Episodes

EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
RepeatedComments
20030727'It's 25 years since the birth of Louise Brown , the world'sfirsttest-tubebaby. In the first of the new series, Sue MacGregor reunites the groundbreaking team that made it possible to consider the achievements and the new developments in IVF. Producer Louise Adamson Repeated on Fnday at 9.00am Stories of success: page 109'
20030801It's 25 years since the birth of Louise Brown. the world's firsttest-tube baby. Sue MacGregor reunites the ground-breaking team that made it possible to considerthe achievements and developments in IVF. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20030803'Sue MacGregor reunites actors Nigel Havers and Ben Cross with producer David Puttnam , writer Colin Welland and director Hugh Hudson to find out what made Chariots of Fire such a runaway success. Producer David Prest Shortened at 9.00am'
20030808'Sue MacGregor reunites actors Nigel Havers and Ben Cross with producer David Puttnam , writer Colir Welland and director Hugh Hudson to find out what made Chariots of Fire such a successful film. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am'
20030810Sue MacGregor reunites Concorde co-pilot

Jonn Cochrane and flight-test engineer John Allen with broadcaster Raymond Baxter , the then minister of aviation Tony Benn and the anti-Concorde campaigner Mary Goldringto talk about the maiden flight of the world's first supersonic passenger aircraftinthespringofl969.

Producer David Prest

20030815Sue MacGregor reunites Concorde co-pilot John Cochrane and flight-test engineer John Allen with Raymond Baxter , the then minister of aviation Tony Benn , and the anti-Concorde campaigner

Mary Goldring to talk about the maiden flight of the world's first supersonic passenger aircraft in 1969. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am

20030817Sue MacGregor reunites five sen!or Iranian t!gures from the Shah's reign to ta)k about the revotut!on of 1978 and their lives in exiie. Producer David Prest Shortened repeat on Fnday at 9.00am
20030822Sue MacGregor reunites five senior Iranian figures from the Shah's court to talk about the dramatic events of the revolution and about their life in exile. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am
20030824Sue MacGregor talks to designers and architects from the 1951 Festival of Britain about the impact the festival had on their lives. Producer Louise Adamson
20030829Sue MacGregortalks to designers and architects from the 1951 Festival of Britain about the impact it had on their lives.

Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am

20030831Sue MacGregor brings togetherthe campaigning team that steered Margaret Thatcher to victory in 1979 and lets them reflect on their achievements and the doubts they had about the chances of a woman becoming prime minister.
20030905Sue MacGregor brings together the campaigning team that steered Margaret Thatcher to victory in 1979 and lets them reflect on their achievements and the doubts they had about the chances of a woman becoming prime minister. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am
20030907'In 1968, the women machinists of Ford's Dagenham car plant went on strike over equal pay, an action that paved the way for the Equal Pay Act. Sue MacGregor reunites the women with the former Ford negotiator. Producer Louise Adamson Shortened'
20030912In 1968, the women machinists of Ford s

Dagenham car plant went on strike over equal pay, an action that paved the way for the Equal Pay Act. Sue MacGregor reunites the women with their former Ford negotiator.

Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am

20030919Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key figures in Greenpeace's campaigning vessel, the Rainbow

Warrior. They recall the successful heightening of environmental issues and the night in 1985 when the ship was sabotaged and sunk by French secret service agents.

Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am

20040813'

In 1957, Britain conducted its first controversial Hydrogen bomb tests on the remote Christmas Island in the Pacific.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of those who were involved, together with the man who pressed the button to release the first megaton bomb.

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20040815'

2/6. In November 1992, the Church of England took the historic decision to allow women to be ordained as priests. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners involved. [Rptd Fri 9.00am]

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

'2/6. On 11 November 1992 the Church of England took the historic decision to allow women to be ordained as priests. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners involved, together with the Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe , who opposed women's ordination and left the Church of England on the very same day. Producer Louise Adamson at 9am'

20040820'

On 11th November 1992, the Church of England took the historic decision to allow women to be ordained as priests. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners involved, together with the Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe who opposed women's ordination and left the Church of England on the very same day.

'2/6. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners forthe ordination of women in the Church of England, together with Ann Widdecombe MP, who Opposed it. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am FM'

20040822'

3/6

In 1974 The Liverpool Everyman assembled a group of young actors and writers who would go on to become household names. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members of that ground-breaking team including Barbara Dixon, Willy Russell and Matthew Kelly.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

'3/6. In 1974 the Liverpool Everyman theatre assembled a group of young actors and writers who went on to become household names. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members of that team, including Barbara Dickson , Willy Russell and Matthew Kelly. Producer Sarah Cudden'

200408273/6. In 1974 the Liverpool Everyman theatre assembled a group of young actors and writers who went to become household names. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members ofthat ground-breaking team, including

Barbara Dickson , Willy Russell and Matthew Kelly. Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am FM

20040829'4/6. When Henry Vlll's Mary flosewas raised from the sea bed in 1982, it was a triumphant moment tor a dedicated team of marine archaeologists, divers and engineers. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members ofthatteam, including actor and longbow expert Robert Hardy and project director Margaret Rule. Producer David Prest'
20040903'

When Henry VIII's sunken battleship Mary Rose was brought up from the sea bed in 1982, it was a triumphant moment for a dedicated team of marine archaeologists, divers and engineers. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members of that team including actor and longbow expert Robert Hardy and Project Director Margaret Rule.

'4/6. When Henry VIII 's battleship Mary Rose was raised from the sea bed in 1982, it was a triumphant moment for a dedicated team of marine archaeologists, divers and engineers. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the members of thatteam, including actor and longbow expert Robert Hardy and project director Margaret Rule. Shortened repeatfrom Sunday at 11.15am'

20040905'

In the Spring of 1975, Prime Minister Harold Wilson called for Britain's first ever referendum on the subject of our membership of the European Community. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners on both sides of the vote.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

20040910'

In the Spring of 1975, Prime Minister Harold Wilson called for Britain's first ever referendum on the subject of our membership of the European Community. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the leading campaigners on both sides of the vote.

Shortened repeat from Sunday 11.15am

20040912Sue MacGregor reunites the team behind the founding of the Terence Higgins Trust. [Rptd Fri 9.00am]

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

6/6. Sue MacGregor reunites the team behind the founding of the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Producer David Prest

20040917Sue MacGregor reunites the team behind the founding of the Terence Higgins Trust. [Rpt of Sun 11.15am]

Shortened repeat from Sunday at 11.15am

20041226They defined the style and epitomised the look of the decade - Sue MacGregor plays host to a gathering of the original 1960s supermodels.

Producer David Prest Repeated on New Year's Eve at 9am

20041231They defined the style and epitomised the look of the decade. Sue MacGregor plays host to a gathering of the original 1960s super models. [Rpt of Sun 9.15am]

Repeated from Boxing Day at 9.15am

20050724'

Sue MacGregor reunites members of the British Olympic team who took part in the controversial Moscow games of 1980. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Duncan Goodhew, Joslyn Hoyte-Smith, Frank Dick, Dick Shepherd and Colin Moynihan recall the Government pressure they received to withdraw from the competition, the personal dilemmas of travelling there, and ultimately the triumph of a record-breaking British medals haul.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

New series 1/8. Sue MacGregor reunites members of the British Olympic team who took part in tne Moscow games of 1980. Producers Chris Green and David Prest

20050729'

Sue MacGregor reunites members of the British Olympic team who took part in the controversial Moscow games of 1980. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Duncan Goodhew, Joslyn Hoyte-Smith, Frank Dick, Dick Shepherd and Colin Moynihan recall the government pressure they received to withdraw from the competition, the personal dilemmas of travelling there, and ultimately the triumph of a record-breaking British medals haul.

Duncan Goodhew , Joslyn Hoyte-Smith , Frank Dick , Dick Shepherd and Colin Moynihan recall the pressure from the government to withdraw from the competition, their Personal dilemmas, and ultimately, the triumph of a record-breaking British medals haul.

See Choice: page 124. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20050731'

Sue MacGregor reunites members of the founding team of Not the Nine O'Clock News, one of the most successful comedy series of the 1980s.

