Original subtitles

JOANNA LUMLEY: I was born in India, but this country

has been my home for over 65 years.

And although I'm lucky enough to have seen a great deal of the world,

there is still new places to visit right on my doorstep.

What a place. Wow.

Oh, what a joy to see these beautiful birds up close.

So I'm on a journey of discovery around our great country.

This is Kashmiri spinach. I'm a Kashmiri you know I'm a Kashmiri.

I want to find out what makes Britain tick.

But I'm also revisiting some familiar old haunts.

I'm available, Joanna.

We will be covering all points of the compass.

We are known as the Game Of Thrones territory.

We'll meet the people who makes us unique.

Do you think somebody's looking at you thinking,

"Sandy has had a dram"?

So many people have said, "You'll make the 100." I think you will.

And so far I'm 95 now, don't tell nobody.

Look at this, it's a mass of colours. It's alive.

Explore ancient traditions.

Isn't that fantastic?

Ancl reveal some truly breath-taking sights along the way.

We are in Scotland now,

this is part of the trip that I've really been looking forward to,

because although I sound my accent is completely English,

I'm in fact three quarters Scottish.

If you took me apart, you'd find...

IN SCOTTISH ACCENT: ..on my bones

would be tattooed the Saltire of Scotland.

I still can't do the Scottish accent.

But... I think you get my drift.

I adore Scotland, and nowadays spend as much time as I can up here.

I was married beneath Ben Nevis in Fort William,

so showing you this part of the world is a personal pleasure for me.

We are beginning our adventures in the Outer Hebrides

in the extreme North West corner of our country, and our continent.

The archipelago is made up of more than a hundred islands

and 27,000 people live on 15 of them.

Look, this is so beautiful. Today, the sea is glassy calm...

...and just sort of greeny-grey hills and mountains sticking out.

The sands up here, the beaches up here in the North of Scotland

in the Outer Hebrides are sensational.

The Isle of Harris is completely stunning.

Just 2000 people live here,

but there is one thing that has made it world-famous,

and it's the natural hues of the cloth

inspired by the glorious colours of the local landscape

that have made Harris Tweed so sought after by top designers.

I'm driving off to see somebody called Donald John Mackay.

He is credited, rightly or wrongly, with being the man

who saved the entire Harris Tweed industry.

And I'm wearing my Harris Tweed coat,

it's actually - I think - even 40 years old,

it's Jean Muir,

and it just defines the word classic,

the material Harris Tweed, classic.

It's quite astonishing to realise that this world-renowned industry

is driven from little sheds and workshops like Donald John's.

Donald John. Hello, Joanna!

Oh, thank you so much for seeing me.

Not at all, thank you for coming.

Donald, do I call you Donald or Donald John? Donald John, yeah.

Donald John. Donald John. Oh, look, this is your loom.

This is my loom, yes. This cloth you are making,

what would you call this? Autumnal.

Autumnal. You dream up these ideas, don't you?

Yeah. This is the heather at a certain time of the year. Yes.

I'm just going to show you that thread you have there,

it's single ply, take your eye down to it.

SHE GASPS

Oh, my Lord, look at this, it's a mass of colours.

It's alive. Tawny gold, russet red,

it's got very dark peach colour,

it's got pale blonde straw. I now want to examine this.

Yes, of course, of course.

So, look at this, and I've always seen this as herringbone so I...

Oh, yes, there's much... Sort of rust coloured.

There's much more to it than that. There is far more to it than that.

Oh, my gosh, it's got all the colours in the world in here.

PHONE RINGS Hello?

Sorry about that. Donald John, that was Gaelic, wasn't it? Yes.

I couldn't understand a word of it.

You are a Gaelic speaker. Yes, first language.

And how is it now, how is the Gaelic language, is it safe?

Yes, it is, because it's being taught at school

and the families that now are moving in

are choosing that their children be educated

through the Gaelic medium. Oh, this is fantastic.

It is, it is. This is coming slightly out of the blue,

but I think you had something to do with supplying Tweed to Nike?

Nike's approach to us was in 2003. Yeah.

Harris Tweed was in the doldrums when fashion giant Nike

phoned and asked Donald John for some samples.

He sent off a design and then heard nothing for months.

Out of the blue, Nike called again

and asked for an astonishing 10,000 yards of cloth.

