GB NEWS to broadcast 'the very best coverage of July 12 parades' from Coleraine

GB News has announced plans to mark Northern Ireland's historic July 12 Parades with a day of special live broadcasts - and a brilliant new documentary.

For the fourth year running, The People’s Channel will be on the ground across the country as half a million people participate or spectate in the annual festival to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne.

There will be live coverage led by Dame Arlene Foster and GB News’ correspondent Dougie Beattie.

He said: “July 12 marks a pivotal moment in British constitutional history and, once again, GB News will bring our viewers and listeners the very best coverage. The events commemorated on this date not only reshaped the future of the British Isles, but they also had lasting implications for Ireland and, ultimately, the emerging ideals of liberty across the Atlantic.”

GB News’ coverage will feature the Chief Executive of the Ulster-Scots Agency, Ian Crozier. He will take part in discussions about the lasting significance of the Glorious Revolution, and explain how our ancestors helped build a new world based on King William’s Bill of Rights. He will be joined by a respected commentary team featuring former military historian Dr Gavin Hughes and the actor and commentator Charlie Lawson.

Coleraine has been chosen as the live location, as it’s the very place of the first organised migration in the early 1700s, when families left Ulster behind to begin new lives in America. 

And this year GB News’ coverage will be even more special because it will include a powerful new historical news documentary Architects of America: Foundations of Freedom. 

The documentary will air on GB News on Saturday night 12th July at midnight, and tell the largely untold story of the Ulster-Scots (Scots-Irish) and their extraordinary role in shaping early America.

It has been co-produced by GB News and Féinics Productions, and funded by Northern Ireland Screen’s Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund. It uncovers the deep economic, cultural and spiritual legacy carried by Ulster-Scots migrants - men and women whose vision of liberty, industry, and self-governance helped lay the foundations for American independence.

Filmed across key locations in Ireland and the United States, this special news programme builds on previous coverage of the Glorious Revolution and The Great Migration, charting the rise of the Great Awakening in 18th-century America - a new era of ideals fuelled by the desire for economic, cultural, and religious freedom.

The documentary explores Colonial Ulster-Scots life and how ordinary men and women from Ulster arrived in a new world and built their future: from spinning wheels in the linen trade, to flax farming and land cultivation, to the rise of ironworks and maritime commerce - including the shadow world of covert trade. These industries and individuals laid the groundwork for revolution.

With expert interviews, rich location footage, and the thoughtful use of modern digital techniques, the programme brings history to life with clarity and depth. 

A specially arranged soundtrack, developed under the creative direction of Féinics Productions, blends traditional instrumentation with contemporary compositional tools to reflect the emotional arc of the story - from sorrow to hope and resilience to triumph - allowing each piece to resonate with the journey on screen.

Note to editors: Architects of America: Foundations of Freedom will be screened on GB News on July 12 at midnight. Interview requests or queries to nick.owens@gbnews.uk