In the summer of 1969 a rising star of Irish poetry took his first steps into the world of television, a world in which he would shine as an outstanding social and political commentator for Northern Ireland.

Seamus Heaney, or ‘Famous Seamus’ as he became known, Celebrates his 70th birthday on April 13th and to mark the event a new BBC One Northern Ireland documentary, Seamus Heaney: A Life in Pictures, looks back on his life in television.

While Heaney, awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995, is a globally Renowned poet, the programme focuses on his career as a
presenter and interviewee on TV during the past 40 years. It looks at how he has used TV to speak to the public and how he has been portrayed on TV.



After making his television debut in ‘Door Into The Dark’ in 1970, one of the first times that a Northern Ireland writer wrote and presented a television programme, Seamus Heaney appeared regularly on our TV screens as presenter, commentator and interviewee.

The programme, on Wednesday, April 15 at 10.45pm, features rare, early footage of Heaney giving his thoughts about Northern
Ireland in the early days of the Troubles as well as extensive footage from his television career. There are also contributions from those who have worked with him on his programmes or have interviewed him including Melvyn Bragg, Kirsty Wark, John Kelly and producer Derek Bailey. “He comes from Northern Ireland, I come from Scotland where men just don’t talk about their emotions and here he was doing something quite extraordinary... talking about his honeymoon. It’s quite shocking?” said Kirsty Wark.

Heaney became a respected commentator on the Troubles for local and network television programmes and channels. Kirsty Wark added: “He was a voice in the Troubles - very much part of the civil rights movement. You really felt that he was perplexed and angry and concerned about the whole thing but that he would never let himself be hi-jacked in one particular position.

“And he was always against violence. You get people on TV and you think you know their positions and they end up getting heeled
out every time. Seamus always treated these things with the complexity they deserved. And he was not willing to be drawn into
the kind of black and white arguments. He was much more thoughtful than that and challenging.”

Away from the Troubles, Melvyn Bragg remembers a different side to Heaney on a visit to interview him during the ‘80s: “I had gone over to interview Seamus and by that time Seamus and I knew each other quite well and so did our wives. So we had a night of it the night before, which was absolutely not a good idea. I’ve never done it since – I’d scarcely done it before. So we did this interview the next day which we were both very uncomfortable with... and
we both had hangovers. Thank goodness something went wrong with the film. So we agreed to go back and do it again. And we were extremely Spartan about it.”

Bragg continues: “It’s very few poets can talk as effortlessly and calmly and fully about their work and then read their work. One goes into the other; they’re in parallel lines, just like he’s a very good prose writer as well as a good poet.”

BBC Northern Ireland’s Johnny Muir who directed the new ocumentary said: “A lot of people probably don’t realise that
Seamus Heaney made such a substantial contribution to television. That’s why we wanted to mark Seamus’ 70th birthday by
looking back at what is an extremely important role as presenter, interviewee and commentator – from his very first broadcast right up to his more recent readings of his work on television and his recent interviews. “Through the medium of television, Seamus
was able to bring his work to a wider audience and because Seamus was such a natural in front of the camera, this audience
was able to enjoy not just his beautiful poetry but also his thoughts on events in his personal life and in the wider world. His rich commentary and presenting style draws you in - even in programmes made nearly forty years ago.”

Seamus Heaney: A Life in Pictures is on BBC One Northern Ireland on Wednesday, April 15 at 10.45pm. The 1999 programme, Keeping Time: The Poet and the Piper, will be shown behind the red button at 11.20pm after Heaney: Life in Pictures. It features
Heaney reading a wide selection of his work accompanied by renowned uillleann piper Liam O’Flynn.