BY ÁINE McGRADY
The current BBC series, A Pocket History of Ireland, will focus on the Omagh area for next Monday night's show.
Presented by the affable John Daly, the ten minute production aims to unearth the history of Omagh, – the 'untouched plain' – in a concise and entertaining way, providing the viewer with bite size pieces of the town's history.
Series producer Jacqui Berkeley explains what inspired her to unearth the historical secrets of the Tyrone town.
"It was always in my mind that in the last series we did not cover the west so Omagh was my number one choice for the new series. It was a town I had always travelled through and I wanted to find out more about it. It has become one of my favourites because I did not expect to uncover what I did."
The programme sees Ms Berkeley uncover a colourful history which she speaks about with great enthusiasm.
"The stories we uncovered about stone circles, the untouched plain and Omagh as a garrison town really fired my imagination. In making the programme we tried to get a sense of the visual. We used humour but at the same time we tried to keep in mind the literal historical meaning.
"I did not expect to uncover the wealth of talent which I did. Armagh and Belfast are seen as the religious and political centres of Ireland and Omagh can be seen as a creative centre. The creativity I found was uplifting."
Moving from Bell's Bridge, to Creggan bogland, to Dunmullan church, and into the town to the Gallow's Hill area, A Pocket History of Omagh uncovers some intriguing historical stories, from rare bogland mosses to a hidden nude mural and a baby suckled by a pig.
Ms Berkeley said that it was a challenge to condense hundreds of years of history into just ten minutes.
"The aim of the show is to whet the viewers' appetite. It was important to get the tone right. I was always trying to make sure to give every tone its place because emotions are often attached to history."
The programme was filmed over a three day period last summer and, as Ms Berkeley recalls, it rained for the entire time.
"All I could do was laugh and put up with it because in the research I discovered that Omagh has the highest rainfall and least sunshine in Ireland."
The insight gained into the Omagh area was aided by local historians Stephen McKenna and Haldane Mitchell, who provided the necessary knowledge on historical sites.
Mr Mitchell said, "I was involved in the historical side of the programme, showing the production company the old church at Dunmullan and telling them about the history it holds."
* A Pocket History of Ireland will be shown on BBC One next
Monday, January 15 at 10.35pm
