The Troubles in popular culture

The Northern Ireland Troubles have been referenced numerous times in popular culture, particularly through films, novels, songs and poems. This article aims to provide a complete list of such works.

Art

• The Linen Memorial by Lycia Danielle Trouton
• Murals in Northern Ireland

Comics

• Web of Spider-Man Vol. 1, #22 (January 1987)^[1][2][3]

Film

• The Long Good Friday (1980)
• The Outsider (1980)
• Angel (1982)
• Harry's Game (1982)
• Cal (1984)
• Children in the Crossfire (1984)
• A Prayer for the Dying (1987)
• Elephant (Alan Clarke film) (1989)
• Dear Sarah (1990)
• Hidden Agenda (1990)
• Law & Order - "The Troubles" episode - (1991)
• The Crying Game (1992)
• Patriot Games (1992)
• In the Name of the Father (1993)
• The Railway Station Man (1993)
• Blown Away (1994)
• The Run of the Country (1995)
• Nothing Personal (1995)
• Some Mothers Son (1996)
• The Devil's Own (1997)
• The Boxer (1997)
• The Informant (1997)
• Resurrection Man (1997)
• The General (1998)
• My Brother's War (1998)
• Ronin (1998)
• Titanic Town (1998)
• Omagh the Legacy: Claire and Stephen's Story (1999)
• Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)
• An Everlasting Piece (2000)
• H3 (2001)
• Bloody Sunday (2002)
• Sunday (2002)
• Holy Cross (BBC Documentary) (2003)
• Mickybo and Me (2004)
• Omagh (2004)
• Breakfast on Pluto (2005)
• Johnny Was (2006)
• Closing the Ring (2007)
• Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)
• Hunger (2008)
• Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)
• Shadow Dancer (2012)
• Good Vibrations (2013)
• '71 (2014)
• The Foreigner (2017)

Instrumental compositions

• "Lest we forget" by Robert Candeloro (2006)
• "The Seeming Insanity of Forgiveness" by Dr Thomas Fitzgerald (composer) (2002)

Novels

• A Breed of Heroes by Alan Judd
• Belfast Diaries: War as a Way of Life by John Conroy (1995)
• The Bombmaker by Stephen Leather (1999)
• Breakfast on Pluto by Patrick McCabe (1998)
• Cal by Bernard MacLaverty (1983)
• Christ in the Fields, A Fermanagh Trilogy by Eugene McCabe (1993)
• Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman (1995)
• The Dead Republic by Roddy Doyle (2010)
• Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman (1994)
• Drink with the Devil by Jack Higgins (1996)
• Eureka Street by Robert McLiam Wilson (1996)
• Harry's Game by Gerald Seymour (1975)
• The Kevin and Sadie series: The Twelfth Day of July (1970), Across the Barricades (1972), Into Exile (1973), A Proper Place (1975), and Hostage to Fortune (1976) by Joan Lingard
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh (2001)
• Maura's Angel by Lynne Reid Banks (1984)
• The Marching Season by Daniel Silva (1999)
• Mohammed Maguire by Colin Bateman (2001)
• Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin (1994)
• No Bones by Anna Burns (2001)
• Ourselves Alone by Anne Devlin (1985)
• Patriot Games by Tom Clancy (1987)
• Rogue Element by Terence Strong (1997).
• A Son Called Gabriel by McNicholl, Damian. (2004). ISBN 1-59315-018-0
• Stand by Stand by by Chris Ryan
• The Watchman by Chris Ryan (2001)
• Watchman by Ian Rankin (1988)
• Transatlantic by Colum McCann (2013)
• Troubled Souls by Garth Ennis & John McCrea (1990) - Graphic Novel ISBN 978-1853861741
• A Stone's Throw by Lee Watts (2015) ISBN 9781517264925

Short Stories

• The Miracle Shed by Philip MacCann

Plays

• A Night in November by Marie Jones
• Bloom of the Diamond Stone by Wilson John Haire
• Did You Hear the One About the Irishman...? by Christina Reid
• In a Little World of Our Own by Gary Mitchell
• Joyriders by Christina Reid
• Remembrance by Graham Reid
• The Flats by John Boyd
• The Freedom of the City by Brian Friel
• Greater Belfast by Matt Regan
• The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh
• The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth

