The Story of Microdisney

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Arts Documentary hosted by Julie Perkins, published by BBC in 2024 - English narration

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In 1980, two Cork outsiders, Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan, met at a New Year's Eve party. Bonding over music, a friendship and songwriting partnership was ignited; the band they formed, Microdisney, was one of the best bands of the 1980s that you've probably never heard. Mixing Sean's stunning melodic arrangements with Cathal's poetic, angry lyrics, they recorded three brilliant LPs, gained critical adulation and an obsessive cult following. But a hit single eluded them, as did radio play and LP sales. By 1988, frustrated by their lack of progress, the band crashed and burned, leaving a trail of acrimony and broken friendships.

This new film asks why the band failed to achieve the commercial success they deserved, but it also picks up the Microdisney story 30 years on, when, contrary to all expectations, they reformed for a sequence of sellout reunion gigs celebrating a new award for their seminal album, The Clock Comes Down the Stairs. Charting the band's early days in Cork to the sellout reunion gigs, the film includes exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, vintage archive, heart-searching interviews and live performances.

The film has been a labour of love for producer/director Julie Perkins. Says Julie: 'The reunion gigs were a dream come true for fans. And they came from far and wide to be there. For me as a film-maker, it was a story that deserved to be told. And it's the story of two supremely talented individuals whose songwriting puts them up there with Lennon and McCartney, Rogers and Hammerstein... I felt privileged to be able to tell.'