Border Call

Available for over a year

We are on the cusp of major changes in the three-way relationship between Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland. In this taut political drama, Hugh Costello looks into his crystal ball and imagines a future scenario. The year is 2027. Helen Graham is the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the UK government. Recent elections to the Stormont Assembly have confirmed Sinn Fein as the largest party. Now they and their counterparts in the Republic, senior partners in a ruling coalition since the general election of 2025, have renewed their calls for a referendum, or Border Poll, on unification, to be held on both sides of the border. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the power to call such a poll in NI lies with the Secretary of State, if she judges that “it appears likely that a majority of the people would vote in favour of a united Ireland.” Helen was raised in Manchester by an English father and Irish mother. This is her first Cabinet position, and it’s giving her sleepless nights. Not least because the Prime Minister is demanding a debrief. At the suggestion of her resourceful PPS, Belfast native Emily Cooke, she embarks on a fact-finding mission and charm offensive. But while appearing as a guest on a radio phone-in show in Dublin, a caller raises a traumatic event in Helen's family's past that changes the future for both her and the island of Ireland.... Cast: Helen Graham Jane Slavin Emily Cooke Bronagh Waugh Andrew Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong Jennifer/Maureen Frances Tomelty Moriarty/Finnerty Stephen Hogan Written by Hugh Costello Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4