Donald John normally makes 27 yards of tweed a day,

so weavers throughout the Outer Hebrides were brought in to help,

some even coming out of retirement to fill the order

for a trainer called The Terminator.

Did they send you a Tweed sneaker? Yes, they did.

Magic through the window comes a tweed sneaker.

Look at that, and this was your tweed. That was my design.

No. And based down there at a certain time.

I had quite a few people coming with a pair in the box.

I would have to sign along here. SHE LAUGHS

They had no intention of wearing them.

They wanted to say, "I've met the man."

And I had to sign them. Oh, how fantastic. Yeah.

It's just a short hop across the Sound of Harris

to neighbouring North Uist

where there appears to be more water than land.

Not, you might imagine, the best place to farm,

but here, crofting is still common.

Angus MacDonald and his family

have been crofting here for several generations

by adapting and diversifying and making it work.

Well, this is as silent as can be out here, Angus.

Yeah, it's extremely peaceful, it's absolutely wonderful

on a beautiful day. How long have you been here then?

I've lived here all my life, basically. Have you?

55 years, other than my college years, it's been erm...

How did you start off? This is crofting, isn't it?

Yeah, this is crofting all the land. So what exactly does crofting mean?

It's basically a small holding, but most crofters don't own their land,

you rent the land from your landlord. It's not an easy life,

it's just, it's basically it's a way of life. That's what it is.

Get them to come to you.

On North Uist, good grazing is in short supply.

So Angus recently bought the deserted island of Vale

that offers excellent winter grazing.

And I've come here specially to witness the annual spectacle

of the family driving the herd across the sands

to get there.

Come on, come on. Come on, girls.

Come on.

Yeah, mind your footing here.

The lush grass on the deserted island of Vale

will see them through the long winter,

and it's where their calves will be born. Come on.

This extraordinary journey has to be done at low tide,

and Angus' wife Michelle knows how important it is to get this right.

This is the most astonishing... To look at the sand stretching forever.

I know it's-it's wonderful,

but if you could see it with the water coming in,

and it comes in and it meets in three different places,

so you hit three banks of water, not just one. Wow.

But it's fantastic.

Have you ever got marooned here? Very, very close.

How long will they stay on the island?

They'll stay here now untilJune, usually, it is,

cos they'll calve here in April and May,

and they love it over here which is why they are so keen to get here.

COWS MOO

You did well, that was good. That was fantastic.

And now look, they are so happy and tranquil.

Now their heads are down, they have got the sweet grass over here.

So this is it, it's been going - apart from the truck -

Apart from that, it's been like this since time began?

Definitely. It would've been done on horseback

prior to this, yeah. Definitely.

I'm going to take the Jeep,

so if you'd like to walk back on your own...

THEY LAUGH

This is a remote corner of the country,

but the North West Highlands and islands played a pivotal role

in British politics way back at the start of the 18th Century.

In 1719, 47 Spanish Catholic soldiers

were smuggled into Eilean Donan Castle,

poised to join the growing Jacobite rebellion.

When George I got wind of this,

he sent three war ships to blast the castle with cannon fire.

Ancl recapture it.

But the walls of this castle were breached far more recently.

THE NEW AVENGERS THEME PLAYS

The very first episode of the New Avengers we shot

was here, and I had to arrive here walking out of the sea

in a wet suit.

Purdey arrived at Eilean Donan Castle

hot on the trail of some dreadful Nazis who were holed up here.

As we most truly are...!

It was always irreverent, mixing action and comedy.

I think these are the steps

that Purdey would have wormed her way into the castle

having wriggled out of her wet suit,

she would have come tiptoeing up here.

I can remember doing shoulder rolls

with guns and firing at the end of it. Kicking, fighting.

Always fighting with what the French call cascadeuses -

the stunt men, who were brilliant, they became such friends.

Good days, the fighting days were the best fun.

Lines...

I mean, anybody can do lines.

Not everybody can fight.

Where did you learn that, the Royal Marines?

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Royal Ballet, they threw me out.

Patrick Macnee came down in a very natty tailored suit,

in front of him, the prisoners.

Ancl Purdey, I think, seeing them,

decided to whistle Colonel Bogey and she went...

WHISTLES

Ancl off she went in her high heels.

COLONEL BOGEY TUNE

The New Avengers optimised the 705, it was stylish, funny

and often tongue-in-Cheek, perfect for post-war Britain.