John Lloyd, Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Chris Langham and Pamela Stephenson recall their initial meetings, the rehearsals, endless re-writes and the controversial, offbeat comedy sketches that emerged from their improvisations.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

2/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the team of Not the Nine o'Clock News, including John Lloyd , Rowan Atkinson , Mel Smith , Chris Langham and Pamela Stephenson.

Producers Christina Captieux and David Prest Repeated on Friday at 9am

20050805'

Sue MacGregor reunites members of the founding team of Not The Nine O'Clock News, one of the most successful comedy series of the 1980s.

John Lloyd, Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Chris Langham and Pamela Stephenson recall their initial meetings, the rehearsals, endless re-writes and the controversial, offbeat comedy sketches that emerged from their improvisations.

2/8. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founding team of Not the Nine o'Clock News, one of the most successful comedy series of the 1980s. John Lloyd , Rowan Atkinson ,

Mel Smith , Chris anri Pamela SteDhenson recall their initial meetings, the rehearsals, endless re-writes and the controversial, offbeat comedy sketches that emerged from their improvisations. Rptd from sun at 11.15am

20050807'

On the 12th May 1966 the 28 year old Liberal Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, David Steel, drew third place in the ballot in the House of Commons for private members' bills. Two weeks later he agreed to sponsor an Abortion Reform Bill - it was the seventh attempt at law reform in Britain since 1952. On the 15th June the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill was published. It was a major piece of legislation, and on the whole a popular one (opinion polls were showing a two thirds majority in favour of termination in some cases) and many women felt it was a liberating move.

But there were passionately held views against legalising abortion too - not least from Roman Catholics. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child was formed at the beginning of the following year, 15 months before the Bill became law in 1968. Any change in the law was a subject on which almost everyone had an opinion. For some, it was a life-changing affair.

With Sue MacGregor, reunited to discuss the way Abortion Law was changed in Britain in 1968 are members of the Abortion Law Reform Association of the time: Diane Munday, Alastair Service and Madeleine Simms, with David, now Lord Steel, who as a young Liberal MP proposed the legislation, and one of its chief opponents, the former Conservative MP Jill, now Baroness, Knight.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

3/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the campaigners involved in the debate over the 1968 Abortion Act. Producer David Prest Repeated on Friday at 9am

20050812'

On the 12th May 1966, the 28 year old Liberal Member of Parliament for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles, David Steel, drew third place in the ballot in the House of Commons for private members' bills. Two weeks later he agreed to sponsor an Abortion Reform Bill - it was the seventh attempt at law reform in Britain since 1952. On the 15th June the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill was published. It was a major piece of legislation, and on the whole a popular one (opinion polls were showing a two thirds majority in favour of termination in some cases) and many women felt it was a liberating move.

But there were passionately held views against legalising abortion too - not least from Roman Catholics. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child was formed at the beginning of the following year, 15 months before the Bill became law in 1968. Any change in the law was a subject on which almost everyone had an opinion. For some, it was a life-changing affair.

With Sue MacGregor, reunited to discuss

With Sue MacGregor, reunited to discuss the way Abortion Law was changed in Britain in 1968 are members of the Abortion Law Reform Association of the time: Diane Munday, Alastair Service and Madeleine Simms, and David, now Lord Steel, and one of its chief opponents, the former Conservative MP Jill, now Baroness Knight.

3/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the campaigners involved in the debate over the 1968 Abortion Act. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20050814Sue MacGregor reunites people who were interned by the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War. [Rptd Fri 9.00am]

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

4/8. Sue MacGregor reunites people who were interned by the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War. Producer David Prest Repeated on Friday at 9am

20050819'

Sue MacGregor reunites people who were interned by the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War. To mark the 60th anniversary of VJ day, we hear from five people who spent much of the Second World War in internment camps in the Far East.

4/8. Sue MacGregor reunites people who were interned by the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World war. Producer David Prest Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20050821'5/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the team, assembled by Eddie Shah , that launched Today, Britain's first colour newspaper, in 1985. Producers David Prest and Eve Streeter Repeated on Friday at 9am'
20050826Sue MacGregor reunites the team assembled by publisher Eddie Shah to launch Britain's first colour newspaper Today in 1985. [Rpt of Sun 11.15am]

'5/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the team, assembled by Eddie Shah , that launched Today, Britain's first colour newspaper. in 1985. Producer David Prest Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'

20050828'

Sue MacGregor goes on location to Sarajevo to reunite some of the civilians who became prisoners in their own city from 1992 to 1995 during the longest siege in the history of modern warfare.

The siege of Sarajevo transformed a multi-ethnic city of peace into a bloody hell. We hear the extraordinary stories of five civilians who survived the siege through a mixture of good fortune, courage and defiance.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

6/8. The Siege of Sarajevo. Sue MacGregor travels to Sarajevo to reunite civilians who were prisoners in their own city from 1992 to 1995 during the longest siege in the history Of modern warfare. Producer Sarah Cuddon Rptd on Friday at 9am

20050902Sue MacGregor visits Sarajevo to reunite some of the civilians who became prisoners in their own city from 1992 to 1995 during the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. [Rpt of Sun 11.15am]

6/8. The Siege of Sarajevo. Sue MacGregor travels to Sarajevo to reunite civilians who were prisoners in their own city from 1992 to 1995 during the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20050904'

Sue MacGregor reunites the environmental campaigners involved in the battle to save Twyford Down, a chalkland meadow bisected by the M3 motorway in Hampshire.

In 1992, after a 20-year struggle with the Department of Transport, protest spilled over into direct action. What followed next was to define the language of the anti-roads movement which grabbed the headlines between 1993 and 1997, as a broad coalition of local, national and international protesters concerned by the government's evaluation of environmental issues came together to try to stop the bulldozers moving in.

Included in this Reunion is ex-local councillor Barbra Bryant, Dr Chris Gillham, a prominent member of the Friends of Twyford Down, veteran road protester Rebecca Lush, the founder of Earth First! UK, Jason Torrence, and Paul Kingsnorth, author of One No Many Yeses.

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

'7/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the environmental campaigners involved in the battle to save Twyford Down, a chalkland meadow in Hampshire bisected by the M3, in the early 1990s. Producer Emily Williams Repeated on Friday at 9am'

20050909'

Sue MacGregor reunites the environmental campaigners involved in the battle to save Twyford Down, a chalkland meadow bisected by the M3 motorway in Hampshire.

In 1992 after a 20 years struggle with the Department of Transport, protest spilled over into direct action. What followed next was to define the language of the anti-roads movement which grabbed the headlines between 1993 -1997, as a broad coalition of local, national and international protesters concerned by the government's evaluation of environmental issues came together to try to stop the bulldozers moving in.

Included in this Reunion is ex- local councillor Barbra Bryant, Dr Chris Gillham a prominent member of the Friends of Twyford Down, veteran roads protester Rebecca Lush, the founder of Earth First! UK Jason Torrence, and Paul Kingsnorth author of One No Many Yeses.

'7/8. Sue MacGregor reunites the environmental campaigners who were involved in the battle to save Twyford Down, a chalkland meadow in Hampshire bisected by the M3, in the early 1990s. Rptd from Sun 1115am'

20050916Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founders and leading performers from the Edinburgh Fringe. [Rpt of Sun 11.15am]

8/8. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founders and leading performers from the Edinburgh Fringe. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20051225'

Sue MacGregor reunites members of the founding team of Not The Nine OClock News, one of the most successful comedy series of the 1980s.

John Lloyd, Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Chris Langham and Pamela Stephenson recall their initial meetings, the rehearsals, endless re-writes and the controversial, offbeat comedy sketches that emerged from their improvisations.

20060402New series 1/5. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key figures involved in the 1991 Gulf War conflict. Generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Paddy Hine and Patrick Cordingley are joined by the then Defence minister Tom King and the BBC's John Simpson, who spent much of the conflict reporting from Baghdad.

Producer Sarah Cuddon

Repeated on Wednesday at 8pm

20060405'1/5. Generals Norman Schwarzkopf , Paddy Hine and Patrick Cordingley are joined by the then Defence minister Tom King and the BBC's John Simpson , reunited to remember 1991 Gulf War. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
20060409Evening

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the pioneering investigators from the Serious Fraud Office. With forensic accountant Ian Trumper, policeman Andy Noad and lawyers Robert Wardle, Rosalind Wright and Chris Dickson - the team behind the prosecution of Britain's largest fraudsters.

