Stardust documentary to tell story of the 1981 nightclub fire and 43-year search for justice

RTÉ has announced a landmark documentary project, Stardust, which they say will tell “the full and unvarnished story” of the Stardust nightclub fire and the 43-year search for justice undertaken by the families of those killed in the fire.

The documentary series will be broadcast in May across RTÉ One television and  RTÉ Player, with a dedicated Stardust digital project on rte.ie.

A three-part documentary series playing on consecutive nights on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, Stardust is a comprehensive account of the Stardust nightclub tragedy.

Three years in the making, the series chronicles the night of the fire and the fall-out from it, the initial investigation into the fire, the relatives’ fight for justice up to the point of a second inquest and concludes with the historic decision of ‘unlawful killing’ delivered in the Coroner’s court on April 18th

Stardust is a definitive telling of the story of the tragedy, with candid testimony from eyewitnesses, some of whom have never spoken publicly before.

It includes contributions from survivors, bereaved families and some of the first responders who attended on the night of the fire.

The series, directed by Máire Kearney for RTÉ’s Documentary Unit, concludes with a reflection on the historic jury decision of ‘unlawful killing’ made at the inquest earlier this week.

In a first for inquests in Ireland, ‘pen portraits’ were delivered by families of the victims to mark the start of the inquest process.

These portraits painted a vivid picture of many of the victims of Stardust for the jury charged with deciding the verdict.

As a companion to the documentary series, RTÉ invited families who delivered ‘pen portraits’ at the Inquest to record these and allow the wider public know more about their loved ones who were lost on that night.

The resulting collection of almost thirty such ‘pen portraits’ will form part of a digital project on RTE.ie and RTÉ Player.

Between the three-part documentary series and the collection of ‘pen portraits’, Stardust consists of almost ten hours of personal testimony and aims to offer a definitive account of the events of the night, of those killed in the fire, and the experiences of those left to fight on their behalf.

RTÉ’s Director General, Kevin Bakhurst, said: “RTÉ has covered, in depth, the long fight for justice undertaken by the families of the 48 victims of the Stardust fire.

“It’s to those families that we’ve gone back, to enable them once more tell their experiences of the Stardust tragedy.

“RTÉ’s news cameras were there on the tragic night shortly after the fire broke out and across the years since.

“The Inquest’s verdict of Unlawful Killing is a hugely significant moment in Irish history, and as Ireland’s public service broadcaster we are honoured that the families have trusted us to hear their stories.”