Write a comment
A new feature-length documentary exploring the life and death of Captain Robert Nairac will air on BBC One NI on Monday 10 November at 10.40pm. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
The film examines the events of Saturday 14 May 1977, when the British soldier walked into a crowded bar near Dromintee. He was undercover, dressed in a donkey jacket and jeans, and it is understood he was hoping for a breakthrough in the intelligence war against the IRA. Decades later, it's still not known who he expected to meet in the Three Steps pub, but what is known is what happened next.
He sang two rebel anthems which he may have thought would strengthen his credentials as a visiting Belfast republican, but if that was the plan, it didn't seem to work. It is reported that a group of local men had already decided this newcomer was not welcome. They overpowered him in the car park, physically attacked him and drove him across the border to a hastily-arranged rendezvous with an IRA gunman. Nairac, believed to be a key player in British intelligence, is said to have revealed nothing. When he was later shot dead, his killers didn't know who, or what, he was.
Captain Robert Nairac's body was secretly buried. He has become known as one of the Disappeared, 17 people who were abducted, killed and secretly buried by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles. His body is one of three remaining victims whose graves have not been discovered. Over the decades, appeals for information have been met mostly by silence or rumour, but eventually in 2024 the first official search for his remains began, chiefly down to information provided by former IRA man Martin McAllister.
The documentary includes unique archive and exclusive interviews with family friends of Captain Nairac, retired security personnel and Martin McAllister, who explains the story behind his search for Captain Nairac's body. Made by BAFTA-winning team director Alison Millar and journalist Darragh MacIntyre, The Disappearance of Captain Nairac is an Erica Starling Production for BBC Northern Ireland made with support from Northern Ireland Screen.
