Virgin Media Television Announces Gripping New
Documentary – The Regency: 10 Years On
A decade later, a new Virgin Media Television documentary revisits the attack that reshaped modern Irish organised crime
Thursday 5 February 2026 – Virgin Media Television will air a major new documentary, The Regency: 10 Years On, landing Tuesday, 10 February at 9pm on Virgin Media PLAY and Virgin Media One. The documentary marks a decade since one of the most consequential events in recent Irish criminal history – the 2016 attack at Dublin’s Regency Hotel that left David Byrne dead and ignited a deadly feud that dominated national headlines for years.
On 5 February 2016, gunmen disguised as Gardaí stormed a public boxing weigh‑in, an audacious daylight attack that shocked the nation. In its aftermath, Ireland witnessed an unprecedented escalation in gangland violence as long‑simmering tensions between the Hutch and Kinahan groups erupted into open warfare, leaving communities traumatised and Garda resources stretched to breaking point.
The Regency: 10 Years On revisits the attack, the extensive Garda investigations that followed, and the extraordinary criminal trials that gripped the public and reshaped the understanding of organised crime in Ireland. With the Kinahan Cartel now facing intense international pressure and key figures living in exile abroad, the documentary explores whether the Regency case could ever return to the courts — and whether those who masterminded the assault have ultimately evaded justice.
Featuring interviews with crime journalists, retired Gardaí, and experts who followed the Regency story from day one, The Regency: 10 Years On provides a comprehensive and compelling account of a decade that reshaped organised crime in Ireland.
Former Garda Assistant Commissioner Dr Pat Leahy reflects on how the shooting became the flashpoint for a wave of retaliatory violence: “Once David Byrne was killed... that was the spark that ignited the feud, I don't think there was any stopping it at the stage. It really was a case of 'kill them all"
Former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan describes the immediate aftermath and the scale of the challenge facing law enforcement: “We realised there was going to be a backlash. It came fast and furious and went on a spiral of violence.”
The Regency: 10 Years On provides a gripping look at the attack that defined a decade, the bloody feud that followed, which by late 2018 had claimed 18 lives, and the unanswered questions that still linger ten years later.
The Regency: 10 Years On will air on Tuesday 10 February at 9pm on Virgin Media PLAY & Virgin Media One