Poems

Songs

• "Armalite Rifle" by Gang of Four
• "Alternative Ulster" by Stiff Little Fingers
• "Armagh" by Au Pairs
• "Belfast" by Boney M
• "Belfast" by Orbital
• "Belfast" by Elton John
• "Belfast Child" by Simple Minds
• "Belfast (Penguins and Cats)" by Katie Melua
• "Belfast to Boston (God's Rifle)" by James Taylor
• "Big Decision" by That Petrol Emotion
• "Black Cab Motorcade" by State Radio
• "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2
• "Please" by U2
• "Peace on Earth" by U2
• "North and South of The River" by U2
• "Raised By Wolves" by U2
• "The Troubles" by U2
• "Both Sides of the Story" by Phil Collins
• "Broken Land" by The Adventures
• "Crimson Days" by Silent Running
• "Don't forget about us" by Paul J Miles (2008)
• "Drunken Lullabies" by Flogging Molly
• "Each Dollar a Bullet" by Stiff Little Fingers
• "Ether" by Gang Of Four
• "Fly the Flag" by Stiff Little Fingers
• "Forgotten Sons" by Marillion
• "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" by Paul McCartney
• "Go on Home British Soldiers" by Tommy Skelly
• "God be with you Ireland" by The Cranberries
• "God Kicks", "Potato Junkie" and "Church of Noise" by Therapy?
• "Hang the IRA" by Skullhead
• "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" by Megadeth
• "The House of Orange" by Stan Rogers on From Fresh Water
• "Invisible Sun" by The Police
• "It's Going To Happen" by The Undertones
• "It's Only Tuesday" by Eric Bogle
• "Kinky Sex Makes the World Go 'Round" by Dead Kennedys
• "Last Night Another Soldier", "Brighton Bomb" and "Soldier" by The Angelic Upstarts
• "Letter from Louise" by The Saw Doctors
• "Michael Caine" by Madness (band)
• "My Little ArmaLite" by Unknown
• "Northern Industrial Town" by Billy Bragg
• "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello
• "Out in the Fields" by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott
• "Pie Jesu" by Andrew Lloyd Webber
• "What's Left of the Flag" by Flogging Molly
• "Sean O'Farrell" by The Celibate Rifles
• "Shankill Butchers" by The Decemberists
• "Smash the IRA" by Skrewdriver
• "So Many People" by Hubert Kah
• "Soldier" by Harvey Andrews
• Some Time in New York City by John Lennon and Yoko Ono: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "The Luck of the Irish"
• "Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" by The Pogues
• "Sunrise" by The Divine Comedy
• "Ten Men Dead" by Blaggers ITA
• "That's Just the Way It Is" by Phil Collins
• "The Greening of Belfast" by Michael Card
• "The Island" by Paul Brady
• "The Men Behind the Wire" by Barleycorn
• "The More I See (The Less I Believe)" by Fun Boy Three
• "There Were Roses" by Tommy Sands
• "The Town I Loved So Well" by Phil Coulter
• "The Troubles" by The Roches
• "The Troubles" by XTC
• "Theme from Harry's Game" by Clannad
• "This Is a Rebel Song" by Sinéad O'Connor
• "This is Not Your Country" by Morrissey
• "Through the Barricades" by Spandau Ballet^[4][5]
• "Ulster" by Sham 69
• "White Noise" by Stiff Little Fingers
• "Wild Frontier" by Gary Moore
• "Zombie" by The Cranberries

Television

• Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Season 3, Episode 12 ("If It's Doomsday, This Must Be Belfast")^[6][7][8]
• The Simpsons: Season 20, Episode 1 ("Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes")^[9][10]

Video games

• Block H is an interactive installation which includes a Counter-Strike mini-mod with maps changed to Belfast and standard player skins changed to Loyalists and Nationalists.^[11]
• MMORPG The Hooded Gunman^[12] has caused major controversy.^[13] It includes drug-dealing and gunrunning as primary means of raising funds, which can later be used to organize riots and other illegal actions.
• The Fidelio Incident is an adventure game featuring a Northern Irish couple, Stanley and Leanore, stranded in Icelandic wilderness following a plane crash. The game revolves around Stanley's attempts (at Leonore's insistence) to find and erase the evidence of their identities, specifically related to Stanley's past as an unwitting bomber for the IRA.

References