One-off seasonal special unwraps memories of local Christmases past
UNSEEN television archive material from years gone by, along with personal Christmas memories from local people, will feature in a BBC NI programme airing tonight.
Viewers will be able to get nostalgic and enjoy some festive cheer and frivolity from the families and couples brave enough to share their memorable Christmas antics and reflect on some of the biggest seasonal events from years gone by.
This one-off festive special will unwrap Northern Ireland’s favourite Yuletide memories old and new, including Bill Clinton switching on the Christmas lights at Belfast City Hall and the impact of Band Aid’s Do they know It’s Christmas?
A Northern Irish Christmas is an Afro-mic production for BBC Northern Ireland.
Emma-rosa Dias from Afro-mic said that her team was blown away by the response from people willing to share their precious Christmas memories and films.
She added: “We put an appeal out for people who had archive recordings of their Christmases, and we received such a good response.
“We loved going through all the VHS tapes and even cinefilms from the 60s and 70s that people sent us of their Christmas mornings and their nativity plays, which we then were able to digitalise for them.
“I am sure that people will really enjoy this 60 minutes of pure festive nostalgia, including memories of Leisureworld and all the different toys that were on-trend at various times, such as the Cabbage Patch Kids, Star Wars and right up to what was popular last year.
“We talked to the owners of Leisureworld, who really captured what (local) life was like at that time.
“In the middle of all the Troubles, people just jumped on the bus, went to town and just got on with life, no matter what the threat was.
“We heard about Anderson and Mcauley’s store and the wonderful window display.
“It is just full of nostalgia, which is all I wanted to do.
“This is a tricky time for people’s mental health. Even for my team, working on this and hearing all of the incredible and uplifting stories really boosted people’s spirits.”
She said that every effort was made to maintain social distancing when creating the programme.
This was to make sure that the people who were contributing felt safe — they even set up specialist cameras.
One of the contributors on the show, Stephen Sherwin, shared his thoughts about how Kylie Minogue inspired his Christmas drag act.
He said: “I talk about how I am such a super-fan of Kylie and have been obsessed with her since the ‘90s and the ‘00s, which is also the Christmas memories I talk about, along with my mother, who is also taking part.
“I go all out for Christmas, and Kylie and her wardrobe is the inspiration for my Christmas show, although I don’t have the budget Kylie has for her costumes.
“I was so pleased to have been able to work with Kylie last year. She was lovely.”
A Northern Irish Christmas and will be broadcast tonight at 7.30pm on BBC One Northern Ireland. It will be repeated on BBC Two on Christmas Eve at 10.15pm.