“We just don’t know where this is going to take us but we’re relying on God who is taking us by the hand and we just have to keep our hand in his.” Father Martin O’Hagan

The lifelong friendship and incredible voices of three unassuming Catholic priests have captured the hearts of the public and led them to sign a £1 million record deal with music giant Sony BMG. They now face the unique challenge of combining the duties of their old lives with the commitments of their new one.

The film follows The Priests for six months after the signing of the music contract which will change their lives forever. And along the way it reflects on their lives before breaking into the music industry. Inseparable since childhood, brothers Father Eugene O’Hagan and Father Martin O’Hagan, along with Father David Delargy have been singing and performing together for over 30 years. The O’Hagan brothers credit their late mother’s love of music and childhood performances with their siblings as their inspiration. “We were like the Von Hagan family,” jokes Father Martin O’Hagan.

After meeting Father Delargy at boarding school in 1974, the three friends regularly took lead roles in the annual Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Former teacher Ann Magee remembers their talents shining from a young age: “They were just mischievous boys, like any other children. And we really didn’t know them in any special way until they took to the stage.”

However, the three friends could not have envisaged that their passion for music would one day change their lives. “We had absolutely no inkling of the opportunity that has come to us in these recent months. I mean, you never dream that something as big as this is going to come your way,” says Father David Delargy.

In April this year, a musician from Northern Ireland sent a mobile phone clip of the three priests singing, to Sony BMG. So impressed were the record company with their talent, they immediately began confidential negotiations to sign up the trio in a £1 million record deal.

The documentary follows the group as they travel to Westminster Cathedral a few weeks later for their first press call, where they sign the recording contract. “Unusually, their contract has clauses that allow them to do their day jobs before recording or performance commitments,” journalists report from the press call. The Priests, a musical group with a difference, is born.

Plucked from their lives in rural Northern Ireland, The Priests find themselves working with renowned U2, Dido and Travis producer Mike Hedges. The film also sees them realise a life long dream when they record the choral parts of their album in the Vatican with the Philharmonic Academy of Rome and music maestro Monsignor Pablo Colino and being photographed by the legendary David Bailey.

As the group adjust to the opportunities their new career presents, Father Eugene O’Hagan reflects on how much they are learning about the world of show business. “Not being tuned in to the significance of the person who was taking the photographs, the big name that he was, we weren’t as overawed maybe as we might otherwise have been. He said outlandish things which I don’t think I could really repeat. All the more to shock us while he was taking the photographs so that he could capture maybe an expression which wasn’t set up.”

As news of The Priests spreads throughout the world, commitments mount up and co-ordinating diaries becomes a nightmare, which leads the trio to take on a manager. Doubts begin to surface and Father Eugene O’Hagan reveals, “There were times when we did have second thoughts about going ahead with the project but I think for us we had to ask ourselves and be content in ourselves that it was the right thing to do.”

The challenge of managing the competing demands of their unlikely dual careers comes into focus as they get to grips with the pressures of the recording studio, attempt to finish their first album in time for Christmas and make the difficult decision to turn down an offer of £3 million to tour America, so they can continue with their treasured day jobs. Father Eugene O’Hagan recalls, “One of my parishioners said to me, ‘Father were you not tempted?’ I said, ‘Well, yes we can all be tempted, especially with a price like that on it.’ But as I said to her, I’m in the business of telling people to resist temptation and I’m afraid we had to resist this.”

Amid the profound changes to their lives, The Priests continue with their original commitments, conducting Sunday mass, weddings and funerals, whilst also practising for a gala concert in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, the spiritual home of the Catholic church in Northern Ireland. It’s the first time they perform as ‘The Priests’ and an invited audience of 1000 wait in anticipation for the concert which is being filmed for broadcast in America. As they wait in the wings, the childhood friends are seen experiencing nervous moments as they contemplate the path of the new life that lies ahead of them.

Sunday, 14 December 2008, 11:15PM – 12:15AM