My Mother just SMS'ed me to say she is watching this program at the moment...

Luckily they are only talking about the female trade...

Homiterm would love this program - paints Pattaya in such a lovely light!

Wonder will my parents come visit my (proposed) holiday home in LOS now!


BBC ONE NI MONDAY FEBRUARY 11 - 10.35pm
Could you sell up and leave your comfortable home and loved ones behind to move to a poverty-stricken, sex-laden city with nothing but the dream of being able to make a difference?


A Year In Sex City, on BBC One Northern Ireland tells the story of one Belfast couple who did just that.

The documentary, made for BBC Northern Ireland by DoubleBand Films, follows married couple Andrew and Roisin McCarroll as they set off to realise their hopes of being able to persuade Thai people away from the lucrative sex industry in the city of Pattaya.

From the outside, Andrew and Roisin may have looked like a settled middle-aged couple but they both wanted something more meaningful in their lives.

Andrew had taken early retirement from his teaching job and Roisin soon followed suit leaving her career as a dental practice manager. The couple decided that they wanted to work as volunteers in a foreign country and soon sold their house and prepared as best they could for a life changing experience.

A Year In Sex City followed Andrew and Roisin over one year, from when they packed what belongings they needed and left everything in Northern Ireland behind, through to their arrival in Pattaya and then the work they carried out there.

Pattaya is a city of vice, where the local women come to work and the male tourists come to play. Situated 100 miles south east of Bangkok, this one time quiet beach resort is now a heaving magnet for sex tourists. Prostitution is the main industry in Pattaya and five million tourists pile into the city every year, many to take advantage of the people on offer there.

But as Andrew and Roisin become strangers in a strange place, will the challenge of trying to make a positive contribution there prove too great. Can they change Pattaya or will Pattaya change them?

A Year In Sex City director Jenny Morris says: тАЬWhen we first got in touch with Andrew and Roisin in March 2006 we were immediately interested in their story.

тАЬTo be honest, IтАЩd never heard of Pattaya until I met Roisin and Andrew but as soon as I did some research into the city, I found their decision to go there fascinating. Did they really know what they were letting themselves in for and was this really the right place for first time volunteers?

тАЬInitially, this was a story about a couple who planned to give up everything in order to start a new life as volunteers in a foreign country but I was also intrigued as to how they would cope with their new life.

тАЬAnd although I was struck by the strength of their conviction that they would be able to make a difference, I was also worried that they could be setting themselves up for a fall.тАЭ

A Year In Sex City is a DoubleBand Film production for BBC Northern Ireland.

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