Shows / The BelTel
The BelTel
The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Episodes
- The BelTel
Nicola Sturgeon: why has the Scottish FM decided to go?
Nicola Sturgeon is resigning as Scottish First Minister and as leader of the SNP saying it is the best step for herself, for her party and for Scotland. What…
- The BelTel
Nicola Bulley: Rumours rife as mother of two remains missing
45-year-old Nicola Bulley has not been seen since the 27th of January, she disappeared while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. Police worked…
- The BelTel
Submarines and secret planes: How Dublin's Kinahans and other cartels are smuggling drugs
2022 was a significant year for drug seizures in the Republic of Ireland, with almost €40 million worth of drugs seized in the first seven months alone. In…
- The BelTel
Sam McBride quizzes Paul Gosling, the Englishman arguing for Irish unity
Paul Gosling has written for almost every British broadsheet newspaper, he has been a Labour Party councillor, and is the author of several books. Now based in…
- The BelTel
Stephen Fulton, the wife-killer forced to resign from top Orange Order position
Former soldier Stephen Fulton was jailed for shooting dead his wife. He shot Corien in the head after she threatened to leave him. In recent weeks he was made…
- The BelTel
Enoch Burke: What is the Mayo evangelical Christian trying to achieve?
He’s been dismissed from his teaching post but he keeps showing up at the school gates - violating a court order. Not purging his contempt of court means he…
- The BelTel
‘Mo’ Courtney, the UDA, and trouble brewing on the Shankill
There are fears of further violence on Belfast’s Shankill Road after thugs thrashed a well-known bar. Sources on the Shankill say the attack was ordered by top…
- The BelTel
Eoin McGonigal - Paddy Mayne’s best friend and SAS original
Eoin McGonigal was born in Dublin in 1920, a Catholic by religion. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he abandoned his law studies and joined the British Army…
- The BelTel
Lucid Talk poll reveals unionists have turned against Good Friday Agreement
Almost 25 years since it was signed, most Unionists say they would vote against the Good Friday Agreement if given the chance today, according to the latest…
- The BelTel
Meet the Burkes - The evangelical family from Mayo at the centre of controversy
The case of school teacher Enoch Burke has been making headlines after he ended up in jail for contempt of court after refusing to comply with a court order to…
- The BelTel
True Crime: Robert Black, the making of a child serial killer
Robert Black was a monster. He was convicted of killing four young girls but is suspected of abusing and murdering many, many more. Black died in Maghaberry…
- The BelTel
Andrew Tate: Who is this champion of toxic masculinity?
Andrew Tate is a controversial British kickboxer who has built a huge social media following with younger men because of his flashy life, fast cars, and…
- The BelTel
How spy Dennis McFadden and MI5 controlled a human rights group fronted by Gerry Conlon
More revelations have emerged regarding how MI5 agent Dennis McFadden managed to decimate dissident republicanism. A human rights group founded by McFadden was…
- The BelTel
Stephen Nolan on Jamie Bryson, money, and his longing for a family (Part 2)
Northern Ireland’s Stephen Nolan says that not being a father makes him feel like a failure. The multimillionaire reveals the scale of his wealth and tackles…
- The BelTel
Stephen Nolan: Sam McBride’s exclusive with ‘biggest journo in the country’ (Part 1)
Stephen Nolan talks about himself a lot – he talks about his weight, his wealth, his mother and his woes. But, there are other aspects of his life about which…
- The BelTel
Prince Harry: What is he playing at?
From Prince William’s temper to Prince Harry’s manhood, the king’s exiled son doesn’t disappoint with his new page-turner, Spare. But why is Prince Harry…
- The BelTel
Allison Morris on the murder of Natalie McNally and the scourge of femicide
Natalie McNally was attacked and stabbed to death on the 18th of December in her own home in Lurgan, she was 15 weeks pregnant. The Belfast Telegraph’s crime…
- The BelTel
Crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried and Newry’s millionaire wonderkid
Crypto currencies have had a bad year but what exactly are they - the future of money, financial freedom or just an elaborate scam? Ciarán Dunbar sits down…
- The BelTel
Lord Lucan, the horrific murder, his Irish links and could a man in Australia really be him?
