C.S. Lewis is an author, yet the author of The Chronicles of Narnia is rarely celebrated as an Irish figure. A documentary exploring this complex identity, as former Ireland rugby international Andrew Trimble examines the writer’s deep Belfast roots and his complicated relationship with his homeland on RTÉ.
Belfast Origins Shaped Lewis's Fantasy Worlds
- Lewis is rarely claimed as an Irish literary great despite growing up in Belfast.
- The documentary explores how childhood trauma and an English boarding school stripped away Lewis’s native accent.
- Contributors include historians and writers examining how Belfast’s historical divisions fueled Lewis’s escapist fantasy worlds.
Andrew Trimble Explores Belfast Roots on RTÉ One
The documentary The Lion, the Witch and the Ulsterman airs on RTÉ One, following former rugby international and theology graduate Andrew Trimble as he returns to East Belfast. Trimble explores the writer’s Ulster-Scots background and visits the family home where Lewis spent his early years. The project was funded by the Northern Ireland Screen Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.
Trimble’s journey highlights the profound influence of the island on the imagination behind The Chronicles of Narnia. Despite selling hundreds of millions of books globally alongside J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, Lewis occupies an ambiguous space in Irish cultural memory. Trimble speaks with local experts to unpack why the author remains somewhat detached from the traditional Irish literary canon.
English Boarding School Erased Lewis's Native Accent
A key moment in the documentary occurs when Trimble travels to Oxford—where Lewis worked as a fellow and tutor for 29 years—to listen to a 1950s recording of the author’s voice. The recording reveals a pronounced British accent, with distinct pronunciations that contrast sharply with his Belfast origins. As historian Professor Suzannah Lipscomb notes, Lewis was packed off to an English boarding school at age nine following his mother’s death, entering brutal institutions where his original accent was likely beaten out of him.
Historian Dr. Margaret O’Callaghan adds that growing up in a Belfast riven by unionist and nationalist divisions pushed Lewis toward flights of fantasy. That escapism into ideal rurality served as a direct psychological reaction to a deeply polarized city. The documentary weaves these biographical details together using extracts from Lewis’s autobiography, Surprised by Joy.
Scholars Discuss Lewis's Ties to Ulster
The project features an array of scholars and writers, including Jan Carson, Dr. Frank Ferguson, Rev. Dr. Reggie Weems, and Dr. David Clare. The Narnia series uses the wise lion Aslan as a stand-in for Jesus Christ.
That ideological undercurrent sparked pushback from other authors. British fantasy writer Philip Pullman authored his trilogy His Dark Materials to scold Lewis over the resolution of The Last Battle. Trimble sidesteps these heavy theological weeds, choosing instead to focus on the personal and geographical ties connecting the author to Ulster.
| Documentary Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Andrew Trimble |
| Broadcaster | RTÉ One and RTÉ Player |
| Broadcast Time | Thursday, 10.15pm |
| Key Contributors | Dr. Margaret O’Callaghan, Prof. Suzannah Lipscomb, Jan Carson |
Rediscovering Faded Paperbacks
Trimble does not offer a definitive verdict on why regional authors like Lewis—or Frank O’Connor—often find themselves excluded from the central Dublin-centric literary conversation. Instead, his amiable approach grounds the cultural inquiry in genuine curiosity. The documentary ultimately succeeds by sparking an immediate urge to revisit faded Narnia paperbacks from end to end.
