A Force Like No Other

A Force Like No Other
The real stories of the RUC men and women who policed the Troubles

Join author Colin Breen, in conversation with Mark Devenport about his trilogy of books, A Force Like No Other, which gathers together the real stories of the RUC men and women who policed the Troubles.

Colin will talk about the unpredictable, brutal and surreal world in which the RUC operated and about life as a police officer during those years, from handling informants and conducting interviews with notorious criminals to dealing with the aftermath of bombings. A former police officer himself, Colin had unparalleled access to former RUC, Special Branch and CID officers who have never spoken out before. Their candid, moving and sometimes blackly comic stories reveal the mayhem that officers dealt with every day; the psychological and personal toll of the job; and the camaraderie – and the whiskey – that helped them to cope. There will also be performance pieces based on extracts from the three books.

Colin Breen is a freelance journalist, screenwriter, commentator and broadcaster on local, national television and radio. The former police officer and businessman has written three books that gather together first-hand accounts from the men and woman who policed the troubles. He is currently working on the script for a crime drama based in Belfast and an accompanying novel.

Mark Devenport is a journalist, broadcaster and author, and former Ireland Correspondent on the BBC national news. He was the Northern Ireland political correspondent on BBC television and radio, covering the IRA ceasefire and Good Friday Agreement. Mark was also the BBC’s UN correspondent in New York and covered stories in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Israel.

Age 18+.