There are hundreds of clans in Scotland,

and in the past, they spent much of their time

feuding and fighting with each other.

One of Scotland's most magnificent valleys has a dark and gloomy past.

Glencoe was the sight of a particularly treacherous massacre

in 1692 when the Campbells accepted the MacDonald's hospitality

and then murdered them in their beds.

Today, Glencoe still has that brooding presence,

but it's alive with people enjoying the mountains

and soaking up the majestic scenery.

Well, this is Glencoe, it's just everything you could dream of,

the great mountains lowering above me and the valley stretching away,

ancl mist. I mean, could anything be more Scottish than this?

Could anything be more beautiful than this?

Stephen and Rab are personal trainers,

have adapted their business to capitalise on their heritage.

Hi, guys, how lovely to see you.

SHE PANTS Oh, gosh, a little bit unfit.

So tell me, you are the Kilted Coaches.

We are, we tried the on-line thing initially,

we tried to be all prim and proper, but we are trying to be someone

that we are not. And somebody said

"You can't get away from the fact that you are Scottish."

So we thought, let's just embrace it,

and we've been kilting it ever since. And those kilts

with the lads in them have proved an internet sensation.

And if I were to come to you and say, "Guys, sort me out,"

what would you do first of all, what would you advise me to do?

I would give you a thumbs up and say, "Job done".

Ha-ha. This is what I wanted to hear.

Tell me, Rab, how did it really start, all this?

What we challenged ourselves to do, is to wear a kilt every single day

for the whole month of September,

Day and night, it got itchy, that's all I'm going to say.

Because we had worn it for a whole month,

we figured the best way for this month to end is to take them off.

No! 50 if you were the camera, we would take them off,

and we would just walk away and we would answer that age old question.

Yeah, yeah. It kind of took off from there.

It does come with a few pitfalls,

some ab exercises you have got to be very careful the angle of.

And you grew your beard and you put away Robert, and you became Rab.

The good thing is, Steve and I have been friends since...

I used to cover his paper round, that's how long it goes back. Gosh.

We're slightly different personalities,

I'm the geek and he's the hippy so.

Stephen, thank you so much. Rab, thank you

very, very much indeed. I'm just going to...

I'm, just going to give you this log back,

I cannot tell you what this is like,

They are tossing it about like a matchstick, fantastic,

thank you so very much. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Joanna. Keep running.

As we travel South, the rugged mountains of the Highlands

give way to the more gentle hills,

wooded glens and hidden coves of Knapdale.

And we arrive at a harbour on the West Coast called Crinan...

Sandy? Hello, how are you?

I'm well, I'm Joanna. How nice to see you.

...where I'm meeting Sandy for a somewhat unusual clay

out on the ocean waves.

It's so exciting because we are going to be going to a whirlpool.

Normally in human life, I would say if there is a whirlpool,

don't go near it, but here we are actually actively

going to see a place where the water is forced between two islands

and it creates such a turmoil, it will create a whirlpool.

We are heading for the notorious Corryvrekan,

the third largest whirlpool in the entire world,

once classified by the Royal Navy as unnavigable,

and still feared as a lethal trap for careless sailors.

It's a unique phenomena, a maelstrom that can be heard ten miles away,

caused by the tide rushing like rapids through the narrow gap

between Jura and Scarba.

Those are the Paps ofJura.

There seem to be three.

At the wheel, the thankfully very experienced Sandy,

who has promised to show me but not leave me in the mighty Corryvreckan.

You might wonder why I'm sitting here actually with Sandy.

He has put it on autopilot, it has made me grey with terror, but...

Is it tricky to navigate these waters?

Er, it can be, more so if you are sailing

and you would plan the route with the tide in your favour quite often.

We are on autopilot just now, but the boat's moving around a wee bit,

and that's because of the current of the tide,

just moving around, that's why the boats wriggling around a wee bit.

We are starting to see a bit of the tide moving out there,

you can see the, the white water on the horizon, the standing waves,

so actually, I had better go forward and take over. Go!

I mean, I know one trusts autopilot and I trust Sandy

as much as anybody in my life,

but there is something about hammering along at quite a speed

with rocks and Whirlpools and nobody at the helm,

and now we are seeing some standing water.

Those standing waves mean that we have arrived at the Corryvreckan.

