Ireland from above
Screened to mark the national holiday, Aerial Ireland is a fascinating look at the country’s natural terrain as seen from above. Using stunning aerial photography, the programme presents viewers with a spectacular overview of the Emerald Isle, from the primeval landscapes forged by the retreating glaciers of the Ice Age, to the Neolithic tombs and forts of the Celtic era. It ies like a bird above the glorious architecture of the early Celtic church, medieval towns and the castles of the Anglo-Norman era as well as the bustle of modern cities in the information age. Aerial Ireland presents a story and a landscape seen from an entirely new and uniquely revealing perspective. The east coast o ers spectacular aerial footage of the Neolithic tombs at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth – monuments to the technology and spirituality of an early civilisation that predates the Egyptian pyramids. The west of Ireland o ers its own beauty, from Galway’s wild Atlantic coasts and the vertiginous Cli s of Moher to the ethereal limestone landscape of the Burren, the Famine Fields of Co Mayo and the dry stone walls that typify Connemara. On the southern coast, the camera explores the breathtaking beauty of Kerry, the national park of Killarney and the otherworldly Skelligs. Aerial Ireland presents the island as never seen before – an unparalleled ight through 12,000 years of human activity on the edge of Europe.