Afternoon

Morning

'2/5. The team behind the prosecution of Britain's s largest fraud are reunited by Sue MacGregor. These pioneering investigators from the Serious Fraud Office include Ian Trumper , Andy Noad , Robert Wardle , Rosalind Wright and Chris Dickson. Producer Emily Williams Repeated Wed 8pm'

20060412Sue MacGregor reunites some of the pioneering investigators from the Serious Fraud Office. With forensic accountant Ian Trumper, policeman Andy Noad and lawyers Robert Wardle, Rosalind Wright and Chris Dickson - the team behind the prosecution of Britain's largest fraudsters.

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20060416Presented by Sue MacGregor. The makers of the ground-breaking documentary series The Family in 1974 are reunited with their subjects, members of the Wilkins family. [Rptd Wed 8.00pm]

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

3/5. Film-maker Paul Watson and cameraman Philip Bonham-Carter are reunited with members of the Wilkins family who were the subject of the first fly-on-the-wall documentary series The Family in 1974. With Sue

MacGregor. Producer Christina Captieux Repeated Wednesday 8pm

20060419Presented by Sue MacGregor. The makers of the ground-breaking documentary series The Family in 1974 are reunited with their subjects, members of the Wilkins family. [Rpt of Sun 11.15am]

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20060426Sue MacGregor reunites Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and George Cohen from England's 1966 World Cup winning squad, with BBC commentator Alec Weeks and team liaison officer Alan Leather.

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am LW

20060430Evening

Sue MacGregor gathers together some of the main organisers, makers and creators behind the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981.

Sir Michael Shea was the Queen's Press Secretary at the time; Right Reverend Alan Webster was the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral; Elizabeth Emanuel was the designer behind the Princess' dress and Arthur Edwards was the Royal photographer for the Sun newspaper.

Also contributing will be Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnston, Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office and Sir David Willcocks, the musical director of the wedding.

Afternoon

Morning

20060503Sue MacGregor gathers together some of the main organisers, makers and creators behind the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles in 1981.

Sir Michael Shea was the Queen's Press Secretary at the time; Right Reverend Alan Webster was the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral; Elizabeth Emanuel was the designer behind the Princess' dress and Arthur Edwards was the Royal photographer for the Sun newspaper.

Also contributing, are Lieutenant Colonel Sir John Johnston, Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office and Sir David Willcocks, the musical director of the wedding.

5/5. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the organisers of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981: the Queen's Press Secretary at the time, Sir Michael Shea ; the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, the Rt Rev

Alan Webster ; dress designer Elizabeth Emanuel ; Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, Lt Col Sir John Johnston ; photographer Arthur Edwards , and musical director, Sir David WillcOCkS. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20060903New series 1/4. Rail Privatisation. Joining Sue MacGregor is the former chief executive of British Rail, John Welsby ; the former transport secretary John MacGregor : the director of Passenger Rail Franchising, Roger Salmon ; former permanent secretary at the Department ot

Transport. Patrick Brown : and rail expert and journalist Roger Ford , to relive one of the most controversial reforms of the Conservative governments of the 1990s: the privatisation of the railways.

Producer Christina Captieux Repeated on Friday at 9am

200609152/4. Robben Island. Sue MacGregor brings together five former political prisoners who were incarcerated on Robben Island in South Africa at the same time as Nelson Mandela in the 1960s and 70s. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
200609223/4. TV-am. Sue MacGregor re-unites key members of the launch team for Britain's first ever commercial breakfast television station. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20060924'4/4. The Marchioness. Sue MacGregor brings together survivors and relatives of those involved in the Marchioness riverboat disaster. lain Philpott, Jonathan Phang and Magda Allani were on the boat, and Eileen Dallaglio , Margaret Lockwood Croft and Judy Wellington lost children in what was the worst disaster on the Thames for Over 100 years. Producer Kate Taylor Repeated on Fri at 9am'
20060929'4/4. The Marchioness. Sue MacGregor brings together survivors and relatives of those involved in the Marchioness riverboat disaster, lain Philpott, Jonathan Phang and Magda Allani were on the boat, while Eileen Dallaglio , Margaret Lockwood Croft and Judy Wellington lost children in the worst disaster on the Thames for over 100 years. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
20070413'1/5. Sue MacGregor brings together five former debutantes from 1958, the last year of the practice of launching young girls on to the aristocratic social scene. Almost 50 years later they reflect back on the initiation Process. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
200704202/5. Sue MacGregor goes back to 1985 and the start of one of the country's most popular TV soaps, EastEnaers.

She reunites some original cast members, writers and producers, including Anna Wing (who played matriarch

Lou Beale); Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler ); Leslie Grantham

(aka Dirty Den); scriptwriter Bill Lyons and casting director Jonathan MacKleish. See Choice on page 122.

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

200704273/5. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Britain's last and largest new town - Milton Keynes. It became known for its concrete cows and endless roundabouts, but its founders were fired by an idealistic enthusiasm to create new homes for thousands of people who had been living in sub- standard accommodation in the inner cities. Sue MacGregor brings together some of the architects, planners, community workers and residents who created the town.

Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20070831'1/5. The Royal Opera House. Key figures discuss the events that first brought them together, starting with the funding crisis that affected the Royal Opera House in the 1990s. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
200709072/5. The 1976 Race Relations Act. Sue

MacGregor reunites key figures involved in bringing about the 1976 Race Relations Act, a landmark piece of legislation and the culmination of more than 20 years of work for racial equality campaigners. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

200709143/5. Sue MacGregor meets British veterans of the Korean War and finds out just how close we all came to a third world war between 1950 and 1953. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20070921Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080425'Sue MacGregor talks to artists, writers and editors who have created cartoon characters for DC Thomson's children's comics. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
20080502Rioters and staff are reunited by Sue MacGregor to remember the 25 days of the Strangeways Prison Riots of 1990. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080509Repeated from Sun at 11.15am
20080829Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080905Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080912Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080919Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
20080926'5/5. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key players involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel, including Graham Corbett , Eurotunnel's chief financial officer, and Graham Fagg , the tunneller who made first contact with France. Rptd from Sunday at 11.15am'
200904101/5. National Theatre. Actors

Michael Gambon , Derek Jacobi , Maggie Smith , Joan Plowright and Bill Gaskill join presenter Sue MacGregor to remember the opening of the National Theatre in 1963 under the artistic direction of Lawrence Olivier. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

200904243/5. Brit Art. Sue MacGregor gathers together Tracey Emin , Gavin Turk , Mat

Collishaw, Abigail Lane and Gregor Muir , some of the Young British Artists who created a new art scene in the Brit Art Movement that emerged in the early 1990s. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

20090501'4/5. Thalidomide. Sue MacGregor gathers together a group of people to tell the story of the 1950s and 60s 'wonder drug' thalidomide, given to pregnant women to counteract morning sickness. When it was developed it gave no inkling of the enormous human distress it would go on to cause. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
200905085/5. Sue MacGregor brings together former Beirut hostages John McCarthy ,

Brian Keenan and Terry Waite. Rptd from Sunday n.isam

20090828Repeated from Sunday
20090904Repeated from Sun at 11.15am
20090911Repeated from Sun at 11.15am
20090918Sue MacGregor gathers together the core negotiators and key campaigners involved in the secret talks that led ultimately to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
200909255/5. Stonewall. Sue MacGregor reunites the men and women who founded the gay rights campaign group Stonewall. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am
1948 Olympic Games2012040120120406 (R4)In the first of a new series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together five athletes who competed in the Olympic Games of 1948 in London.

Dorothy Tyler won a silver medal for the High Jump, Dorothy Manley won silver for the women's 100 metres, Tommy Godwin won two bronze medals for cycling, John Parlett ran in the men's 800 metre race and Sir Roger Bannister was Assistant to the Chef de Mission for the Games.

In many ways London was not an obvious choice of venue for the 1948 Games. The war had left Britain virtually bankrupt. London was bomb damaged and rationing was still in place. But despite the drawbacks, Prime Minister Attlee saw the Games as something which could boost spirits of the nation.

The whole event was organised in less than two years and relied heavily on sponsorship and donations. No new facilities were to be built. The Games (dubbed 'The Austerity Olympics') would be a 'make do and mend' venture. The Empire Stadium at Wembley formed the main site for events.