As the sea surges through the narrow gap,

the ocean floor rises and falls dramatically,

forcing the mass of water to the surface.

It's all churning and turning and up and down,

it's not like normal waves,

it's being pushed by the underneath, all this happening underneath.

Look how it looks over there, that great soft green bulge.

The Corryvreckan nearly claimed the life

of one of the 20th century's most famous writers.

George Orwell, author of Animal Farm,

rented this house on the island ofJura.

And it was here in 1948 that he finished '1984',

his futuristic terrifying novel. On a break from his work,

he and his three-year-old son were out on a small dinghy

when they got into difficulties and were swept into the maelstrom.

The outboard motor sheered off and they capsized,

but a passing fisherman rescued them.

Having survived the Corryvreckan,

we are running down the much calmer East Coast ofJura

so that Sandy can show me the house that Orwell rented.

It's all together a much more relaxing experience.

This looks to me like a communal harbour seal,

it's not surprisingly we all get soppy about them,

they're so unbelievably beautiful.

Look at that little beautiful paw, that flipper.

What's going on?

A vague sort of stand off,

the cormorant does a lot of shaking itself and preening itself,

going, "OK, I'm ready now,

"now I'm just about ready,

"I'lljust going to come up and have a word with you."

Is the cormorant saying, "This is where I usually stop"?

And the seal saying, "Well, I got here first."

The seal is just sitting there going, "Try not to do that again,

"if you would be so good."

Barnhill, the house that Orwell stayed in,

is still owned by the same family.

There it is.

Imagine that great brain sitting up there, he just had to be alone.

He was ill, he had tuberculosis. Sometimes, he had his young son

staying with him, but he just wanted the silence,

the silence so his mind could roam free.

And the Fletcher family have still got it.

They're waving. Look, look, look, look!

Look, little ones, we see you.

Thank goodness Orwell was spared by the Corryvreckan,

and disconcerting to think that in these glorious surroundings,

his genius created the nightmarish future of '1984',

as a warning to us all.

I suppose you could say that this was the original Big Brother House.

Thanks, Sandy. Home, please.

Sandy? Yes.

Do you think I could have a go at driving?

Here we go.

Whoa! LAUGHTER

Do you think somebody is looking at you and thinking,

"Sandy has had a dram or two?" That's what I was thinking, aye,

they'll be thinking I'm on the drams today.

Thank you so much, Sandy. Oh, you're very welcome. Thank you.

We're crossing from the Highlands into the Lowlands,

and just North of Glasgow is one of Scotland's 130 distilleries.

People all around the world love whisky,

and the country earns nearly £5 billion a year in exports alone.

Usquaebach, as it's known in Gaelic, has always been liquid gold.

Gordon. Welcome. Thank you so much.

Gordon Dallas knows his single malts from his blends.

Before we even go a step further,

will you tell me what Usquaebach means?

The water of life. They shortened it to Uisce

and Uisce Uisce was then anglicised to whisky. Whisky.

Oh, gosh, look at this now. Hogshead Punche. What is all this,

these barrels? If you want to call your spirit Scotch Whisky,

the rules and regulations tell us they've got to be matured

in oak casks. And these have been handmade by Spanish families,

seasoned in sherry. And we put our spirit into those casks

that have been seasoned in sherry made of...

Because it what gives a slight flavour or something?

What does it do? Well, Joanna,

up to two thirds of the flavour comes from the wood

and all the colour you see in whisky comes from the wood.

That wood takes over a hundred to 180 years to grow.

This is a very slow process, the whole thing,

no hurry for this is there. No hurry.

It's not like making gin in a bath, is it?

Oh, we make gin on a Monday and have it in the shops on Friday.

Whisky is big business, Gordon told me he has got Scotch here

that will sell for £20,000 a bottle.

Ancl ever since the tax man

realised he could take a huge whack of that,

there have been smugglers

who have gone out of their way to avoid paying it.

Gordon has, however, done some local research into the 18th century

when moonshine whisky was smuggled illegally into Glasgow.

The secret weapon was using this, 18th Century smuggling pouches

that the local ladies would take in,

the excise could not frisk the ladies of the parish,

so the ladies would get those full of the rough raw spirit...

Yeah. ..round their belts, on with the skirts, on with the shawl.

I've got a shawl, can I rig myself up? Hang that off your belt.

