Unionists attacked the content of Monday night's programme in which Sinn Fein junior minister Gerry Kelly relived his role in the 1983 escape.

Both the DUP and Ulster Unionists warned that his contribution would have ramifications for political talks.

Documentary was fair and impartial – BBC

On the show, Mr Kelly showed no sign of remorse and he also coldly recounted shooting a prison officer in the head.
Another guard, James Ferris, died, two were shot and 13 stabbed by the fleeing inmates.

DUP chairman Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley said the programme vindicated his party's view that "it would be unacceptable to have Sinn Fein in control of any element of policing and justice".

It reaffirmed it was not the time for transferring the powers to Stormont, he said.

And Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey said he could not believe the Sinn Fein minister's lack of remorse and insensitivity.

The DUP has asked for a meeting with BBC bosses in Belfast to discuss the "unbalanced" nature of the programme.

Stormont insiders went further and said the production had "soured the atmosphere" surrounding the political deadlock.

In particular, the Maze stadium plan and republican demands for a conflict resolution centre – a serious sticking point – could now be in tatters, it was added.

The DUP said its constituency offices received irate calls on the matter throughout yesterday.

Party deputy leader Nigel Dodds claimed that the makers of Breakout had not provided a proper and balanced assessment of the Maze escape and its implications.

And he said that the innocent victims of the people portrayed in the documentary would feel it represented "the glamorising of criminality".
"The BBC might want us to view the Maze breakout as some kind of heroic escapade," he claimed, "but let us look at the facts.

"Like so many of the so-called 'romantic episodes' in republican myth, it was characterised by bloodshed, brutality and murder."

UUP leader Sir Reg Empey said he could not believe Mr Kelly's "lack of remorse" and "insensitivity".

This was not only for the Ferris family, the families of injured prison officers and victims in general – but the political process as a whole.
"The timing of this could not have been worse," he noted – questioning Sinn Fein and the BBC's thinking.

The portrayal of the IRA escape as "a Boy's Own adventure" was "deeply offensive", he claimed.

"The Maze prison was no Colditz. The inhabitants were not prisoners of war. They were convicted terrorists, killers and bombers. And this was a glorification of them, their activities and their own propaganda machine."

The BBC had displayed "very poor editorial and commissioning judgment", he said.

The programme has had "a very serious knock-on effect" with regard to the devolution of policing and justice and the Maze stadium.

TUV leader Jim Allister said: "The programme would have been sickening viewing for the innocent victims of IRA terrorism. It is nauseating to see that Kelly is now a minister in the government of a country he is still dedicated to destroying while another escapee is chair of Belfast Sinn Fein and gives lectures on his escape."

Victims' group FAIR said: "BBC Northern Ireland screened what can only be described as a party political broadcast for Sinn Fein."

It feared that romanticising the activities of terrorists would have inspired impressionable young people in republican communities towards joining dissident groups.