Back to Belfast.

This is the story of a VHS tape that collapses time; of a rediscovered, long lost video which brings teenagers from 1988 into dialogue with their present selves, & me into dialogue with my mum at my age.

‘Under Pressure’ 1988 - where it started.

In 1987/8, two pacifist friends, Pippa & Fiona, set up what became a 2-week drama/video project with mixed 14-16 year-olds in Belfast, culminating in a 30min educational film & teaching pack. The young people came from two schools, one Protestant, one Catholic; the film included improvised drama & the young people, 1-1, speaking to camera about their lives in ‘The Troubles.’

For Pippa & Fiona, watching UNDER PRESSURE after 37 years, memories flooded back about the project and kids, begging the question – where, & who, are they now? The realisation that they’d be in their fifties was vertiginous.

I watched the video not just as Pippa’s son (the same age she was when she made it) but also as an aspiring film maker. I loved the combination of texture and sense of history along with the immediacy of this potent time capsule: the power of those faces and stories.

I proposed going back, continuing/completing the story. To do this by locating and interviewing original participants from the 1988 film, screening the original video, and filming their responses.

In May 2025 we visited Belfast. A fact-finding first trip for me as a director, and a chance for Pippa and Fiona to revisit and spark memories. We met with two key members of the original team - Dr Norman Richardson who helped with logistics and relationships in 1988, and Eugene McNamee who co-facilitated some of the drama sessions (now a Professor at Ulster University.)

Operation Flavius (March 6):

British Special Air Service (SAS) forces killed three unarmed IRA members in Gibraltar, sparking controversy. One of those killed - Daniel McCann - was the uncle of one of the participants in the 1988 project.

Milltown Cemetery Attack (March 16):

A lone loyalist gunman, Michael Stone, attacked mourners at the funeral of the IRA members killed in Gibraltar, killing three and injuring 70.

Corporals Killings (March 19):

Two British Army corporals, Derek Wood and David Howes, were killed by the Provisional IRA after driving into the funeral cortege of IRA members who had been killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack. The incident was televised, highlighting the brutality of the conflict.

Lisburn Bombing (June 15):

The IRA killed six British soldiers in a bomb attack in Lisburn.

Pippa and Fi Arrive in Belfast (July 10)

Meetings at YMCA and visits to Twinbrook - St Colm’s High School and Cairn Martin Community School to finalise participants

Under Pressure Project starts (July 25)

Two weeks full-time at YMCA Central Belfast, 20 Wellington Place (now PWC offices), near City Hall

The Under Pressure Project is Completed (August 5)

Ballygawley Bus Bombing (August 20):

An IRA bomb attack on a bus killed eight British soldiers in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.

1988 Timeline:

Going Forward... Back to Belfast

This is a quest - a story of discovery: the VHS tape is both a mythical relic & the impetus for our quest, providing a potent portal into past, present and future. The original 1988 footage will combine with the complexities & nuances of the hunt for & the reunion of the ‘gang’, + new 1-1 interviews, allowing different generations to speak back & forth through time via this recovered tape. Watch our trailer for Back to Belfast here:

There’s such potent specificity in the textures and colours of 1988 Belfast, and in the teenagers, pre-internet & media savvy self-consciousness. The VHS is oddly innocent - despite the backdrop of violence & radicalised division - as is the uncomplicated idealism of my mum & Fiona. It’s both an historic document and a personal story too: I want to connect the audience with the idealistic clarity of the film. Like many contemporaries, I’m in the grip of millennial angst and overwhelm - what the fuck am I doing with my life? – navigating through the fog of Universal Credit/minimum wage, the relentless superficiality of making/re-making identity and a generational despair which sits between the competing narratives of LIVE YOUR DREAM! and OUR PLANET’S ON FIRE! to some kind of future. Can this story connect generations, and suggest a new way to face the future?

Working with Pippa and Fiona, we have already re-found and begun interviewing the people who made the project possible. We are now sensitively looking for the young participants themselves – or rather the adults they have become. We also have the original teachers’ pack that accompanied the film, as well as illuminating contemporary diaries.

We will continue/complete the story by locating & interviewing the original participants (& their children too) & screening the video.

  • What will they think meeting their young selves again, speaking so candidly about stereotypes, consent and domestic violence, hopes and fears for the future, their families, their ambitions?

  • Does life in Belfast, post the Good Friday Agreement, feel like the peace and integration they hoped for?

  • Do they remember the project - what (if anything) stayed with them?

  • Who are they in relation to that person 37 years ago?

  • Are there lessons here for young people growing up in conflicts where violence & division are normalised?

