How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Online Free from Anywhere

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland is a British James Bluemel documentary series. Keep reading to find out the premiere date, plot, and all the other important details you may be looking for, but also details on streaming the episodes online free from anywhere.

The powerful new documentary series combines unfiltered personal accounts with archive footage to tell the story of the people and communities living with violence daily and are still dealing with its legacies today.

With this said, let's see where, when, and how to effortlessly watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland online from anywhere in the world, even on the go or while traveling abroad.

When and Where to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland premiered in the UK on Monday, May 22, 2023. The series will air on BBC Two and BBC Northern Ireland at 8 pm local time and stream on the BBC iPlayer service (UK only).

The series has 5 episodes, each one hour long, and you will be able to stream the full series via BBC iPlayer for free, while one new episode will air weekly on TV.

How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Online for Free from Anywhere

Nowadays, it’s super easy to watch content online via a streaming service in your home country, but geo-restrictions may be an issue. BBC iPlayer is blocked outside the UK, so you’ll need a workaround while abroad, and that is to use a VPN to watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland online on iPlayer from anywhere since it lets you change your IP address.

Looking for the best VPN on the market? NordVPN offers thousands of servers worldwide, stable connections, high speeds, unlimited bandwidth, and great encryption while also easily unblocking BBC iPlayer, Britbox, ITVX, Netflix, Prime Video, and more. You can try NordVPN for 30 days RISK-FREE via the money-back guarantee.

The yearly option has a huge discount when subscribing to NordVPN (69% discount and get 3 months FREE). It only takes a few minutes to create an account, so fill in the signup form and pay. Next, download and install the native app for your device. Then, launch and run your VPN app via a UK server. Lastly, load the platform to stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland.

How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland for Free in the UK

In the UK, the docuseries airs on BBC Two Northern Ireland on May 22, and you will be able to stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland on BBC iPlayer for free as long as you log in with your free BBC account credentials. 

There are several other fan-favorite BBC titles on iPlayer, such as MasterChef, Peaky Blinders, Shetland, Gentleman Jack, Call the Midwife, The Gold, and Eastenders.

This streaming service is geo-restricted, so you will need to lean on a safe and capable VPN tool set to a UK server while traveling outside the UK.

How to Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland in the US

In the US, you can stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland on the PBS app and website on May 22, 2023, at 5 pm ET. The docuseries will have its broadcast premiere later, on August 28-30, 2023, on PBS.

PBS is only available in the US and Canada, so you will need to lean on a trustworthy VPN app to access this title while being outside these countries. This will work as long as you use a server located close to your hometown area.

Can I Watch Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Online in Canada and Australia?

Unfortunately, we have no way for you to stream this title online in Canada and Australia. This is why we recommend you use a capable VPN tool set to a UK server to unblock BBC iPlayer and stream Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland for free in Canada, Australia, and anywhere else.

 Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Cast

Episode 1

• Billy is a teenager living in a working class Catholic area of Londonderry. He joins the civil rights protests and eventually the IRA.
• Jeanette grows up in a working class Protestant area of Londonderry. She’s terrified by the outbreak of violence sparked by the civil rights marches. 
• James is from a working class Protestant background. He joins a loyalist paramilitary organization and, by the age of 17, is in charge of their guns. 
• Ricky is born into a Belfast Republican family. He joins the IRA and is jailed for armed robbery, later playing a pivotal role in the 1981 hunger strike.
• Richard remembers the rioting and street battles with the British Army from the perspective of a schoolboy in Catholic Derry. 
• Fiona is a young child when the British Army arrives in Derry. She recalls that her Republican family was regularly subjected to terrifying house searches by soldiers looking for hidden IRA weapons.
• Kate is a carefree teenager from a large Catholic family. Her brother is shot dead, and her father is wounded by British Paratroopers. 
• Tom is deployed to Northern Ireland as part of the British Army. He’s 19 years old.

