Charlie Bird was a titan of Irish journalism.
He never lost his grá for his job even towards the end of his life.
He worked on one final documentary before his death in 2024.
Now, Ransom ’79 will be aired on Irish television after it premiered in Irish cinemas following Charlie’s death.
Ransom 79 will air at 9pm Monday 24th March on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One.
In October 2022, the legendary Irish journalist was met with a devastating diagnosis: he was suffering from the early stages of Motor Neuron Disease (MND), a brutal degenerative condition that would severely curtail his life expectancy.
Still reeling from the news, he met with an old source, former Head of the Fraud Squad Wille McGee, who let slip details of what Charlie believed could be one of the biggest stories of his career. In September 1979, the Minister for Agriculture received an anonymous letter.
Failure to hand over £5m, the letter read, and the dreaded Foot and Mouth virus would be purposely let loose in Ireland, an act of criminal terrorism that would buckle the faltering Irish economy. Senior staff were left shaken and appalled, not only for the brazenness of the demands within, but also for the potential devastation that would be wreaked on the State if the demands weren’t met.
The old maxim that truth is stranger than fiction certainly applies here. Over the next seven months, an often-surreal game of cat and mouse played out between a mysterious criminal gang and the authorities.
Ransom ’79 is a feature documentary that charts Charlie’s final investigation and reconstructs the unlikely series of events that occurred over forty years ago.
Charlie, now restricted in mobility and speech, reaches out to friend and previous collaborator journalist and playwright Colin Murphy, to assist on his quest. The duo’s dogged research turns to clues, which in turn become sources as, piece by piece, the truth behind this bizarre case is laid bare.
The film is an exploration of one man’s mortality and the respite that can be found in doing the things you love to do even in the most terrible of circumstances.
Despite communicating almost exclusively with voice-bank technology and with his mobility diminishing as the story progresses, the dogged newsman in Charlie still remains and through his work he discovers the truth about who he is and what his life has meant.
The film becomes a race against time, for Charlie to get to the bottom of one last case, to secure one last scoop, before his own story finally reaches its end.
The documentary is produced by John Kelliher Media with support from Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann and Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision Scheme.
In honour of Charlie Bird’s memory, from Thursday 20th to Monday 24th of March, Ireland AM will highlight the work of Research MND and Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, sharing stories from people living with MND and their families. For further information and to support go to https://rmn.ie/ and https://www.imnda.ie/.
Ransom 79 airs at 9pm Monday 24th March on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One
