Bigger, Better, Faster brings the 97th North West 200 in Northern Ireland to the big screen, with Glenn Irwin at the centre of the story. The film received a red-carpet premiere in Belfast and looks beyond the spectacle of speed to show how a road race reaches into the lives of the families around it.

Charley Boorman presents the production and sees an opportunity to introduce the North West 200 to people who may know the name without fully understanding the event. The film also places the race within Northern Ireland’s wider landscape and culture. Glenn Irwin said it raises the profile of the event, its riders and the region, while also highlighting the involvement of his parents, fiancée and nine-year-old son.

Several riders featured in the film attended the premiere, including Storm Stacey, Jeremy McWilliams, Dean Harrison and Alastair Seeley. Alan Irwin was also there, alongside the current competitors and the wider production team.

What happens before the start

The film was directed and shot by 23-year-old Luke Whatley-Bigg, an Emmy Award winner who has worked with Boorman on The Long Way series since he was 18. Whatley-Bigg frames the project around families, risk, reward and the generations that keep road racing alive. The cameras were also given access to Irwin’s trailer shortly before he went out to race, bringing the pressure before the start into the film rather than showing only the action itself.

The racing provides its own dramatic thread through Storm Stacey’s road-racing debut. Stacey won the Superstock race after battling Michael Dunlop to the finish, then took the final Superbike race as well. That Superbike victory ended Glenn Irwin’s 12-race winning streak, giving the film a competitive turning point alongside its focus on the people behind the event.

Cinema and broadcast plans

Bigger, Better, Faster was showing at Belfast CitySide and Coleraine Movie House cinemas from November 11. It is scheduled to air on BBC One at Christmas and will then be made available online. The planned wider release gives the North West 200 a chance to reach viewers beyond the regular road-racing audience, while keeping the families, preparation and consequences around the racing central to the story.