Episode 2

• Dawn remembers the devastating impact of Bloody Friday on her Protestant, working class community.
• Terri is a legendary Belfast figure who sets up a record shop at height of the troubles in the 1970s. He is at the heart of the punk music scene which brings young Catholics and Protestants together in defiance of the conflict around them.
• Greg grows up in a middle class Protestant suburb of Belfast and becomes the lead singer of the Outcasts, a Belfast punk band.
• Yvonne is a young Catholic girl who starts going to the Harp Bar where the Belfast punk scene played out. It’s there that she meets and falls in love with her future husband, Greg.
• Bronagh is the granddaughter of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10 who was kidnapped, murdered, and secretly buried by the IRA as one of ‘the Disappeared’.
• Michael McConville is Bronagh’s father. He remembers his mother being forcibly taken from the family home. He had to wait 30 years for the IRA to reveal where his mother was buried.
• John grows up on a working class Protestant loyalist estate believing all Catholics to be his enemy. He later discovers a family secret that causes him to re think his beliefs. 

Episode 3

• Bernadette (1) is 18, has just married her boyfriend Ricky in Catholic West Belfast. Her new husband is arrested and jailed for armed robbery.
• Bernadette (2) is just 10 years old when she’s told that her father Joe, an IRA prisoner, is going to be the next man to go on hunger strike. She travels to the United States and appears on US TV appealing to President Regan to intervene to save her father’s life. 
• June grows up in a predominantly Protestant village in rural Northern Ireland and marries her teenage sweetheart Johnnie, but his decision to join the police force (RUC) has devastating consequences. 

Episode 4

• Denise, her mother, and her brother live on an ‘interface’ in constant fear of attack by their Catholic neighbors, and is terrified of the consequences if her family secret is revealed.
• Jean is Denise’s mother. She joins the Ulster Defence Regiment, part of the British Army.
• Billy (2) grows up in a Catholic working class community in South Belfast. His father is murdered when loyalist gunmen storm into a betting shop and shoot indiscriminately. 
• Anne Marie witness a loyalist attack on an IRA funeral and agrees to plant firebombs in Belfast shops for the IRA. When her ex-partner turns informer on her she is sent to jail.
• 'Brian' is an ex Special Branch (police) officer who worked at a high level with informers and agents for decades. He believes his life is still at risk from paramilitaries seeking revenge, so is filmed anonymously. 

Episode 5

• Alan is widowed after a bomb blows up his young wife father’s fish shop. The bombers were targeting the loyalist paramilitary UDA headquarters upstairs.
• Patrick is one of Northern Ireland’s most successful comedians, but comedy was actually an outlet for his grief;  his father had been shot dead by loyalists paramilitaries a year earlier.

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Episode Guide 

• Season 1 Episode 1: It Wasn’t Like a Movie Anymore - When tensions between Catholic and Protestant communities explode, the British Army is deployed. When 13 unarmed Catholics are shot dead in Derry by British Paratroopers, the world looks on in shock. Known as “Bloody Sunday,” it has far reaching political consequences and is seen by some as a recruitment drive for the Provisional IRA. 
• Season 1 Episode 2: Do Paramilitaries Lay Awake at Night? - In 1972, there’s a deeply segregated society, with many Catholic and Protestant working-class communities policed by paramilitary organizations. Six months after Bloody Sunday, the IRA explode 19 bombs across Belfast in an hour, killing nine and injuring 130 others. But punk music emerges as a unifying force for some young Catholics and Protestants, who defy the chaos and segregated world around them. 
• Season 1 Episode 3: So Many Broken Hearts - The devastating impact of the conflict is explored through the stories of three women as IRA prisoners begin their hunger strike in protest against Margaret Thatcher’s policies. Tit-for-tat killings, car bombs and assassinations are now part of everyday life in Northern Ireland. Fatigue, from a population desperate for a respite from the violence, is creeping in. 
• Season 1 Episode 4: The Dirty War - By the late 1980s, the news in Northern Ireland is a daily list of the dead, but 14 bloody days in March 1988 mark a new level of harrowing savagery. The conflict also becomes an intelligence war, as the move to prevent further terrorist violence is concentrated on infiltrating paramilitary organizations. “Trust nobody” is the mantra as fear and suspicion permeate all parts of everyday life.
• Season 1 Episode 5: Who Wants to Live Like That? - In 1994, President Bill Clinton controversially invites Gerry Adams to the United States. For some, it’s a symbol of international support for peace talks, but others are horrified. An IRA ceasefire was announced, and a loyalist paramilitary ceasefire followed 6 weeks later. There is widespread joy when the Good Friday Agreement is finally announced in 1998, but peace comes at a cost.

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland Official Trailer