Competitors had little time to train but they were offered extra food rations once they'd been selected. They were accommodated in RAF camps and were required to make their own kit. Fewer than 10% of the competitors in 1948 were female and this was also the year that the 'sex test' was introduced to stop any risk of men masquerading as women.

The opening ceremony took place on a baking hot July day. Four thousand athletes from fifty nine nations marched into Wembley arena to be addressed by King George VI. Some of the stars of that year included the Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen, known as 'the flying housewife' and the eccentric Czech runner, Emil Zatopek. America topped the tables with 38 Gold medals and when the Games were over they discovered they'd even made a profit.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five British Olympians from the 1948 Games.

1976 Race Relations Act2007090220070907 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites 5 campaigners who fought to bring about the 1976 Race Relations Act

2/5. The 1976 Race Relations Act . Sue MacGregor reunites key figures involved in bringing about the 1976 Race Relations Act. Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated on Friday at 9am

1983, 1985 Famine In Ethiopia2009083020090904 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Sue reunites some of those involved in the great cricket split caused by the launch of World Series Cricket by Australian business tycoon Kerry Packer in 1977. She is joined by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson, Tony Greig, who was England captain at the time, Mike Denness, team manager for Packer's World Series, and the commentator and writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins, who reported the story as it broke

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Key players in the relief effort mounted in response to the famine in Ethiopia in 1984.

In Ethiopia, close to eight million people became famine victims during the drought of 1984, and over one million died. The international relief effort that followed was the largest ever mounted, culminating in the Live Aid concert in 1985.

Reporter Michael Buerk, nurse Claire Bertschinger, former head of Oxfam Hugh Goyder, Major Dawit Wolde Giorgis of the Ethiopian relief effort and Sir Brian Barder, Ambassador to Ethiopia at the time, join Sue to recall the events.

2/5. Sue MacGregor is joined by Michael Buerk , Claire Bertschinger , Hugh Goyaer ,

Dawit Wolde Giorgis and Brian Barder to recall the events of the 1984 Ethiopian famine international relief effort.

Producer Christina Captieux Repeated on Friday at 9am

60s Girl Singers2012081920140615/16 (BBC7)
In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites five women whose pop success helped make the sixties swing.

When people think about the music of the sixties, generally they think of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but the girl singers of the period were also highly successful and important. In the UK alone, Cilla Black had seventeen top forty hits, Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw had fifteen and Petula Clark had thirteen. This doesn't include the success they all enjoyed abroad: these girls were international stars having hits all over Europe and in the United States.

But success did not always bring happiness and, for many of the girl singers of the period, there were major lows alongside the dizzying highs. The sixties may have been swinging, but it wasn't an easy time for the women of the period who, as well as having to navigate the vagaries of a career in show business, often found themselves the focus of enormous attention from the media and the public. It wasn't always welcome. The gulf between their public lives and their private lives was sometimes huge.

Joining Sue MacGregor is: Petula Clark, the child star of the 1940s whose career went stratospheric in the 1960s; Sandie Shaw, the barefoot pop princess who won the Eurovision Song Contest; Helen Shapiro, Britain's first teen pop star who was supported by The Beatles, Jackie Trent, singer and songwriter who wrote hits for Petula Clark, Scott Walker and many others; and Vicki Wickham, the legendary producer of Ready Steady Go who went on to manage Dusty Springfield.

Producer: Brian McCluskey

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites five women who ruled the world of pop in the 1960s.

Abu Ghraib2023042320230428 (R4)In April 2004 it emerged that US military personnel at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, were using so called `enhanced interrogation techniques` on prisoners. A series of lurid photographs appeared featuring detainees on leashes, manacled, piled on top of each other, hooded and wired to electrodes.

The actions were condemned as human rights violations and war crimes against detainees, including physical abuse, sexual humiliation, physical and psychological torture and rape.

President George W Bush, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apologised for the actions of American military at the prison, and a total of eleven soldiers were court-martialled and dishonourably discharged from service.

In this episode, Kirsty is joined by:

Sam Provance, the former U.S. Army military intelligence sergeant who blew the whistle on Abu Ghraib.

Former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was in command of the prison at the time.

Haj Ali Abbas who was hooded and electrocuted, and is believed to be the famous `hooded figure` in the images that emerged.

Lawyer Katherine Gallagher, who represents several other former detainees.

Producer: Artemis Irvine

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark's guests reflect on the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq in 2003.

Alan Bennett's Talking Heads2015091320150906 (R4)
20150911 (R4)
The alcoholic and Godless wife of a vicar, a curtain-twitching meddler who finds happiness in prison and a timid suburban housewife who falls in love with a murderer. Three of 12 seemingly remarkable yet ordinary characters who made up Alan Bennett's two series of ground-breaking TV monologues.

Despite a script for just one voice, each play is peopled with vivid additional characters and dramatic action, so vivid that years later some viewers falsely remember seeing 'off-screen' characters.

The heartbreaking and hilarious stories were a big hit with TV audiences who saw ordinary folk like them grappling with indignities, dilemmas and disasters.

In this edition of The Reunion, Alan Bennett describes who inspired his characters and why he choose the monologue form.

Penelope Wilton, who appeared as Rosemary in Nights in the Garden of Spain, explains to Sue MacGregor how it took two days to decipher Bennett's terrible handwriting before she realised that he'd written a Talking Head for her.

Tristram Powell directed two episodes and describes his less is more approach allowing the actors, and significantly Bennett's writing, to captivate viewers, rather than slick editing and eye-catching sets.

The concept of a monologue was virtually unheard of in television and has rarely been tried since. It was initially met with scepticism by some, including, actress Patricia Routledge who recalls how Bennett patiently waited for her to capitulate. She went on to appear in two episodes.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor gathers key players from Alan Bennett's groundbreaking TV monologue series.

Auschwitz Survivors2018081920180824 (R4)In this special 150th edition of the programme, Sue MacGregor brings together four people who survived the Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.

'There were no hugs, no kisses, no embrace. My mum was just pushed away with the other women and children. The dehumanisation began immediately. I didn't cry, it was as though I'd lost all my emotions.'

Established by the Germans in 1940, in the suburbs of Oswiecim in south-west Poland, more than one million men, women and children were killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the Nazi death camps and the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Most of those brought to the camp were Jewish and nearly all were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Only a fraction survived.

Sharing their stories with Sue around the table are Auschwitz survivors Susan Pollack, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Zigi Shipper and Lily Ebert.

Producer: Eve Streeter

Series producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites four people who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Baader-meinhof2018042220180427 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets former members of the Baader-Meinhof gang that terrorised West Germany with bombings, assassinations and hijackings in the 1970s.

In 1977, the Baader-Meinhof gang unleashed a wave of horror and tragedy which is now remembered as the 'the German Autumn of terror'. In April of that year, chief federal prosecutor Seigfried Buback and his bodyguard were killed by motorcycle gunmen. In July, banker Jurgen Ponto was fatally wounded in a bungled kidnap attempt which was meant to spring the leaders of the gang from prison. Then, in September, the powerful industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer was abducted and murdered.

When the government still refused to meet the gang's demands to release their members from prison, they persuaded Palestinian militants to hijack a Lufthansa jet. But when it landed in Mogadishu in Somalia it was stormed by German special forces and the passengers freed. The next morning, three of the group's founding members were found dead in their cells.

Rooted in the student protest movement of the late 1960s, the story of the group began in May 1970 with the freeing of Andreas Baader (imprisoned for planting fire bombs in protest against the Vietnam war) by the popular television journalist Ulrike Meinhof and others. They spent the years that followed stealing cars and robbing banks before being finally captured in 1972. Their prolonged trial began in 1975 and lasted for almost two years, in the course of which Ulrike Meinhof committed suicide. The other leaders of the group were convicted and received life sentences.

Among those joining Sue around the table to look back on the dramatic events are gang member Peter Jurgen Boock, former West German counter-terrorism chief Rainer Hofmeyer, radical lawyer Kurt Groenewold, and Stephan Aust, the journalist who covered the Baader-Meinhof story throughout the seventies.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor looks back on the Baader-Meinhof gang's reign of terror in Germany.

