‘Tubaiste Árainn Mhór’, a Tobar production directed by David Starkey (Northern Ireland’s Greatest Haunts, Ultimate Weapons) and presented by Niall Mac Eachmharcaigh (Ros na Rún, Corp agus Anam) which tells the tale of the biggest disaster to strike the island of Arranmore off the coast of Donegal, will premiere on TG4 at 9.30pm on Wednesday 14th December.
The documentary recounts the story of when 19 people lost their lives off the coast of the Arranmore Island just a few hundred feet from shore after returning from the tattyhoking season in Scotland. On this the 75th anniversary, the documentary speaks to the only survivor Paddy Gallagher, who lost seven members of his family in the tragedy and was unable to speak about the horror of that night for 50 years. Much of the documentary was filmed in the house where Paddy spent months recovering before returning home.
Executive producer on the project was Philip Campbell (Trí Shúle an Chait) of Tobar Productions. It was produced by Damian McCann. Director of Photography was Mark Garrett (Freezeframe, Scapegoat). It was shot on XDCAM but was delivered on DigiBeta. The shoot started November 2010 and was finished March of this year. It was edited by Gerard Brady (Touching People, The Alternative Queen’s Message) at Offline Central in Belfast.
This film is produced by Tobar Productions and was funded by the Irish language Broadcast Fund and TG4.
