps. She may not be a household name, but Lynne Graham has written 120 novels and sold 45 million copies of her books. During her 40-plus year career, Lynne has written exclusively for Mills & Boon. Presenter Eithne Shortall discovers how her romance stories have set the pace for other writers from Northern Ireland.

Mills and Boon: Writing For Love in NI opens the covers to reveal one of the publishing industry’s most successful, but least discussed, phenomena and the writers who write for love. (Also on 麻豆社 One NI on Monday 25 January at 10.45pm).

Rita Duffy: Portrait Of An Artist

Rita Duffy is one of Northern Ireland’s best known visual artists, with an instantly recognisable style which can be seen in her many paintings. Over four decades her work has explored the world around her and has dealt with difficult subject matter: the Troubles, the political situation in Northern Ireland and the role of women in our society. Now, a new work, Anatomy Of Hope, looks at the current pandemic.

Throughout, Rita has avoided some of the self-regarding tendencies of the art world and tried to engage with her audience in as direct a way as possible, often by going out into communities and involving them her projects. (Also on 麻豆社 Two NI on Wednesday 27 January at 10pm.)

Medbh McGuickan: Portrait Of A Poet

When Medbh McGuckian won the National Poetry Prize in 1979 with her poem The Flitting, she was thrust onto the world stage as a woman who could do battle in a predominantly male poetry scene. In this documentary, Medbh’s poems are brought to life through recitals and performances as she remembers the poems that defined her life and career. (Also on 麻豆社 Two NI on Wednesday 3 February at 10pm).

Derek Mahon: The Poetry Nonsense

In collaborating with director Roger Greene, Belfast poet Derek Mahon, who died in 2020, gives the viewer an opportunity to get to know him as the engaging, humorous and down-to-earth person he was as well as being a major literary voice and poet. (Also on 麻豆社 Two NI on Sunday 24 January at 10pm).

Collaborations… With Stephen McCauley

Musicians from the worlds of trad, rock, beats and folk come together to create new, unique and collaborative performances. Recorded in 麻豆社 Blackstaff Studios in Belfast, host Stephen McCauley introduces these unique musical collaborations. And So I Watch You From Afar are joined by Ríoghnach Connolly, Declan O’Rourke teams up with hip-hop producer CBAKL, The Gloaming’s Iarla Ó Lionáird joins forces with Úna Monaghan and West Ocean String Quartet, and magical performances from Saint Sister and Lisa Hannigan. (Also on 麻豆社 Two NI on Thursday 28 January at 10pm).

Sounds New

Stephen McCauley hosts live performances from emerging home-grown musical talent. Featuring performances Amy Montgomery, JyellowL, Joshua Burnside, Lilla Vargen, Dark Tropics and The Florentinas. (Also on 麻豆社 Two NI on Thursday 4 February at 10pm).

Previously broadcast content to be made available again on 麻豆社 iPlayer as part of 麻豆社 NI’s Season of Arts includes: Seamus Heaney And The Music Of What Happens, a poignant insight into the life and work of Seamus Heaney, featuring contributions from his wife Marie, children and brothers; Snow Patrol: 25 Years On The Road, in which 麻豆社 Northern Ireland gains access all areas to the multi-million selling band as the tour around the US before returning home to Belfast; and Oliver Jeffers, in which Joe Lindsay meets award-winning visual artist and author Oliver Jeffers as he reflects on how world events and parenthood have impacted on his work, as he exhibits across London, Paris and New York.

Also on 麻豆社 iPlayer will be: Inside The Ulster Museum, in which Emma Dabiri finds a new way of seeing the world through selected artworks at Ulster Museum in Belfast; Lyric At 50, which sees Mark Carruthers mark 50 years since the Lyric Theatre first opened its doors, talking to some of the actors and playwrights who have been involved with the theatre over those five decades; and Splendid Isolation: Lockdown Drama, by 麻豆社 Arts, The Lyric Theatre and 麻豆社 Northern Ireland, with support from the Arts Council NI short dramas exploring the positive and negative aspects of social isolation and lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were written and performed by some of Northern Ireland’s biggest names in writing and acting - including Lisa McGee (Derry Girls) and Conleth Hill (Game Of Thrones).

And there will be another opportunity to see Borders, a documentary following the global journey of two of Northern Ireland’s most innovative solo artists, Ryan Vail and Eoin O’Callaghan together to write and produce Borders which won the Northern Ireland Music Prize for best album in 2019; and Living The Past - The Story Of Helen Waddell, in which best-selling author Kate Mosse reveals how Ulster-Scots writer Helen Waddell influenced her.

Titles or timings of content on 麻豆社 One NI and 麻豆社 Two NI may change.

JM4