Band Aid2023122520231229 (R4)

Pop music of the mid 1980s was at the height of its foppish and glossy pomp. Bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet epitomised unattainable glamour and dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. But a world away, Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military dictatorship in Ethiopia had exacerbated a catastrophic famine, threatening the lives of millions of his people.

The scale of the humanitarian disaster needed a heavyweight response. Musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure hatched a plan to pack as many pop stars as they could into a room to create what would become the best-selling charity single of all time – holding that record until 1997 - Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Kirsty Wark is joined by Sir Bob Geldof and surprise guests to recall how members of Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran arrived at the studio still hungover after partying the night before; how halfway through the day Boy George was woken up in his bed in New York by a telephone call from a testy Bob Geldof who demanded that he get a Concorde flight back to London for the session; and how U2 singer Bono had huge reservations about singing his line.

The song went straight into at number one, outselling every other record in the charts put together, raising tens of millions for famine victims and kick-starting a new trend for pop stars as activists. To date, it has sold nearly four million copies.

Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sir Bob Geldof and guests recall the making of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?

Series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history

In November 1984, the biggest names in pop gathered to record Do They Know It’s Christmas? Kirsty Wark reunites some of those involved in Band Aid, including Sir Bob Geldof.

Band Aid20231225

Pop music of the mid 1980s was at the height of its foppish and glossy pomp. Bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet epitomised unattainable glamour and dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. But a world away, Mengistu Haile Mariam’s military dictatorship in Ethiopia had exacerbated a catastrophic famine, threatening the lives of millions of his people.

The scale of the humanitarian disaster needed a heavyweight response. Musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure hatched a plan to pack as many pop stars as they could into a room to create what would become the best-selling charity single of all time – holding that record until 1997 - Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Kirsty Wark is joined by Sir Bob Geldof and surprise guests to recall how members of Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran arrived at the studio still hungover after partying the night before; how halfway through the day Boy George was woken up in his bed in New York by a telephone call from a testy Bob Geldof who demanded that he get a Concorde flight back to London for the session; and how U2 singer Bono had huge reservations about singing his line.

The song went straight into at number one, outselling every other record in the charts put together, raising tens of millions for famine victims and kick-starting a new trend for pop stars as activists. To date, it has sold nearly four million copies.

Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sir Bob Geldof and guests recall the making of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?

Series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history

In November 1984, the biggest names in pop gathered to record Do They Know It’s Christmas? Kirsty Wark reunites some of those involved in Band Aid, including Sir Bob Geldof.

Band Aid2023122520231229 (R4)Pop music of the mid 1980s was at the height of its foppish and glossy pomp. Bands like Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet epitomised unattainable glamour and dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. But a world away, Mengistu Haile Mariam's military dictatorship in Ethiopia had exacerbated a catastrophic famine, threatening the lives of millions of his people.

The scale of the humanitarian disaster needed a heavyweight response. Musicians Bob Geldof and Midge Ure hatched a plan to pack as many pop stars as they could into a room to create what would become the best-selling charity single of all time – holding that record until 1997 - Do They Know It's Christmas?

Kirsty Wark is joined by Sir Bob Geldof and surprise guests to recall how members of Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran arrived at the studio still hungover after partying the night before; how halfway through the day Boy George was woken up in his bed in New York by a telephone call from a testy Bob Geldof who demanded that he get a Concorde flight back to London for the session; and how U2 singer Bono had huge reservations about singing his line.

The song went straight into at number one, outselling every other record in the charts put together, raising tens of millions for famine victims and kick-starting a new trend for pop stars as activists. To date, it has sold nearly four million copies.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sir Bob Geldof and guests recall the making of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas?

In November 1984, the biggest names in pop gathered to record Do They Know It's Christmas? Kirsty Wark reunites some of those involved in Band Aid, including Sir Bob Geldof.

Barings Bank Collapse2011080720110812 (R4)In the first of a new series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites Nick Leeson, the man who broke Barings bank, with his colleagues and former boss, Peter Norris.

On the 26th February 1995, a pillar of the British financial and social establishment suddenly came crashing to the ground as Britain's oldest merchant bank went bust with debts of £830 million.

Barings Bank had financed Napoleon, been immortalised by Byron, and held accounts for The Queen and many in the aristocracy. Barings had stood aloof, a symbol of discreet grandeur and probity since 1762. But now Britain's oldest merchant bank was bust, and the architect of destruction was Nicolas Leeson, a plaster's son from Watford.

He was Barings star trader on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and regularly reported huge profits to his delighted bosses. The truth was that he was losing Barings and their customers hundreds of millions of pounds which he' d been hiding in a secret account.

As company auditors eventually closed in, Leeson fled Singapore with his wife Lisa. Back in London that weekend, frantic efforts were being made to save Barings and the whole banking sector from meltdown before the markets opened on Monday morning.

For the first time since 1995 rogue trader Nick Lesson will publicly face his former boss Peter Norris - now a senior figure in the Virgin Group - who presided over the investment department in which Leeson traded secretly for years before the bank's eventual collapse.

Also joining Sue will be Andrea Leadsom MP, who in 1995 managed a team of bankers at Barclays who supplied finance for Barings investments, Nicholas Edwards then an investment banker with Barings in London, the administrator of Barings Alan Bloom, and John Gapper of the FT.

Producers: Peter Curran and David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites those behind the collapse of Barings Bank in 1995.

Battle For Basra2018040120180406 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Battle for Basra.

In early 2003, Britain, as part of the Coalition invastion of Iraq, agreed to take responsibility for the toppling of Basra. The country's regime would be removed, weapons of mass destruction would be located and the Iraqi people would establish a new democratic and safe administration.

Despite considerable resistance, the city was taken within a matter of weeks. Troops were welcomed loudly and flowers were thrown as they entered the city. But within days, joy at being freed from Saddam's cruel oppression was replaced with mistrust and instability.

Mass looting erupted and the local population grew angry at the failure to sort out irregular water supplies and patchy electricity provision. British soldiers were seen by many as useless infidels. Hopes of leaving Basra quickly were shelved as British troops tried to keep the peace.

At the same time, the pressure was on in Helmand. Troops were spread too thin and were 'running hot'. Basra went from being a potential showcase for military intervention to a thorn in the Coalition's side. Instead of being over within weeks, it dragged on for years.

Joining Sue to discuss the invasion and the subsequent difficulties are:

Lt General Robin Brims who masterminded the land operation,

Lt Gen Sir James Dutton who led the British Marines and also commanded US marines,

Major General Graham Binns who headed the powerful 7th (UK) Armoured Brigade,

the BBC's former defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt who was embedded with British troops,

and Rory Stewart MP who was just 30 when he took on the role as a Coalition deputy Governor in Southern Iraq.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Battle for Basra in 2003.

Beirut Hostages2009050320090508 (R4)
20200412 (R4)
20200417 (R4)
Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Beirut hostages John McCarthy, Brian Keenan and Terry Waite discuss their shared experiences and are joined by campaigner Jill Morrell, who was the girlfriend of John McCarthy at the time.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor talks to the Beirut hostages John McCarthy, Brian Keenan and Terry Waite.

'Sue MacGregor brings together former hostages John McCarthy, Brian Keenan and Terry Waite, who were kidnapped in Beirut during the 1980s and held for a combined total of more than 5,000 days. They discuss their shared experiences for the first time with contributions by Jill Morrell, who was McCarthy's girlfriend at the time of his abduction. Repeated on Friday at 9am'

Bhagwan Rajneesh2007092320070928 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets a group of former members of the Bhagwan Rajneesh cult.

5/5. Sue MacGregor meets a group of former Bhagwan Rajneesh sannyasins to reflect on the rise and fall of the cult.

Producer Katrina Fallon Repeated on Friday at 9am

Big Brother2012091620120921 (R4)In this week's Reunion, Sue MacGregor and guests revisit the show that transformed British television for either good or bad, depending on your point of view, when it first hit our screens in July of 2000.

Big Brother placed participants under 24-hr camera and microphone scrutiny in a house where they competed to avoid nomination by housemates, then eviction by public vote. Such was the media interest in this first series, the news that Nasty Nick Bateman had been thrown out featured on the front page of almost every national newspaper in the UK. By the time Series 5 arrived, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown found himself answering questions about racism in an episode of Big Brother, during a visit to India.

