The Great Famine

In September 1845, a devastating new plant disease swept across Ireland, destroying the potato crops on which the majority of the people depended. Aid from the British government was too little and too late. Over the subsequent six years, a million Irish people died of starvation and a more than a million others fled abroad in order to escape the ravages of hunger and disease.

Show Info

Network: United Kingdom BBC Two (1995 - 1995)
Schedule: Mondays at 21:00 (50 min)
Status: Ended
Show Type: Documentary
Genres: History
Episodes ordered: 2 episodes

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Previous Episode

Emigration

Episode 1x02; Sep 11, 1995

In the second of two programmes, Dublin-born writer Ian Gibson tells how thousands of the Irish poor died on board the "coffin ships" that carried them across the Atlantic to the fever sheds of Quebec and the slums of New York. He explores some of th

Previous Episodes

Episode NameAirdateTrailer
1x02: EmigrationSep 11, 1995
1x01: BlightSep 4, 1995
View full episode list »

Cast

Extra Details

Also known as:
  • The Great Irish Famine (United States United States)
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