I've got a belt. What was most effective, Joanna,

is if you put one right in front of you...

You'd think you were pregnant. Correct.

"I'm expecting it very soon. I think it's twins."

Yeah, that's what I'd say. HE LAUGHS

I have a Victorian working skirt.

Crikey, I've got to get the whole lot in.

OK, if I hold my skirt, you hoick it up. Hang on a second,

let me just stand on the ground. OK.

Now you are slowly becoming a smuggler.

So, if I was like that, what do you think, a little bit convincing?

Very convincing, I'd let you go,

you would be straight through to Glasgow, 14 miles there.

Actually, listen, Gordon, this is... These are empty.

If they were full, that's a heck of a weight you're carrying. Yes.

Excuse me, officer, my skirt is dropping down a wee bit.

I've put on a special Scottish voice

so that, so that I'm not suspicious.

Oh, my Lord. It's not for another month, officer.

I won't sit down, sir, thank you so much.

Ancl actually, there's room in this skirt,

I could have more round my bottom, and he could...

Officer, I've always been a big girl,

my husband thinks I'm great.

I could have another packed on the back, you see.

I'm rather attached to this lot now.

Thank you so, so much. I had better get unrigged now.

Smugglers didn't have the A81 available to them, of course,

but it's still the same 14-mile route

they would have taken into Glasgow.

Which was already establishing itself as a fine city.

At the end of the 17th Century, the great writer Daniel Defoe

said of Glasgow, it is the cleanest, beautifulest

and best-built city in the whole of Britain.

Defoe's observations were made

before Glasgow grew into an industrial giant.

The second city of the Empire

became world-famous for heavy engineering and science.

But Glasgow's industrialisation brought overcrowding

and deprivation,

perhaps the tough life and work conditions were a factor

in the city emerging with it's very own very gritty sense of humour.

MUSIC: 'Waterfront' by Simple Minds

You have got to love a city that embraces a traffic cone

on top of the Duke of Wellington

as a symbol of it's cheeky rebellion.

Irreverence is almost a sacred duty here,

and I'm hopping onto an old corporation bus

to meet Janey Godley...

Hi, Janey. Hiya. ..who is a dab hand at it.

Somebody's got a huge vibrator, it's a thing in Glasgow.

Just, you know, COVID's got us depressed we need attention.

DRILLING Put your vibrator away!

So welcome to Glasgow,

we are going along, this is what they call the Merchant City,

isn't that right, Martin?

Yes, that's right. Martin agrees with everything I say.

If I literally say this is Dundee, he will agree.

We are about to approach George's Square on the right-hand side.

Oh, lions. Look, look, look, look. That's the lions.

That's the Statue of Men. That's Watt.

James Watt's steam engine.

Are you Glaswegian, Janey? I was born in the same hospital as Lulu,

and she is counted as a Glaswegian, so I'm claiming it as well.

I was only there for six days to be born, but I was an Eastender

for many years. Did you got straight from school into being a comedian?

No, I was a barmaid for 15 years in the Eastend

and then, my husband's family were a bit dodgy,

and the police caught us with guns in the house,

and I just thought, I'm done with this,

I know what next, comedy.

Is that true? Yeah, of course it's true.

Glasgow, incidentally, is full of the finest people I have ever met.

Yeah, and I was funny behind the bar, you know,

so I just went on to do it.

And Glasgow kind of wasn't so bad being a female stand up,

because they are used to gobby women,

they just thought I was an overfriendly cleaner

that had wandered in. JOANNA LAUGHS

What's the feeling about independence here, Janey?

Why would you bring that up?! THEY LAUGH

What's wrong with you?!

THEY LAUGH

You've become very famous for doing the voice of Nicola Sturgeon.

I'm the angry translator for her.

Well, everybody, it's Monday, it's Nicola,

and all I can say is, I know how it feels,

I want to put on my good summer shorts and my sandals,

my wee Slingbacks and go to a roof garden and get drunk with my pals

and sing the Spice Girls because I'm brilliant on the karaoke.

But, guys, we all need to stop it. Right. Oh, see you all tomorrow.

And then I'd go, "Frank, get the door!

"And get the wee first sup of the day."

And it would mean that people would watch it,

have a laugh and get the message. Yeah.

We're leaving Scotland,

and after just a 13-mile hop across the North Channel,

I'm ready to start the next leg of my adventure.