Throughout the eight weeks spent inside the house, contestants were not permitted to make any contact with the outside world. There were few home comforts, limitations on food, and weekly tasks and competitions. In the Diary Room, housemates were expected to privately convey their true thoughts and feelings before revealing their nominees for eviction.

The show generated a torrent of media analysis and opinion on both the psychological effects on contestants and what society now considered entertainment.

Joining Sue MacGregor to recall the first series of Big Brother are:

Sir Peter Bazalgette who developed and produced the UK format of Big Brother and was described by critic Victor Lewis Smith as having done more to debase television over the past decade than anyone else;

Tim Gardam, then Channel Four's Director of Programmes who commissioned Big Brother;

and some of those whose lives were changed after taking part in the first series in 2000.

Producer: Peter Curran

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the team that brought reality TV show Big Brother to UK screens.

Birmingham Six2015090620150913 (R4)
20150918 (R4)
The release of the Birmingham Six in 1991 was a landmark in British legal history. The six men had been convicted of bombing two Birmingham pubs in November 1974, killing 21 people in what was then the worst IRA attack on British soil.

But the Six always protested their innocence and their supporters spent 16 years campaigning for their release before the evidence against them was shown to be unreliable and their convictions quashed.

It had been a long hard struggle. In the early years the men and their families wrote to everyone they could think of, appealing for help: politicians, trades unions, church leaders and human rights organisations. Breda Power, whose father Billy was one of the men convicted, tells Sue MacGregor that at first no-one wanted to listen. For many years, they had the door continually shut in their face. Ann Farrell, daughter of Richard McIlkenny, another of the Six, says: 'When you know that someone you love is in prison for something they haven't done, you never give up, no matter how hard it is'.

Paddy Hill was one of the most vocal of the Birmingham Six in protesting his innocence, and eventually one of his letters was published in the left wing journal, Tribune. Chris Mullin, then a journalist, and later an MP, tells Sue MacGregor why he published the letter, and how he went on to investigate the case.

Also joining Sue is Brian Hambleton whose sister Maxine was killed in the Birmingham bombs and who is still campaigning to bring the real bombers to justice.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests remember the campaign to free the Birmingham Six.

Black Wednesday2020081620200821 (R4)
20210410 (R4)
Kirsty Wark brings together bankers, traders and politicians to recall the events of Black Wednesday in 1992, when the collapse of sterling forced Britain's exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

In 1990, the ERM was a central part of the then Chancellor John Major's anti-inflationary policy, to `place Britain at the heart of Europe`. But as Prime Minister in 1992, he had to make the painful decision to pull out after a frenetic day in the City. Sterling was pegged to the deutsche mark and the idea was to use intervention on the exchanges to hold it within set bands on either side of a central rate. But a wave of short selling, led by the American hedge-fund manager George Soros, overwhelmed the ability of the Bank of England to support the pound.

Chancellor Norman Lamont raised interest rates from 10% to 12%, then to 15%, and authorised the spending of billions of pounds to buy up the sterling being frantically sold on the currency markets. But the measures failed to prevent the pound falling lower than its minimum level in the ERM.

Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke spent the day in crisis talks with the PM.

Sir Alex Allan was John Major's principle private secretary.

Mark Clarke was the foreign exchange dealer at the Bank of America who sold half a billion pounds, making £10 million for his employers in eight hours of trading.

Jim Trott was the Bank of England's chief currency dealer who bought more sterling in a day than anyone before or since.

Jeff Randall was the Sunday Times City Editor who watched the drama unfold.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the 1992 sterling collapse known as Black Wednesday.

Bletchley Park\u00a0code-breakers2008040620080411 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five Bletchley Park code-breakers from World War II.

New series 1/5. Sue MacGregor gathers together five members of the Bletchley Park codebreakers who hastened the end of the Second World War by decrypting the cipher created by German Enigma machines.

Producer Katrina Fallon Repeated on Friday at 9am

Boys From The Blackstuff2011082820140727/28 (BBC7)
In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites Julie Walters, Alan Bleasdale, Tom Georgeson, Michael Angelis and producer Michael Wearing to talk about their roles in the landmark 1980s drama series Boys from the Blackstuff.

Writer Alan Bleasdale's hard-hitting drama series was set against the harsh backdrop of struggle and bleak unemployment in the Liverpool of Thatcher's Britain. It chronicled the lives of a group of men as they sought to find work, whilst suffering the despair and indignity of life on the scrapheap. First transmitted in October 1982, it received widespread critical acclaim and became a 'television event'.

Boys from the Blackstuff had an immediate and startling impact, thanks to the sheer heartfelt emotional power of Bleasdale's uncompromising writing and an extraordinarily gifted ensemble cast. It painted an uncomfortable, but warranted portrait of a city and a country teetering precariously on the brink of social and economic disaster, where the only real victims were those who were prevented by circumstances from leading fulfilling and productive lives.

The original team join Sue MacGregor to talk about their experiences of the making of the series and its widespread resonance across the nation.

Producer: Christina Captieux

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites those involved in the making of TV's Boys from the Blackstuff.

Brideshead Revisited2010041120140525/26 (BBC7)
In this episode of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together the cast, the producer and the director of the iconic TV drama Brideshead Revisited.

Brideshead became one of the most popular TV shows ever made when it first aired on ITV in the autumn of 1981. It made household names of its stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews and starred two of the greatest actors of the twentieth century, Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud.

Based on the best-selling novel by Evelyn Waugh and adapted by John Mortimer initially and then also Derek Granger, it told a poignant story of forbidden love and religious faith set prior to the Second World War. The size and scale of the series was unprecedented. To make eleven fifty minute episodes, shot entirely on film and all on location was a huge undertaking. And no expense was spared with glamorous costumes, vintage cars and exotic locations including Venice, Malta and the QE2. It was one of the most expensive ITV serials ever made and set the benchmark for others to follow, notably Jewel in the Crown in 1985.

Sue is joined around the table by: Jeremy Irons, who played the narrator of the story Charles Ryder; Anthony Andrews, who was Sebastian Flyte; Claire Bloom, who played Sebastian's mother Lady Marchmain; the series' director Charles Sturridge; Derek Granger the producer; and Diana Quick who was Lady Julia Flyte, Sebastian's sister.

A WHISTLEDOWN Production for BBC Radio 4. The producers are Sarah Cuddon and David Prest.

Sue MacGregor reunites the creative team behind TV drama Brideshead Revisited.

Brit Art2009041920140817/18 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor brings together some of the young artists who emerged in the 1990s to create the Brit Art movement - Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Abigail Lane, Mat Collishaw and Gregor Muir.

Looking back to their formative years, the artists share their memoires of how their work was initially greeted with contempt, but ultimately changed people's perceptions of modern art.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together some of those involved in the 1990s Brit Art movement.

RT 3/5. Brit Art. Sue MacGregor gathers CHOICE together Tracey Emin , Gavin Turk , Mat Collishaw, Abigail Lane and Gregor Muir , some of the Young British Artists who created a new art scene in the Brit Art

Movement that emerged in the early 1990s. Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated on Friday at 9am

British Antarctic Survey2007042920140629/30 (BBC7)Sue MacGregor reunites the British scientists who discovered the hole in the ozone layer.

4/5. in 1985 the British Antarctic Survey scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer. Little did they know that their work was to have worldwide impact.

Sue MacGregor brings together the key people who were part of this groundbreaking discovei y. Producer Patricia Lalla Repeated on Friday at 9am

British Runners Of The 1980s2023040220230407 (R4)The late 1970s and 1980s epitomised the acme of British running. A handful of UK athletes were on a winning streak, smashing world records and garnering medals from all the top competitions. Kirsty Wark hears from Steve Cram, Brendan Foster, David Moorcroft, Sebastian Coe and head coach Frank Dick.

Gruelling training, psychological one-upmanship and sheer determination created a climate of fierce competition which only served to make each man run faster. Olympic medallist Brendan Foster led the field in the 1970s providing inspiration and gold-plated advice for his young prot退g退 Steve Cram.

The intense rivalry between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett captured the public imagination - especially at the controversial 1981 Moscow Olympics which created not one but two great upsets. David Moorcroft watched the two races and the following year went on to become the fastest man in history when he ran the 5,000 metre race that would change his life.