  • Post the peace agreement what, if anything, has changed for them/their children/grandchildren?


  • Podcast Creator and Writer

    In my time at Immediate Theatre I wrote, researched, recorded, edited and presented over 10 podcast features for Hackney Social Audio;

    Released 15 episodes for the podcast since July 2023 (including 5x monthly 1-hour episodes)

    I worked closely with the Hackney community, creating features with/about the diverse and intergenerational population of the borough, using theatre and podcast making to support young, economically disadvantaged people in Hackney.

At 25 my mum was co-creating an idealistic drama & video project on a shoestring. For me, being 25 in 2025 feels bleak and uncompromising – no safety nets for creativity. It’s easy to feel lost. Who am I? Who will I become? What is possible? Millennials can feel chained to a fatalistic future predetermined by previous generations: I haven’t lived through a single moment of political optimism! Can I, and the audience for this documentary, be inspired to conceive of a future where change feels possible? This feature aims to capture and continue the optimism and energy behind UNDER PRESSURE, connecting with and projecting something hopeful about change, and how we can make a mark.

The faces I see in the original VHS brim with potential. Unique to that 1988 moment they’re also timeless. Their words and drama offer insights into their teenage pasts and presents, but the faces are even more eloquent. As director I’ll revisit their portraits and capture them again in the present day. As they tell the stories that bring them to today, their faces will interact compellingly with the camera.

As a first-time filmmaker, my own naivety and passion is part of the story. I want to bring the audience, incl. wannabe filmmakers, with me as we explore Belfast, the project then and now, and the excitement of the documentary-making process itself.

As an art historian, my theoretical approach is informed by both Baxandall and Steyerl: I see the original VHS not only as a film, but as a pre-digital relic that converses with society, with viewer & subject, past & present, and with this new film (and vice versa as my contemporary encounter sheds new light on the past document and puts the two in dynamic relationship with each other). The tape is itself a key character: it opens up and collapses the space between past, present & future, becoming both activated and vulnerable in the process, alive with the people held within it and the audience’s gaze.

My Intent


  • Award Winning Producer

    Stephen Douds is a Royal Television Society award-winning media professional living in Belfast. Stephen has more than 25 years experience in producing internationally distributed factual/unscripted output, first with the BBC and now for a range of broadcasters in UK and Ireland.

    Instrumental in winning new commissions and increasing business, he has played a key role in originating and delivering award-winning documentaries and series, working with some of the best talent in television.

Stephen’s Projects Include:

THE NEGOTIATOR
Fine Point Films 2024
Feature doc exploring Senator George Mitchell’s work as a negotiator in the lead-up to the Good Friday Agreement.

THE AGREEMENT
RTÉ 2 x 60 2023
Series produced this landmark series presented by Miriam O’Callaghan, examining the intense negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement.

RHYS McCLENAGHAN: CHASING GOLD
BBC NI 1 x 30 Ronin Films 2023
Working with a first time director managing every aspect of production.


PAUL MULDOON – LAOITHE ‘s LIRICÍ
BBC/TG4
Devised & produced this feature doc from initial development through to additional financial support.


COLM TOÍBÍN: ON MEMORY’S SHORE
RTÉ 1 x 60 BelowTheRadarTV
Devised and produced this landmark profile of Colm Tobin. Won RTS NI Best Specialist Factual 2022.


  • Writer and Theatre Maker

    Pippa Marriott was the director and editor of the original 1988 documentary ‘Under Pressure’. Pippa moved from full-time work in national and international peace organisations, via her experience with Belfast teenagers, into English and Drama teaching for 11-18 year olds.

    Whilst studying for her MA (creative writing) she established a weekly creative writing group in HMP Exeter.

    She co-founded Word Kitchen and has written and directed a range of theatre projects from radio plays to The Washing Machine of Destiny.

    She is also a regular contributor to the NFTS Script Development diploma.


  • Facilitator and Drama Lecturer

    Fiona is a facilitator and university lecturer with 30 years experience. She runs workshops exploring personal narrative and leads training courses on working creatively with conflict.

    Working with vulnerable adults and young people, she has learnt the importance of standing alongside someone, showing them that they are seen, and reflecting their value and meaningfulness. She is the founder of An Inside Story.


  • Editor and Creative

    Harvey has dedicated 14 years to creating and contributing to projects that span from social media content for clients including LadBible, to experimental dance/art films.

    He has always been committed to creating content that caters to the diverse needs of the disability community and has had had the privilege of collaborating with pioneering initiatives such as Sync and Clore, as well as producing work for esteemed disabled artists like Chisato Minamimura.

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