He rejects suggestions that the drama is a direct comment on Northern Ireland today "This is not a proselytising piece I'm not trying to educate or persuade anyone. If it clarifies issues or provokes discussion of Irish history, that's up to individuals. All I cared about was writing a moving story."Removing his ear-plugs after the gunfire has finally ceased, producer Malcolm Craddock echoes his writer in stressing that Rebel Heart aims to tug heart-strings rather than wave banners. The last thing the series is intended to be, he says, is "a recruiting sergeant for the IRA". It is simply, he carries on, "a story about people who were prepared to die for their beliefs.

We're not saying that this is always a positive thing - in fact, we show the terrible price you pay for your beliefs, if you're willing to follow them through We certainly don't glorify violence. Of course, there's a romantic element to the story - these were stirring times of rebellion and passion - but we haven't romanticised."Robert Cooper, head of drama at BBC Northern Ireland, argues that Bennett's writing is more complex than his critics give him credit for: "Ronan has created compelling characters who believe passionately in very different things. At the start of the drama, they come together as fighters or lovers, ignoring what divides them.

05/11 - 09/11 Acquire Nashville Predators Tickets performing in Atlanta Civic Center, Atlanta Motor Speedway. Nashville Predators is performing in Atlanta, Morrow and . Nashville Predators tickets

07/11 Capture John Legend Tickets performing in Schottenstein Center, Scottrade Center. John Legend is performing in Columbus, Saint Louis and Kansas City. John Legend tickets

05/11 Shop for Vancouver Canucks Tickets performing in HP Pavilion. Vancouver Canucks is performing in San Jose. Vancouver Canucks tickets

In the end, their divisions leads to personal and political tragedy."After a sustained bout of shooting in Iveagh Park, D'Arcy flops on a bench and says that his most fervent wish is that viewers of Rebel Heart don't get too bogged down in the minutiae of contemporary Irish politics. "This is a love story, and politics are secondary or even tertiary.

I just hope people watch it with an open mind."That, I'm afraid, may be yet another example of doomed idealism.'Rebel Heart', BBC1 Sunday, 9pm. Sinn Fein politician and Stormont Assembly member Gerry Kelly has accepted £9,000 plus costs in an assault case against the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Sinn Fein politician and Stormont Assembly member Gerry Kelly has accepted £9,000 plus costs in an assault case against the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He claimed he had been hit by an RUC officer's baton while taking part in a North Belfast street protest last June.Mr Kelly was part of a crowd on the Springfield Road demonstrating against a loyalist parade being allowed to pass through the nationalist area.He received the money for exemplary and aggravated damages for assault, battery and trespass to his person by a police officer in an out-of-court settlement in Belfast.. In scenes that recalled the fall of communism, a hundred thousand people gathered in Prague's Wenceslas Square yesterday, demanding the sacking of the new director general of state television. In scenes that recalled the fall of communism, a hundred thousand people gathered in Prague's Wenceslas Square yesterday, demanding the sacking of the new director general of state television. Jiri Hodac is widely seen as politically biased, and his appointment has provoked the worst political crisis in the Czech Republic for years.Parliament was due to convene for an emergency debate on the situation today, President Vaclav Havel has publicly condemned his appointment, and 130,000 people have signed a petition calling for the director-general to go.Wenceslas Square hangs heavy with history, and yesterday's protesters invoked the spirit of 1989's Velvet Revolution, when mass demonstrations brought about the fall of one of the most oppressive regimes of the old communist bloc, without bloodshed."Television under Hodac - that's like under communism," read one of the banners. Demonstrators cheered as actors and television announcers made speeches demanding freedom of the press.Mr Hodac's opponents say he is a political appointment, and was put in charge to introduce to television news a bias in favour of Vaclav Klaus, a former prime minister who is still one of the Czech Republic's most powerful politicans.Television news staff have refused to work under Mr Hodac, barricaded themselves in the newsroom, and broadcast rebel news bulletins heavily critical of the director-general.Mr Hodac has responded by jamming their signal, and broadcasting his own reports from studios rented from competing news channels. But Mr Hodac's bulletins have been comically amateurish, with the newsreader's legs poking out from under an ordinary table.

He blacked out all broadcasts on the network for 24 hours - but had to back down when he was personally blamed for loss of advertising revenue.The dispute has become so charged because it goes to the heart of the Czech Republic's political identity crisis. After the 1989 demonstrations, the country was seen as the flagship of Eastern Europe's new democracies. But since then it has slipped down the list of applicant countries for membership of the European Union, dogged by accusations of endemic political and economic corruption.It was no surprise when Mr Havel waded in It was the latest episode in the war of the two Vaclavs. He and Mr Klaus hate each other, and Mr Klaus's star has risen even as Mr Havel's personal popularity has fallen since 1989. Mr Havel has seen his chance to land a body blow on Mr Klaus, who wants to succeed him as President.The popularity of Mr Klaus, laissez-faire and pro-big business, and the public dissatisfaction with Mr Havel, have contributed to the Czechs' poor reputation in Europe. But some of the spirit of 1989 now appears to be alive and well again.. Germany's Foreign Minister was under pressure to resign last night as fresh claims emerged about his past, documented by pictures that allegedly show him beating up a policeman in 1973.