Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive is a free public access resource for teachers, students, historians and anyone who has an interest in moving images. Spanning from 1897 to the present day, the films in the Digital Film Archive cover all aspects of life in Northern Ireland and includes everything from dramas to documentaries, newsreels and features, animation to amateur footage.
This film is part of Free
It's Ridiculous
It’s 1977 in Northern Ireland; find out what people in the street are shouting about? It might not be what you expect.
From the collection of:
Overview
Viewers in Northern Ireland might recognise David Dunseith sporting sunglasses at the end of this television advert. He began his career as a floppy haired police officer commanding the early Drug Squad. During the 1970s Ulster Television persuaded him to go from making occassional appearances to warn the public against drugs to a fully-fledged broadcaster.
Later poached by the BBC he hosted Talkback the country’s daily current affairs phone in show. It was a public sounding board during difficult times often referred to as the “people’s parliament”. Covering everything from the poignant to the absurd it became a cathartic outlet during the height of the conflict and the most popular phone in show in Europe. This material is Courtesy of the UTV Archive.
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