Ulster-Scots Leid Week to feature six hours of new programming across Ireland
A major new season of Ulster-Scots programming, including six hours of brand-new content will air from Monday, November 24 to Sunday 30 as part of Ulster-Scots Leid Week, celebrating the language, music, and culture of the Ulster-Scots community.
The programming will be broadcast on That’s TV (Freeview Channel 7 / Virgin 159) in Northern Ireland and for the first time, will also be shown on Dublin Community Television (DCTV Virgin 802) and Cork Community Television (CCTV Virgin 803), extending the reach of Ulster-Scots stories to two million households across the island of Ireland.
At the heart of the schedule is the flagship documentary The Man Who Fell into Muttonburn Stream, premiering on Sunday, November 30.
This new series marks the continuing partnership between NVTV and That’s TV who are commited to sharing authentic local stories and celebrating the cultural diversity of our communities. Through their partnership, now joined by Dublin Community Television and Cork Community Television, Ulster-Scots language and creativity will be showcased to an all-Ireland audience, connecting communities across regions and traditions.
Together, these stations will broadcast a wide-ranging selection of programmes exploring Ulster-Scots language, heritage, poetry, dance, and storytelling, offering new perspectives on identity and belonging.
The Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund has played a central role in supporting this special schedule. The Fund champions high-quality productions that reflect Ulster-Scots life, ensuring that the voices, experiences and creativity of the community are shared with audiences both locally and internationally.
Its support has enabled the creation of new content that celebrates the shared cultural bonds between Ulster and Scotland, and between Ireland and America.
As part of Leid Week, viewers will be able to watch six hours of new Ulster-Scots content, with a mix of documentary, discussion, music and storytelling.
On Monday, November 24, he schedule includes European Highland Dance 2025, in which dance teacher Georgina Kee-McCarter looks at how Highland dancing continues in Ulster-Scots communities, Gathering Together, where Helen Mark, Iona Fyfe and Anne McMaster focus on storytelling, song and poetry, and a short film on the Louise McIlroy blue plaque, marking Dame Louise McIlroy as the first woman Professor of Medicine.
On Tuesday, November 25, the line-up features Charlotte Riddell, a portrait of the Ulster-Scots novelist on what would have been her 193rd birthday, Eva’s First Twelfth, which follows presenter Eva Jackson, who is 16 and from England, as she experiences her first 12th of July and hears the stories behind the tradition, and The Hamely Tongue, filmed at the Linen Hall Library and centred on poetry, humour and the living Ulster-Scots language.
On Wednesday, November 26, Fragments of Scotch Language, curated by poet Maria McManus and featuring Pàdraig MacAoidh and Anne McMaster, looks at shared linguistic roots between Ulster and Scotland. On Thursday, November 27 and Friday 28, Ireland and America: 250th Anniversary (Parts 1 and 2) marks 250 years of links between Ireland and America from an Ulster-Scots perspective.
The season concludes on Sunday, November 30 with The Man Who Fell into Muttonburn Stream.
A lyrical and reflective film, The Man Who Fell into Muttonburn Stream explores how memory, language and landscape intertwine within Ulster-Scots culture.
Through rich imagery and poetic narration, the documentary traces connections between family, place and belonging with the stream itself serving as a metaphor for continuity and change. Blending local voices, music and archival material, the film invites viewers to rediscover the Ulster-Scots experience as something both deeply personal and universally human.
The Borough of Mid and East Antrim will host the premiere screening of The Man Who Fell into the Muttonburn Stream at Larne Museum & Arts Centre on Friday, November 28 at 2.00pm, as part of the celebrations for Leid Week.
The premiere will include a post-screening discussion with the producer, Dean Hagan and presenter, David Hume, giving attendees a unique insight into the making of the film and the enduring influence of William Hume’s Ulster-Scots voice.
Dean Hagan of NVTV said: “Our ongoing partnership with That’s TV, now joined by Dublin and Cork Community Television, gives Ulster-Scots culture a new and exciting platform. With support from the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund, we are proud to share six hours of new programmes that bring language, landscape and heritage together, with The Man Who Fell into Muttonburn Stream as a central highlight of the week.”
Ulster-Scots Leid Week runs from Monday, November 24 to Sunday