In the second episode of Say Yes to VHS, Brian and Sam discuss the rise of pirate and counterfeit video and how the police and other authority figures tried to stop the illegal VHS market.
As early as 1978, copies of Saturday Night Fever were shown in hotels, pubs and clubs across Northern Ireland. But once the authorities clamped down on these screenings, pirate videos were widely consumed at home. E.T. the Extra Terrestrial was the pirate hit of 1982, with pirate copies available to buy for £5 several months before the film was released in cinemas. In the following year, the Royal Ulster Constabulary seized up to 35,000 videos in the biggest raid of its type in the United Kingdom. Fines and prison sentences followed, but did not stop the problem as these videos were highly profitable and easy to copy on an industrial scale. Piracy was common everywhere, but it took on a different hue in Northern Ireland as paramilitaries got in on the act. VHS piracy continued well into the 1990s, when pirate copies of The Lion King were widely available to purchase from illegitimate dealers.
Links
The Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive, '80s Tech!' collection
Counterpoint: Video Pirates
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Written and presented by Dr Sam Manning and Brian Henry Martin
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