Frank Dick was the British Athletics Federation's Director of Coaching at the time and helped his athletes cope with stunning wins and traumatic failures. Our guests debate what made that time so successful, share their own highs and lows and give their advice to today's athletes.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The record-breaking great British runners of the 1980s are reunited.

British Veterans Of The\u00a0korean War2007090920070914 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites British veterans of the Korean war.

3/5. Sue MacGregor meets British veterans of the Korean War and finds out just how close we came to a third world war between 1950 and 1953. Producer Adam Fowler Repeated on Friday at 9am

Brixton Riots2011032020110325 (R4)In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites five people who lived through the dramatic events which stunned the nation when simmering tensions erupted into an all out battle between police and youths in Brixton in April 1981.

On Saturday the 11th of April 1981 Brixton was set ablaze as hundreds of local youths fought the Metropolitan Police in running street battles. The police came under a hail of bricks and bottles, and petrol bombs were thrown at them for the first time on mainland Britain. Ill equipped and lacking in training at one point they struggled even to defend the police station on Brixton Road.

What was shocking to many people was the unexpectedness of events. But below the surface tensions had been building. Many young black men believed officers discriminated against them, particularly by use of the 'sus' law under which anybody could be stopped and searched if officers merely suspected they might be planning to carry out a crime.

In early April, Operation Swamp - an attempt to cut street crime in Brixton which used the sus law to stop more than 1,000 people in six days - heightened tensions.

Whilst the press called it 'the Brixton riots', giving the impression that it was the work of a hysterical mob. Linton Kwesi Johnson redefined the moment as 'di great insohreckshan'. 'It is noh mistri/we mekkin histri,' he wrote.

Joining Sue around the table is: novelist Alex Wheatle ; Ted Knight, then the leader of Lambeth Borough Council; journalist and broadcaster Darcus Howe and former policemen Brian Paddick and Peter Bleksley.

Producer: Emily Williams and David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people caught up in the 1981 Brixton Riots.

Cats, The Musical2019091520190920 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites cast and crew from the original stage version of the musical Cats.

Cats had its premiere in London's West End on the 11th May 1981. The musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber was based on a 1939 collection of poetry by TS Eliot, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and featured an array of characterful felines.

The poet had famously turned down Walt Disney because he didn't want his poetic creations to be made cute. Lloyd Webber convinced his widow to agree to the stage adaption on the basis that he saw them more like performers in the raunchy dance group Hot Gossip.

But the musical had a difficult birth with critics doubting the choice of subject matter, trouble raising money, disagreements over song lyrics, a problematic re-design of the New London Theatre, and a series of freak injuries to one of its stars, Judi Dench. She was forced to pull out just days before opening night, allowing Elaine Paige to perform the central role of Grizabella the Glamour Cat, and the hit song Memory.

The show went on to have an unbroken run of almost 9,000 performances until its closure exactly 21 years to the day later, in 2002.

Joining Sue MacGregor are Cats' director Trevor Nunn and stage designer John Napier, as well as Elaine Paige, Wayne Sleep (Mr. Mistoffelees), Bonnie Langford (Rumpleteazer) and Paul Nicholas (Rum Tum Tugger).

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites cast and crew from the original 1981 stage musical Cats.

Chickenshed Theatre20180902Sue MacGregor reunites the pioneers of Chickenshed Theatre where disabled and able-bodied performers were united by their talents rather than divided by their differences.

In the early 1970s, children with severe learning disabilities were often hidden away in institutions and sent to 'special' schools, away from their peers. No-one expected anything of them. Conditions like dyslexia and autism, although named and identified, were rarely diagnosed and sufferers were often seen as 'problem children'.

In 1974, Jo Collins and Mary Ward identified a common interest in treating all children as individuals, not labels. A disused chicken shed, owned by an impoverished aristocrat, became the base for their new theatre company. That summer, Chickenshed Theatre was named most promising new company by The Stage newspaper.

It took some years for the company to become fully inclusive. But, when it did, the results were astonishing. Able-bodied and disabled actors, dancers and singers created what theatre director Trevor Nunn described as 'a glimpse of a more perfect world', a utopia where everyone's individuality was celebrated, not hidden.

Famous names including Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins were bowled over by the quality of the performances. Princess Diana became a patron and got to know many of the young actors.

A girl in a wheelchair could dance through the air, a young woman who could not speak became a gifted songwriter and a young man from the wrong side of the tracks chose to become a dancer rather than a jailbird.

Joining Sue to look back on the pioneering work of Chickenshed are founders Jo Collins and Mary Ward, actor Simon Callow and former Chickenshed members Lucia Bellini, Emma Cambridge and Jessica Wall.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the pioneers of inclusive theatre company Chickenshed.

Climbie Inquiry2017043020170505 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets people involved in the Victoria Climbie Inquiry, the catalyst for widespread reforms to child protection.

Victoria Climbie was just eight years old when she died in February 2000, after months of abuse at the hands of her Great Aunt. A pathologist recorded 128 separate injuries to her body, saying it was the worst case of deliberate harm he had ever dealt with.

Pictures of the smiling little girl from the Ivory Coast filled the newspapers. She had been sent to Britain for a better life. How could such appalling torture have gone unnoticed? What made the tragedy worse was the number of missed opportunities to save her. In the eleven months that Victoria lived in Britain, she came into contact with three housing authorities, four social services departments, two police child protection teams and the NSPCC, and was admitted to two different hospitals.

The government ordered an inquiry to examine what went wrong and consider how such a tragedy could be prevented from happening in the future. Its 108 recommendations prompted widespread reforms to child protection and social worker training.

Among Sue MacGregor's guests recalling the inquiry and its impact are its Chair, Lord Laming, and Neil Garnham, Counsel to the Inquiry and now a High Court Judge.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor meets people involved in the Victoria Climbie inquiry.

Comic Relief2011031320140810/11 (BBC7)
In this episode of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor gathers together the founding members of Comic Relief.

The idea first emerged in 1984 when a devastating famine was crippling Ethiopia. Inspired by the work of Live Aid, a group of people led by writer Richard Curtis decided to tap into the great British comedy scene and raise money for Africa. All costs would be covered by sponsors. This would enable the 'Golden Pound' principle - that every penny raised should go to charity.

Comic Relief was launched live on Noel Edmonds' Late, Late Breakfast Show on Christmas Day 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan. Helen Fielding was the Comic Relief documentary maker leading the project in Africa at the time. The launch raised £1 million. A few months later Comic Relief staged their first live fundraising show at London's Shaftesbury Theatre with performances by Rowan Atkinson, Ronnie Corbett and Kate Bush. That year, they released their first number one hit single with The Young Ones and Cliff Richard.

Comic Relief needed a symbol - something which could be sold in exchange for a donation and which would give the public a way of joining in. On the back of the Red Nose idea came the first ever Red Nose Day TV extravaganza in 1988 - an event which would bring together comedy and charity like never before on live national TV. Richard Curtis recalls 'chaos, panic and tears' behind the scenes. The show raised a staggering £15 million and would go on to become an institution.

Sue is joined around the table by; Richard Curtis co-founder of Comic Relief; Lenny Henry and Griff Rhys Jones who presented the early TV shows; Helen Fielding who was the first Africa documentary producer and Paddy Coulter, who was Head of Media at Oxfam and an early Comic Relief board member.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the original team behind the charity Comic Relief.

Construction Of The\u00a0channel Tunnel2008092120080926 (R4)Sue brings together some key players involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

5/5. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key players involved in the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

Producer Deborah Dudgeon Repeated on Friday at 9am

Contaminated Blood2016091120160916 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets haemophiliacs and others affected by the contaminated blood disaster.

It is often referred to as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS - throughout the 1970s and 80s thousands of British haemophiliacs were given NHS treatment that, while easing their bleeding symptoms, ended up infecting them with potentially deadly viruses. Nearly 5000 contracted Hepatitis C and 1200 of those also contracted HIV. Many hundreds have died.

Haemophilia is a bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency of one of the proteins essential for the normal clotting of blood. A new treatment containing concentrated amounts of these clotting factors transformed life for haemophiliacs and their families in the 1970s. But the treatment was pooled from multiple blood donations, and it only took one infected donation to contaminate the whole supply.

