Joe Mahon returns to follow in the footsteps of Ulster’s Giants

The first five episodes of the series, which aired earlier in the summer of this year, were all filmed pre-COVID.

Throughout the whole series, Joe has travelled across Northern Ireland and with the help of the experts in their fields, has revealed the stories behind some of Northern Ireland’s well-known landmarks, demonstrating how civil engineering is in operation all around us. And these remaining three episodes are sure to delight his loyal fans.

The team had also filmed the feature on Full Circle Generation, in the upcoming episode, which airs on Monday, November 30, before lockdown restrictions were brought in.

Filming was suspended in late March with Joe and the team being able to resume their travels under strict filming guidelines, and carry out all interviews, at a distance, of course, in late June.

In this upcoming episode, Joe visits the seaside town of Newcastle to see the various ways in which Phoenix Gas installs its network of pipes throughout the countryside and under the streets in order to deliver natural gas to the homes of the townsfolk.

He also learns from Phoenix Gas engineer Denver Wasson how natural gas suppliers are aiming for a greener planet by striving to introduce new ways of reducing the carbon emissions of the fuel they supply.

In the second part of the programme, Joe talks a load of rubbish - literally!

He follows the contents of household rubbish bins, and ends up at the Full Circle Generation plant in Belfast’s Harbour Estate.

Here he finds out why the days of landfill sites are numbered, and to discover how “Gasification” is used to convert our rubbish into a reliable source of energy to drive industry in Northern Ireland.

Full Circle Generation director and RiverRidge ceo Brett Ross talks Joe through the whole process, while touring the impressive facility.

Brett said of contributing to the series: “This was a great opportunity to showcase Northern Ireland’s only large–scale energy from waste facility and its use of gasification technology, which is an effective solution and a far better alternative to both the landfilling and export of waste.”

*Ulster Giants is on Monday, November 30 at 8pm on UTV and on catch up on www.itv.com/utvprogrammes. The last two episodes are on December 14 and 21.