I have a date with a giant

at a spot that many of you will recognise.

It's getting chilly.

Winter is coming. See what you did there, very good.

GAME OF THRONES THEME PLAYS

The countryside in Northern Ireland is so sensational,

I thought that, rather than stick to the main roads,

I'd take the scenic route.

I'm on my way to a place called The Dark Hedges,

to meet a man whose life has been changed

by, well, a television global phenomenon.

When Arya Stark took to the road in Game of Thrones,

the overhanging beeches of The Dark Hedges

provided the perfect dark bewitching menace

to create the drama and melancholy for her escape. Flip.

Hello. How lovely to see you.

I'm here to meet Flip Robinson

who, until recently, was making ends meet

by working as a car park attendant.

All of a sudden, I saw this cavalcade of big 4x45 coming in,

and they were going far too fast and far too close together,

a bit like the American Secret Service, know just moving as one.

But as they stopped, I saw this Game Of Thrones sticker

on the windscreen. And they were like going,

"We're having a meeting down here on set,

"we are filming here next week."

And I was like, "Oh, sorry, don't let me stop you."

And then I stood back, puffed out my chest,

and said, "You don't need any really tall,

"good-looking handsome hairy guys, do you?"

You know. And they laughed,

but then he just said, "Actually, we do, we do, we do need some..."

And a new career started for Flip, whose height made him perfect

as a stand-in for some of the Game Of Thrones huge characters.

Flip, the Game Of Thrones has changed the world's opinion

about Northern Ireland, hasn't it?

That's right. We are known as the Game Of Thrones territory.

Worldwide. If there's anything good that came out of The Troubles,

it's the fact we had a blank canvass for tourism,

and the fact that we have screen tourism here is just, is just great.

Flip's experience made him change direction,

and now he is showing people from all over the world

around Northern Ireland's many Game Of Thrones locations.

When you look at it, it's so utterly gorgeous.

Are they in good health, the trees? They look gorgeous.

They aren't, no. They do have a disease,

the Ganoderma is attacking them, they are extra mature,

these are over 250 years old, but because they have grown as a unit,

once the canopy closed, they then started to fight

for light and air, and that's why they are so intertwined.

Yeah. Oh, Flip, thank you so much for showing me this.

It's an amazing road, and it's nice to walk down it with you.

It's getting chilly.

Winter is coming. I see what you did there, very good.

THEY LAUGH

One of Northern Ireland's most historic cities

was called Londonderry by the Protestant English

who established the name in the 17th century,

ancl Derry by the Catholic Irish who were already there.

And that dispute has rumbled on ever since.

The city is in a stunning corner of the country,

and this is an unbeatable way to take it all in.

This is absolutely thrilling to see it from the air,

looking so beautiful, spread out on either side of the river.

And you can see now, the walls of the old city with the cathedral,

you see the walls and the green just beyond there.

Atop Derry's famous walls, I meeting up with Saorise-Monica Jackson

who plays Erin

in Lisa McGee's hugely successful comedy Derry Girls.

Oh, my God. David, David Donnelly.

OK, just... act normal.

Cool poster. Oh, do you think so? Yeah.

Really nice, you know, letters.

Thanks. Set at the height of Northern Ireland's violent troubles,

it's introducing a whole new audience to the delights of Derry.

Did you go to school in Derry? So, I went to schooljust up there,

just on down from where that church is.

So that was my school up there, so it was great and handy after school

to be able to walk into town. And has that schooling

come flooding back into your head,

because you are a perpetual schoolgirl now.

You should come along tonight. You're inviting me to your gig?

Yeah, well, all of you.

But you'd specifically like me to go, I mean, just so we're clear.

Did you have any idea what an impact it would have?

I don't think any of us

could have expected it to translate so well across the water,

but it's been amazing and, most importantly,

the fact that the people of the city liked it and enjoyed it,

because Derry people would tell you if they didn't like it,

and it would be awful coming home. Yeah.

Look at that, I've noticed so many paintings here,

that is completely covered with autumn leaves.

Yes, so this is by the artist who also painted our mural as well.

I have only seen your mural in a photograph, I'd love to see it.

We'll have to go and see it, it's around the corner. From here?

Everything's just around the corner in Derry,

especially on the walls.

JOANNA GASPS

Oh, my gosh, look at this, it's huge!

