Program eight in the series The Story of English treats the Irish question in terms of its spoken and written word and the long-standing political tensions between Ireland and Great Britain. Irish poet Seamus Heany discusses language and how speakers from Dublin differ from speakers from County Cork. There are some "best of Ireland" scenes and also scenes of IRA prisoners learning to speak Gaelic while imprisoned. Aristocrat Irish people (the Ascendancy) are interviewed, as are soccer fans, fishermen, and those living in Liverpool, England. Robert McNeil hosts