709 Paisley, Child of Wrath, Man of God

First  viewed : 12  April  1985

This  was  a  late  night  BBC  One  documentary  about  the  mad  bigot  who  had  already  proved  himself  to  be  one  of  the  major  obstacles  to  achieving  peace  in  Northern  Ireland. The  "Reverend "  Ian  Paisley  had  had  himself  ordained  in  America   to  set  up  a  splinter  church  of  his  own, his  views  being  too  extreme  for  mainstream  Presbyterianism  ( not  known  for  its  liberalism  as  we're  currently  being  reminded ) . The  man  imagined  himself  to  be  a  latter  day  John  Knox  and  it  shows  just  how  bad  the  situation  in  Northern  Ireland  had  become  that  his  violently  expressed  sixteenth  century  bigotry  found  a  mass  following.

We  know  his  story  had  a  happy-ish  ending   but  that  looked  a  long  way  off  when  this  was  broadcast.