An Audience With Simon Reeve will be at the Ulster Hall on April 8. For ticket information visit ulsterhall. co.uk or call the Ulster Hall box office on 028 9033 4455

to the province before. I’d never travelled as extensively on the island of Ireland before making that series.

“So, it came as a surprise and a bit of a shock, but that is genu- inely my response when I arrive anywhere because everywhere is more complicated when you see it in the flesh than it is from afar.”

And to anyone coming to visit Northern Ireland, he recommends seeing the “light and the shade of a place”.

He said: “We definitely want people exploring new, cool Belfast but I personally think it’s important for people to see the walls and to understand that is still very much part of a lot of people’s lives, and the reason for that.

“I always say to anyone, anywhere: ask questions about a place. I’ve never been anywhere where people wouldn’t talk about their lives and their world, because it’s cathartic for all of us to do that.

“If we talk and we’re questioned, that helps us to learn about our own place and how and why we live the way we do, and to question it.

“That’s a good thing, I think,” he added.