Lord Lucan dramatically disappeared after the murder of his family’s nanny Sandra Rivett in 1974. The aristocrat vanished after Rivett’s murder and thus began…
- The BelTel
“My Name is Joseph”: How a young Belfast man lost his life in prison
How failures contributed to the death of a young Belfast Joseph Rainey died in 2013, 10 days after attempting to take his own life in Hydebank Wood Young…
- The BelTel
Best of the BelTel: Dennis Donaldson, Britain's agent at the heart of Sinn Féin and the IRA
Denis Donaldson answered to former Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, and was at the heart of the republican movement for 20 years. So, how did he manage to spy…
- The BelTel
The Best of the BelTel: What happened to Lisa Dorrian?
In February 2005, 25-year-old Lisa Dorrian went missing from a caravan park in Co Down and has never been seen again. Almost two decades on, her family and the…
- The BelTel
Best of the BelTel: Murdered in prison - How the INLA killed Billy Wright
Billy Wright, 'King Rat’, was gunned down inside the Maze maximum security prison. How did the INLA manage to get a gun inside the jail and what was the LVF’s…
- The BelTel
2022, a massive year for news, profound change and not short of farce
This year saw the death of the Queen and a major war in Europe. In Northern Ireland we have seen hitmen gunning down their victims in broad daylight. It’s all…
- The BelTel
Best of the BelTel: Inside the mind of Hazel Stewart
Rural Castlerock in 1991; Embroiled in a sordid affair, Hazel Stewart and Colin Howell plot the double murder of their spouses, disguising them as suicides…
- The BelTel
Best of the BelTel: The story of the Castlereagh Raid
In 2002 the IRA walked into a Belfast PSNI station and walked out with the secret security files they were looking for. Who planned it and why? There was huge…
- The BelTel
Downfall: Sean Quinn, the Cavan Versailles and the wrath of the fairies
He was a millionaire by 30, but Sean Quinn's rise and fall is documented in a new book, which looks at his many investments, and how nothing, not even an…
- The BelTel
Colin Harvey makes the case for a United Ireland
Ireland was partitioned in 1921 when most of the island left the UK to form the Irish Free State. Six Counties of the north-east immediately left to form…
- The BelTel
Lee Reynolds makes the case for the Union
Northern Ireland is come into existence on the the 3rd of May 1921 and Ireland as it was to that point, is partitioned. Most of the island became the Irish…
- The BelTel
The complex legacy of SAS legend Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne
One of the founders of the SAS, Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne was a great soldier and a hero in his native town, Newtownards. But his legacy is a complicated one, he was…
- The BelTel
Newry gangland murder sparks fears of further bloodshed
Northern Ireland’s gangland bloodletting continues with the latest hit has claiming the life of a man in Newry. Mark Lovell was shot up to 15 times by gunmen…
- The BelTel
Wrightbus and Green Pastures in the headlines as court actions begun against the company directors and the mega-church
Ballymena company Wrightbus collasped in 2019, now the Department for the Economy’s Insolvency service is taking a civil action against 14 people over alleged…
- The BelTel
The Loyalist Flag Protests, 10 years on
On the night of 3 December 2012, Belfast City Council took a vote which led to instant protests. The union flag had flown every single day from City Hall for…
- The BelTel
The Peru Two: From dancer to drug smuggler, the Michaela McCollum story
August 2013 and Dungannon woman Michaella McCollum – along with her travelling companion Melissa Reid, attempted to leave Peru with €1.6million worth of…
- The BelTel
Unsolved: The murder of Marian Beattie
Portadown teenager Marian Beattie was just 18 years old when she was murdered. She had gone to a dance in the company of her brother and best friend near the…
- The BelTel
Sam McBride on the new details which have emerged in the NAMA controversy
A judge has revealed new details about the NAMA controversy, one of Northern Ireland’s biggest ever political scandals. Among the controversies surrounding the…
- The BelTel
Prisons are filled with men and not women - is it that men are simply more likely to be 'evil'?
Men are more likely to commit crimes, but why is that, is the system stacked against them, or do men simply have a greater propensity towards ‘evil’? At the…
- The BelTel
Monica McWilliams tells the story of the Northern Ireland Womens’ Coalition
Monica McWilliams tells the story of the Northern Ireland Womens’ Coalition From 1996 to 2006, Northern Ireland had a political party with a difference. It was…
- The BelTel
Suzanne Breen talks polls, politics and parties and whether ‘joint authority’ is a runner
The latest Belfast Telegraph Lucid talk polls tells us Sinn Féin is soaring above the pack but that the DUP has launched a successful fight back. 41% of voters…
- The BelTel
Miscarriage of justice: The story of the Birmingham Six
In 1974, two IRA bombs in Birmingham pubs took the lives of 21 people. The incident would result in six innocent Irishmen being wrongfully convicted of the…
- The BelTel
The ‘cost-of-living crisis,’ what is it, who caused it, and how will affect you?
