Punchy dramas and breakthrough talent lead BBC NI autumn schedule

Two men are looking forward. It's dark. The man in the foreground has greying short hair and a moustache. He is wearing a dark coat, over a dark suit. His shirt is white and his tie purple. The man behind is dressed fully in black. He has lighter hair and a full beardPat Redmond

Tall Tales & Murder is billed as a comedic crime drama set in Dublin

Punchy real life dramas, engaging historical documentaries and breakthrough talent in front of and behind the camera dominates BBC Northern Ireland's autumn schedule.

The writer and creator of smash hit Love/Hate returns with six-part drama Tall Tales & Murder starring Packy Lee and Aiden Gillen.

Titanic Sinks Tonight is a four-part documentary series detailing the sinking of the Belfast-built ship through visual effects and first person testimonies.

Fronted by Steph McGovern, Farm 999 is a co-commission with BBC Daytime and follows police, fire and ambulance services as they attend emergency situations in rural communities.

Hit police drama Blue Lights is also scheduled to return to BBC One for its third season in the autumn.

The backs of three people are seen in a lifeboat looking towards a large cruiseliner. It's night time and the lights are on in The Titanic.

Titanic Sinks Tonight is a four-part documentary

The slate include 24 hours of scripted drama, documentaries and lifestyle programmes, many of them made by independent production companies.

Eddie Doyle, BBC Northern Ireland's head of commissioning, said the upcoming programmes were a "testament to the storytelling and creative talent of this place".

"This high-quality new season of programming will provide a distinctive collection of exciting scripted content, returning favourites, landmark documentaries and a rich blend of lifestyle and factual series."

Tall Tales & Murder, written and created by Stuart Carolan and Chris Addison, known for his work in The Thick of It and on the US TV series  Veep, is based on the eight-book Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell.

Set in the Irish capital, the series began filming in the Republic of Ireland in June.

Another dramatisation of a novel is Leonard and Hungry Paul, based on Rónán Hessian's best-selling book.

Three short films will also be broadcast on BBC One NI and on BBC iPlayer.

They are part of the Green Lit initiative – a collaboration between BBC Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland Screen supporting emerging writing, production, directing and acting talent from Northern Ireland.

Mr Doyle said the projects were bold and exciting.

The standalone 15-minute scripted projects are:

  • Rewarding from Conker Pictures written by Matthew McDevitt, featuring Seána Kerslake and Vittorio Angelone

  • Helpless from Fabel Productions written by Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney, starring Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Éanna Hardwicke and George Robinson

  • Mourning Glory (working title) produced by Fíbín Films written by Shane McNaughton, featuring Nigel O'Neill and Amy Huberman

Three young women pictured in a gym. They are wearing workout clothes and are holding boxing gloves. Two have their hands raised in fists and all three have their hair tied back in ponytails.

Niamh McNeill, Rachel McIlhagga and Chloe Crozier are MMA fighters in Ballymena

There is also a full roster of factual programming.

Journalist Darragh MacIntyre returns to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to delve deeper into the case of a British soldier killed during the Troubles.

Made with Bafta-winning director Alison Millar, The Disappearance Of Captain Nairac is a feature-length documentary exploring the young officer's life and death.

The 29-year-old Grenadier Guards officer was working undercover when he was abducted outside a pub in south Armagh in May 1977. His remains have never been found.

Girl Fight enters a mixed-martial arts (MMA) gym in Ballymena where female fighters pursue their dreams both inside and outside the combat sports cage.

While Surgery in the Sun hears from the growing number of people choosing to travel to Turkey for cosmetic surgery.

Hope Street actors Cameron Cuffe, Finnian Garbutt, Kerri Quinn, Tara Lynne O'Neill and Marcus Onilude in Port Devine. They are standing in from of a lighthouse and a police car. Four are wearing police uniforms of white short-sleeved shirts, dark trousers and a dark protection vests saying Police. Marcus Onilude, stood at the far right, is wearing a dark blazer and a yellow shirt.

Hope Street will return for its fifth series

There are returning favourites like Hope Street, which will celebrate its 50th episode, with two new faces set to join the cast in Port Devine.

Interiors expert Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is also back in Northern Ireland, taking viewers around the homes hoping to be crowned House of the Year.

And once people have gotten their design inspiration, they can turn their attention to their gardens.

In new series Greatest Gardens, award-winning garden designer Diarmuid Gavin and plant expert Carol Klein will be joined each week by celebrity gardening enthusiasts.

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