BBC TV: The Long and the short of it - 'Michael Collins: Hero or Villain?'

Description

Tim and David look at the legacy of Irish republican leader Michael Collins and ask: was he a hero or a villain?

Michael Collins is probably the most famous Irish republican leader. He has even been played by Liam Neeson in a Hollywood movie. But he remains a divisive figure even amongst Irish republicans. It was a republican faction that assassinated him in 1922.

Tim and David travel to Collins' home county of Cork to tell the story of Ireland’s celebrated revolutionary leader. They visit the site of the ambush at Béal na Bláth where Collins was killed.

Collins was a hero of the War of Independence. But it was Collins who signed the treaty with the British in 1921 that excluded Northern Ireland from the Irish Free State and led to the Irish Civil War. So was Collins a traitor to the Republic and is he responsible for Partition? And why has Collins become an icon and the romanticised hero of films? What is Collins legacy to the cause of Irish unity today?