Film on Coote brothers to get BBC airing

An award winning documentary following a Bailieborough man in his 80s as he chases his lifelong dream to fly a plane is to get an airing on BBC NI.

‘The Man Who Wanted to Fly’ charts Bobby Coote proving age is no barrier as he buys a microlight in the need of some TLC with the aim of learning how to fly it.

While Bobby's ambition to fly provides the film's momentum, it's his relationship with his brother Ernie, with whom he lives, which brings a “far richer” element to the story. The bachelors spent much of their lives separately in the UK before returning to their rural home in Dromore, on the outskirts of Bailieborough.

“They are very different,” explains director Frank Shouldice. “As far as Ernie is concerned, the train has left the station, this is no time for these ambitions. For Bobby, that's what it was all about – as he says, he’ll do this if it’s the last thing he does.

“Actually I said to him one time – ‘Maybe it is the last thing you do’ – joking, and he laughed himself and said, 'Jaysus you could be right!”

BBC NI will broadcast The Man Who Wanted To Fly on Monday, December 7 at 10.45pm.