Anderson tracks infamous Ulster-Scot Apache scalper

Gerry Anderson has been fascinated by James Kirker for a long time now and it is easy to see why. For Gerry, James Kirker - not Davy Crockett - is the unrecognised King of the Wild Frontier.

He left Ulster an ordinary, decent citizen but in 19th century America he became an infamous mercenary, an Apache serial killer, a probable bigamist, a pirate and the uncrowned King of New Mexico.

Well that's the picture of the man left behind in folklore but Gerry was not convinced Kirker was the villain he was painted to be. Maybe Kirker was a decent man caught in unusual circumstances?

In King of the Wild Frontier, a two-part series the second episode of which airs on BBC One NI tonight Wednesday, February 10 at 10.45pm, Gerry sets off to the USA to piece together the life and times of James Kirker.

His journey takes him across the United States from New York to California, stopping off at some amazing watering holes in between.

In New York, Gerry encounters the life of Kirker's son, James B, whom James senior abandoned.

Junior went on to become one of New York's most admired soldiers, re-cruiting Irish immigrants into the Union Army during the Civil War.

His abandoned Irish Catholic wife went on to amass a small fortune that James senior knew nothing about.

In St Louis, Missouri, Gerry visits the spot where James Kirker owned a hardware store on the banks of the Mississippi.

In today's St Louis you could not buy the land Kirker's store stood on. This is now prime real estate.

From here Gerry moves west along the Santa Fe Trail to modern day New Mexico, where he discovers that James Kirker could have crowned himself 'King of New Mexico'.

Gerry Anderson says: "King of the Wild Frontier was the result of assembling a veritable historical jigsaw of the life of one of the most interesting and controversial Ulster-Scots who ever scalped an Indian for money."

Michael McGowan, the producer and director of this two-part documentary, says: "When I was approached by Gerry Anderson about the James Kirker story I just did not believe it. It sounded too good to be true. After a bit of detective work I changed my mind. I even thought this is a story big enough for the big screen."