THE award-winning feature film Aontas is coming to BBC iPlayer as part of BBC Gaeilge’s Seachtain na Gaeilge season of programming in March.
The Irish language crime thriller has gained international recognition on the film festival circuit throughout 2025 and will make its television premiere this month on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Northern Ireland and TG4.
The film follows three unlikely thieves, led by Mairéad (Carrie Crowley), a woman on the verge of a breakdown, as they attempt to rob a rural Irish Credit Union. When their plans begin to unravel, Mairéad and two accomplices, her sister Cáit (Bríd Brennan) and Sheila (Eva-Jane Gaffney), soon discover they cannot escape the past.
Seán T. Ó Meallaigh (Colly), Marcus Lamb (Dara), Art Parkinson (Éamonn), Naseen Morgan (Elma) Niall Mac Eachmharcaigh (Brian), Bríd Ní Chumhaill (Nóirín), Mary Ryan (Mary), Christopher Grant (Caoimhín), Frankie McCafferty (Len) and Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhrighde (Con) complete the cast.
The film is written by Belfast-based Damian McCann and Sarah Gordon and is produced by Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers for Púca Pictures.
The film will be on BBC iPlayer, BBC One Northern Ireland and TG4 on Monday 16 March.
Aontas won Clár Teilifíse/Scannán na Bliana at the Oireachtas Media Awards hosted in Belfast in November 2025. It also secured Best Film Feature at the San Diego International Film Festival 2025, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, Maryland International Film Festival, Three Rivers Film Festival, Ojai International Film Festival, Manchester International Film Festival and Irish Film Festival London.
BBC Gaeilge will also mark Seachtain na Gaeilge, the annual international celebration of Irish language and culture, with a host of content across its platforms including the documentary Tubaiste sa Phortach, which revisits the site of a World War Two plane crash on BBC Two Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer.
Blas celebrates Seachtain na Gaeilge on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster with special features throughout March, with two digital series, Cumhacht na bhFocal and Arbh Fhearr Leat…, available on the BBC Gaeilge website.
Viewers can also dip into the BBC Gaeilge archives with some previously broadcast programmes available on BBC iPlayer including Crá, Ceolta, Bog Amach, Iarsmaí and The Irish Houses: Scéal Phobal Bhóthar Seoighe. Ceann Dubhrann is also available on BBC Sounds.
BBC iPlayer and BBC Two Northern Ireland
Tubaiste sa Phortach
Leonard Ashby Court was 23-years-old when the RAF Wellington bomber he was flying, crashed and burst into flames at the foot of Mount Errigal on February 28th, 1943. All six crew members perished in the crash.
The plane had taken off from the RAF Limavady base in County Derry and bits of debris from the crash are still visible in the bog where it landed in County Donegal.
In a new film, journalist Kevin Magee tracks down the pilot’s surviving son, Ian Court in Leicestershire and accompanies the 84-year-old as he fulfils a lifelong ambition by finally paying his respects at the site where his father perished.
Journalist Kevin Magee
As well as pilot Leonard Ashby Court, the other victims included Belfast men John Steen Campbell and James Gilmore, and Geoffrey Scott-Farthing, John D’Arcy Wal and Ronald William Gutteridge from England.
Tubaiste sa Phortach, made by Clean Slate Television for BBC Gaeilge, with support from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, investigates the possible causes of the crash as Kevin and members of the Court family travel to County Donegal to meet the local Irish speaking community who have erected a memorial to the fallen RAF crewmen.
Tubaiste sa Phortach will broadcast on BBC Two Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 29 March at 10pm.
BBC Sounds & BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle
Blas
Blas celebrates Seachtain na Gaeilge with a series of special features throughout March.
Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live, work and learn and Monday 2 to Saturday 8 March is AI Unpacked Week, which will see seven days of special content dedicated to exploring AI across BBC platforms. As part of this, Blas will take a fresh look at how cutting‑edge AI technologies are being woven into Irish, one of Europe’s oldest vernacular languages.
On Monday 2 March, Ón Taobhlíne with Fearghal Mag Uiginn features an interview with Antrim footballer Paddy McBride who explains his reasons for stepping away from intercounty football this season. Paddy remembers his much-loved sister Marie, who died by suicide three years ago. And having recently become a dad, describes the joy of welcoming his first child into the world.
Blas will then turn to traditional learning techniques on Thursday 19 March, when Daire Ní Chanáin teaches fellow BBC Radio Ulster presenter, Stephen McCauley, how to count in Irish, amongst other language learner tips, as they dust off the bikes and head off to explore some of the ancient history of Inch Island.
Six months after stepping into a classroom to learn the language, will Stephen be good enough to present a radio show as Gaeilge?
Blas airs Monday to Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Ulster.