It's fantastic.

I forget every time, actually, just how big it is,

and the detail's amazing.

They have even got on where I've over-plucked my eyebrows.

And I think what is so amazing about it is,

it's sort of a blend between the modern murals

that we see here and the older ones.

Murals are so important and part of Derry's culture,

whether that is in a positive or negative light,

but they definitely tell a story,

so it's a real honour for Derry Girls

to have their own mural and sort of be part of that.

Murals have told Derry's story since the dark days of the '70s,

but now they are also being used in a positive way,

to celebrate the city and it's people.

The Derry Girls mural was painted by a local collective of artists,

and I'm off to meet one of them, he is Karl Porter,

and he is waiting for me at an historic Derry location.

Karl? Hi, I'm Joanna.

Hello, how's it going? Oh, it's very good.

So, Karl this is the bog side? Yeah, this is the heart of the city

where the conflict and the Troubles really started.

Free Derry corner here would be a no-go zone for the police

during the Troubles, and there would have been barricades here,

and this is a really important place

where Bloody Sunday happens and where they had a civil rights march.

This area is a prominent

kind of graffiti zone, essentially.

But of course, because the world's eyes are focused on this,

so they knew that their message would get out across the world.

Exactly. It was how people here spoke, it was their voice.

But, Karl, you were never attracted to doing political paintings?

No, no, never. The political graffiti was such a turn off

that I wanted to see more, like, graffiti, like hip hop graffiti

from America or the stage or something.

Did your parents know you were out?

Tagging things? No. They didn't know. Don't tell them.

They will never know. Cross over, yeah. Thank you.

Karl is currently working on a mural that is very close to my heart.

I wonder how it's going.

I never thought I would be helping Joanna Lumley get dressed.

MOCKINGLY: I'm so nicely brought up, I have never used a spray gun.

There we go, nice. Is that a bit better? Yes, very good.

But, look, mine's not as good as yours, look how sharp you are.

OK, OK, I'm getting there. Yeah, better, better, yeah.

No, look. Diggling, driggling. Get you in.

Be careful.

I've done that bit. Oh, right, brilliant.

Will you promise me, don't make me do the faces or the important part.

Everything except the little triangle in the middle.

Not that bit. Yep. And we really need to get this right.

All this bit, all this bit red? Yeah, perfect. Because the mural

is going to be a very big surprise for a very old friend of mine.

I think this mural

is going to be one of the wonders of the world, actually.

I'm in Derry up a cherry picker helping artist Karl Porter.

And we are working on a mural that could be called the Two Llamas,

celebrating the Dalai Lama and the man known as the Derry Lama,

my old friend Richard Moore.

Richard's got such a big character, even though he is so modest.

His attitude around forgiveness and peace and reconciliation

is really inspirational. Karl, I'm actually about to go off

and meet Richard now. Right, OK.

Does Richard know it's happening?

No, so keep it quiet for a little while, if you can.

Richard! Yes, Joanna. I'm going to bump elbows with you like that.

How are you doing? How are you? I'm brilliant, how are you?

Richard Moore's story is truly remarkable.

I will take you to the Creggan yeah? Will you?

God's country. God's country the Creggan.

Oh, that will be great.

The Creggan is a large housing estate in Derry,

and during the Troubles,

was a hotspot for resistance to the army and police.

It felt, looked and smelled like a war zone,

you could smell the CS gas in the air,

you could smell the smoke in the air from the burning vehicles,

and you were just as a kid climbing over rubble.

And the bottom line is, the barricades were our playground.

So, you weren't scared every day?

Not at all. It was almost like you were in a middle of a movie. Yes.

But it wasn't a movie, it was real. No. No.

You could see the backs of the houses down there. Yes, I can.

And they back onto the school football pitch. Yes.

I love football, I was a football fanatic,

and there was an army lookout post facing to the school football pitch,

I was running up on the pitch,

and this soldier fired a rubber bullet

into the playground and it hit me here on the bridge of the nose.

I lost this eye and was left completely blind in my left eye.

So, you are blind? Totally blind.

And the initial stage, Joanna, I thought that I couldn't see

because of the bandages on my eyes,

a month after I was shot, I was at home,

and me brother, Noel, took me for a walk up and down our back garden.

And he said to me, "Richard, do you know what has happened?"

And I said I knew I was shot.

