::: CREDITS :::
Executive producer: Brendan J. Byrne


::: TRANSMISSION DETAILS :::
Four part series for BBC 1 Northern Ireland to be broadcast January 2007.


::: SYNOPSIS :::
There are many ways a director can make things harder for himself - shooting in a dead language a la Mel Gibson for instance, or attempting to adapt an unfilmable book (take a bow, David Cronenberg). Writer/director Dan Gordon has really set himself a challenge - to stage Frank McGuinness's acclaimed play, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, inside Hydebank Young Offenders Centre, with a cast and crew comprised entirely of inmates, many of them with low-level literacy, many of them guilty of serious crimes.

Over the course of four programmes we follow Dan's progress and the inmates' journey from the initial buzz of auditions, through the sweat and tears of rehearsals, to the excitement and nerves of an opening night in front of families, friends, prison staff and inmates.

Have the novices actors got what it takes to tread the boards? How will they brave the ridicule of comrades and the challenge of memorising lines? And can the experience make any impact on wayward lives?