L’Engagement de Granada Television dans les fictions documentaires sur le conflit en Irlande du Nord

Abstract

On TV, real democratic debates can only take place when various points of views are confronted, in a context in which pluralism exists. The docudrama genre is particularly fitting to tackle subjects which are neglected by conventional documentaries. Thanks to fiction, film directors can write and re-write the story of specific events whilst basing the narrative on actual facts. This hybrid type of programme became popular on British screens in the 1990s, especially thanks to the pioneering work of Granada TV. This paper aims at assessing the impact these programmes had on the evolution of the conflict in Northern Ireland, as they paved the way for the reopening of judiciary cases and for the release of men who had been wrongfully imprisoned. This essay examines the commitment of Granada TV as an independent company, particularly in its use of docudramas as a specific genre. Granada’s bold approach to the conflict in Northern Ireland will be illustrated through the study of two docudramas, “Who Bombed Birmingham?” (1990) and “Bloody Sunday” (2002).

Keywords

• Northern Ireland
• docudrama
• dramadoc
• television
• Granada TV
• ITV