And he said, "Do you know what damage was done?" And I said, "No."

And that's when he told me

that I would be blind for the rest of my life.

And to be honest with you,

I literally took it in my stride that day,

you know, I just accepted it there and then,

until I went to bed that night, and when I was in bed on my own,

I cried for the one and only time that I remember about blindness.

And I cried because I realised for the first time

that I was never going to see my parents' faces again.

And I cried myself to sleep that night.

Despite being blind, Richard put himself through university,

had a family, has established his charity

called Children in Crossfire,

and amazingly, befriended the soldier who had fired the shot

that blinded him.

Richard, coming from such a sort of hot bread of...

of sort of resentment and warfare, actually,

how was it that your later life changed,

and how was it that you've met the Dalai Lama, for instance?

He come to Derry one time, and I was just in the audience,

and he began to talk about forgiveness and stuff.

And I-I just realised when he was talking, he's describing how I feel.

Yeah. I put my hand up to speak, and I told him that, and from then on,

from that time onward, he simply just took an interest in me,

and that was it, really. He loves you.

I've been in the audience,

when he says in that lovely way he speaks,

he says, "This man, he's my hero." He thinks the world of you, Richard.

I know, but he's a bad judge of character.

And over here, you're known as the Derry Lama. The Derry Lama, aye.

I love it. So, he called me that one time as well.

Did he? He did.

Here we are 42, we are in front of your house.

42. That's my old house, yeah. The bay windows.

And my bedroom was the bedroom just above the bay window there.

And how many of you were here? There was a family of 12 of us

living in there in a three-bedroom house. 12?

Yeah. But do you know, it felt like home, it was warm,

it was comfortable, it was lovely, it was happy.

You know, despite being shot and blinded,

I actually had a lovely childhood.

Richard, I was going to say

can we walk over the Peace Bridge together. Yes.

But I've got a slightly different project in mind.

Will you come with me now? Yes.

And we are going to see something completely different.

Right, OK. It's a surprise.

Right OK. I know the Dalai Lama is not travelling at the minute,

so it's not him. THEY LAUGH

I love surprises... when I'm doing them.

Won't have to dance or anything?

No. Cos blind people and dancing, you know, it just doesn't work.

I don't like surprise parties I hate things like that.

I'm not keen on that. Oh, right, OK.

Mind you, I've never had one. Have you not?

Although he can't see,

Richard knows every nook and cranny of his city.

This is Edward Street. Edward Street?

Yeah, this is Little Edward Street here,

I'm just going to stand here

and we are now looking at the side of a house,

like the blank side of a house, it's just in front of us,

just straight ahead of us.

On the side of the house, Karl Porter is painting a mural here.

Right, OK. It is two figures. Right.

And they are touching heads, forehead to forehead.

Right. And on the right-hand side is Richard Moore... What?

...the Derry Lama.

On the left-hand side is the Dalai Lama. You're joking.

I promise you that's what it is. You are joking.

It is easily the biggest mural I've seen in Derry.

You're taking the hand! I surely am not.

I can smell the paint. Karl, how high is this building, do you think?

18 metres or so. 18 metres.

That's unbelievable, I'm in shock. Did you have any idea of this?

Not a chance! I'm still not sure whether to believe you or not.

Come, come. This is your family here.

Oh, my God. What's going on here?

What the hell? That's Naoimh.

And Enya. The whole shebang!

É

é

Holy mackerel. I can't believe it.

What the hell.

They needed a big wall for your head.

It's amazing.

Oh, Richard, I just wanted to say that it is just so lovely

to be here in Derry with you and to look up at this.

It's just amazing.

Like, that's normally for famous people, murals and stuff like that.

It's just amazing that I'm up there with His Holiness,

no greater honour, no greater privilege and...

...you know, that's it's just unbelievable.

Actually, no one, no one more deserving than you.

Oh, thank you, I appreciate that. My God, that's great.

Fantastic. Hey, they will be saying whose your man

along with Richard Moore.

Ron, thank you so much for taking me up in the air,

would you do me one more favour? Yeah. Could you drop me in Wales?

Next week... Look at this landscape, honestly,

it feels like the side of the moon.

I pop in to a rather extraordinary B&B.

I'm Andy, this is Julian and this is Patsy.

No, stop it. It absolutely is.

On my way to the cider orchards of Somerset. Cheers, babe.

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