It’s possible you mightn't notice that the price of some individual items in your trolley has gone up in recent months but when the cashier totals up – you…
- The BelTel
New Belfast drug gangs emerge after old guard's secret gangster phones hacked by French spies
It reads like the blurb on the back of an improbable spy thriller, but it’s a true story. The French Secret Service hacks an exclusive mobile phone system…
- The BelTel
Lord Mountbatten: Allegations of abuse made against King Charles' mentor
Louis Mountbatten was a beloved member of the Royal family and mentor to King Charles. But now allegations of child sex abuse at Kincora, a notorious Belfast…
- The BelTel
The Death Investigator- "Everyone who has children in NI should be worried about this!"
Addicts shooting up in broad daylight and needles discarded all over our streets. Belfast is in the midst of a new pandemic- DRUGS.Coroner Joe McCrisken talks…
- The BelTel
"The Belfast agreement was not as good as what was already offered in 1973"- Dermot Nesbitt discusses the past, present and future of unionism
Dermot Nesbitt was one of the negotiators of the Good Friday Agreement and then a key backer of David Trimble in the years after the deal was struck in 1998…
- The BelTel
Allison Morris reports on Loyalism’s sense of betrayal seeing support for peace ‘waning’
As an attack on an Irish government target is allegedly called off at the last minute there are serious concerns about the future of the loyalist ceasefires. A…
- The BelTel
Would the Republic vote for a United Ireland?
Sinn Féin, and others, continue to call for a border poll in Northern Ireland, a referendum on a United Ireland. But it takes two to tango, not only would…
- The BelTel
Downing Street's 60 days of chaos!
Liz Truss was the UK’s shortest serving Prime Minister, ever. How did it come to pass that the UK has seen three prime ministers in two months and why did the…
- The BelTel
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald, new book says she's a 'Republican Riddle'
What could we expect from a Sinn Féin government and more importantly what do we know about its leader Mary Lou McDonald? Former TD Shane Ross attempts to…
- The BelTel
'Feis fixing': Irish dancing embroiled in cheating allegations
The prestigious global body that governs Irish dancing is mired in allegations of competition fixing and cheating. Irish Independent News Correspondent Ellen…
The BelTelWho killed the judge's daughter?: The murder of Patricia Curran and why her family was not properly investigated (Part 2)
Patricia Curran’s mutilated body was discovered just 40 yards from her home at 2 o’clock in the morning on the 13th of November 1952. She was a judge’s…
The BelTelWho killed the judge's daughter?: The murder of Patricia Curran and how an innocent man was stitched up for it (Part 1)
The early hours of the morning on the 12th of November 1952, a judge’s daughter, Patricia Curran, is found dead in the garden of her family home. She had been…
- The BelTel
West Belfast’s ‘Marbella’ drugs crew being decimated by ‘professional’ hitman
Sean Fox was gunned down while drinking in the Donegal Celtic Social Club in west Belfast, on Sunday 2 October, in front of more than 100 people. It’s the…
- The BelTel
Carrickfergus, the seaside town in the grip of the UDA and UVF
The South-East Antrim UDA has carried out seven brutal murders in Carrickfergus since 1995, but no one has ever been convicted in connection with them. The UVF…
- The BelTel
Alex Kane on where ‘despondent’ unionism goes now
With Stormont moribund, census result posing questions, and nationalists continuing to campaign for a border poll, where to now for unionism? “We have failed…
- The BelTel
Whitey Bulger and me – John Crawley on his life as an IRA gunrunner
How does a United States Marine Corps end up as a gunrunner for the Provisional IRA and working alongside notorious gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger? Fionnán…
- The BelTel
Do we need to dump comforts and capitalism to solve the climate crisis?
Catastrophic floods in Pakistan, ice sheets melting, an incredibly hot summer. The effects of climate change seem to be everywhere. Experts warn these changes…
- The BelTel
NI has held a United Ireland border poll before, here’s what happened
The Northern Ireland Sovereignty Referendum of 1973. Ever heard of it? Not surprised if you haven’t. It’s rarely mentioned but it was a border poll – it was a…
- The BelTel
Madeleine McCann — The little girl lost in time and 15 years of heartbreak
On the 3rd of May in 2007, the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old girl, started a global conversation as to what could have happened her. With…
- The BelTel
Ready, Steady, Census.... Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland
Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland, but what does that really mean? Are there any winners in the 2021 Census? What about passports identity…