BBC - Spotlight on the Troubles - A Secret History - 5 of 8

Tells the story of the spiral of Northern Ireland into violence in the late 1960s, the attempts of the British Government to get control of the situation, the growth of the provisional IRA, the murky relationship between the security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries and the long, tortuous path to to the end of the violence after almost three thousand deaths over a period of a quarter of a century of violence.

Traces how unionist anger grew as IRA attacks on the security forces killed members of their community. When Margaret Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, giving the Republic of Ireland political influence in the North, the anger spilled over into talk of insurrection. The program reveals how loyalist groups rearmed and used intelligence leaks from soldiers and police to boost their campaign of killing, including new information about MI5 agents operating inside the largest loyalist group, the Ulster Defense Association.

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