Britain's blood processing plants couldn't produce enough Factor Concentrate to satisfy demand so commercial supplies were imported from the United States, where the risk of infection was even higher. American donors were paid for their blood, attracting large numbers of higher risk donors - alcoholics, drug addicts and homeless people - who were more likely to be suffering from viruses and less likely to risk their fee by admitting it. This was the era when AIDS was just emerging, and little was known about how it was spread.

Sue MacGregor's guests include David Watters, who ran the Haemophilia Society at the time and was inundated with calls from terrified families; Colette Wintel who was infected with Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C; Dr Peter Jones who ran the Newcastle Haemophilia Centre; Janette Johnson, whose son Graham contracted AIDS and died aged 15; and 'John', who contracted AIDS and Hepatitis C as a teenager.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Coronation Maids2013042120130426 (R4)
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When Britain's 27-year-old newly crowned Queen emerged from Westminster Abbey on June 2 1953, she was flanked by her Maids of Honour: six of the country's most blue-blooded young women, all single, beautiful and, like the Queen, wearing gowns by Hartnell.

According to Lady Glenconner, then 20-year-old Lady Anne Coke, daughter of the Earl of Leicester, they were seen as the Spice Girls of their day.

The Maids' wardrobes and social lives were gossip-column fodder, and sometimes even front-page news, from the moment their identities were revealed until the day of the Coronation. In their New Look suits and demure hats and heels they would be endlessly photographed as the nation, still in the grip of post-war austerity, hungered for some light relief.

Queen Elizabeth followed a precedent set by Queen Victoria by having Maids of Honour instead of pages to bear her Coronation train. It was their duty to unfurl the cumbersome train as she alighted from the Gold State Coach outside Westminster Abbey and hold it aloft using six silk handles invisibly stitched into its underside.

Ready, girls?' the Monarch asked her attendants as they paused at the Abbey doors to begin their historic procession to the altar.

Now, 60 years on from that historic day they join Sue MacGregor in The Reunion.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites the women who were maids of honour to the Queen at her coronation.

D.c. Thomson Comics2008042020080425 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites people behind cartoon strips for popular children's comics.

'3/5. Sue MacGregor gathers together a group of artists, writers and editors who have created and drawn a cavalcade of cartoon-strip characters for children's comics like The Beano and The Dandy for more than half a century at Scottish publishers, DC Thomson. Producer Chris Green Repeated on Friday at 9am'

Death On The Rock2019082520190830 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together a group of people involved in the controversy surrounding the TV documentary Death on the Rock. The programme featured witnesses to the killing of three IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar on March 6th 1988.

Sean Savage, Mairead Farrell and Daniel McCann were experienced IRA active service members, who had gone to Gibraltar as part of a plan to detonate a potentially devastating car bomb. Gibraltar was an ideal target because of the substantial British military presence on the rock.

All three were shot and killed by members of the SAS. However, in the days following the shooting, it was revealed that they were unarmed, they hadn't planted a bomb and the explosives they had planned to use were waiting harmlessly in a Marbella car park.

Thames Television made a special documentary, Death on the Rock, transmitted on April 28th. It featured witnesses to the shootings, some of whom suggested the IRA members had been shot with their hands in the air and had been given no warning.

It led many to ask whether this was a case of `shoot to kill` with the SAS sent to assassinate rather than arrest Savage, McCann and Farrell.

Joining Sue MacGregor to look back on the controversy are the editor responsible for the programme, Roger Bolton; the programme's researcher in Gibraltar, Alison Cahn; eyewitness to the shootings, Stephen Bullock; the Ministry of Defence's then Chief of PR, Hugh Colver; and the legal manager for the Sunday Times, Alastair Brett.

Producer: Robert Nicholson

Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor recalls the controversy following the 1988 documentary, Death on the Rock.

Deep Blue V Kasparov2022082820220902 (R4)The challenge to create a computer that could play chess and beat champions had tantalised computer scientists for nearly 50 years. By the end of the 20th century, that dream was feverishly close.

The Soviet Union had dominated chess throughout the cold war, powered by a desire to prove intellectual superiority over the west. Meanwhile, American scientists had made huge advances in artificial intelligence.

But as the Soviet Union collapsed, allegiances and obligations changed in unexpected ways. It was at this time of flux that IBM proposed a six-game match between their new supercomputer, Deep Blue, and the world's greatest chess player, Garry Kasparov. In New York City, May 1997, this astonishing series of chess games was held in a hushed room while a packed audience watched it broadcast on large screens a few floors below. Every move was streamed online, threatening to crash a fledgling internet.

Over the tense nine days, the mood turned from anticipation to suspicion to bewilderment. Not only would the world of chess never be the same again, but the balance of power between humans and computers seemed to have shifted irrevocably. Was it the dawning of a new age?

Kirsty Wark reunites the chess masters and AI pioneers who went into battle to test the limits of human and artificial intelligence - Frederic Friedel, advisor to Garry Kasparov; Malcolm Pein, Kasparov team member and IBM consultant; Murray Campbell, co-creator of Deep Blue; Joel Benjamin, IBM's official grandmaster consultant; Maurice Ashley, Grandmaster, author and commentator, who covered the big match; and Steven Levy, Editor at Large at Wired Magazine, who scooped the front cover for Newsweek.

Producer: Ruth Abrahams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the computer scientists who challenged the world's greatest player.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill2021041120210416/17 (R4)
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Kirsty Wark brings together well control experts, US Coast Guard Officials and environmentalists who fought to contain a massive off-shore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig suffered a catastrophic blowout and exploded in April 2010.

For the next 87 days, BP engineers tried to staunch the flow of crude oil gushing out of the well on the ocean floor. An estimated 184 million gallons were spilt, 18 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez, making it the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in US history.

As oil coated more than 1,000 miles of coastline in six US states, Americans grew more and more angry. A group calling itself `Seize BP` held demonstrations in 50 US cities, calling for the company to be stripped of its assets. BP's CEO Tony Hayward was told by an angry US Congressional panel that his company had shown a reckless lack of attention to safety. After the company's share price plummeted and 12 billion pounds was wiped off its value in a single day, Tony Hayward was forced to resign.

The programme includes: Mark Mazzella, BP's resident well-control expert, who fought on and off-shore to stop the oil flowing before finally capping it; Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander, who was in charge of the federal response; PJ Hahn, then Director of coastal zone management for Plaquemines parish, Louisiana, which was on the front line of the oil spill; Keith Jones, whose son Gordon worked on the Deepwater Horizon rig and was killed in the accident; and Bob Kaluza one of two BP supervisors on the rig that night.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the oil spill caused by the Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010.

Disability Campaigners2016041020160415 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people who experienced a long and bitter struggle for historic disability discrimination rights.

Kept apart from other children in stiflingly boring special schools, hidden away in institutions or trapped and powerless in family homes, this was normal life for millions of disabled people in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s.

Routinely turned away from cafes for 'putting other customers off' and cinemas for being 'a fire hazard', cruel names and insensitive questions were a regular indignity.

In 1979 a Government report found that discrimination against disabled people was as bad as that relating to race or gender. The reportt highlighted the case of a draughtsman whose job offer was withdrawn because he had a prosthetic leg.

In the 1980s, a new generation of disabled people started challenging society and the Government, saying it was society that prevented them from actively participating in a fuller working and social life.

When letters and peaceful campaigning failed, demonstrators upped the ante, chaining themselves to buses and bringing Whitehall to a standstill. The campaign split friendships and loyalties and left many bitterly disappointed.

Joining Sue around the table to look back on what was dubbed 'the last civil rights movement' are Baroness Jane Campbell who was arrested during campaigning; Sir Bert Massie who was accused of being an 'Uncle Tom' when he started working with the Government; Peter White who, as the BBC's Disability Correspondent, had a front row seat on the campaign; Lord Hague who steered the Disability Discrimination Act through Parliament; and Adam Thomas who met his wife while chained to a bus!

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the fight for historic disability rights.

Doctor Who2013040720221202 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor reunites five people who played key roles in the early years of a TV landmark, Doctor Who.

Fifty years on, some of those who crammed nervously into the BBC's Lime Grove Studios in 1963 recount the triumphs and disasters that ushered in the longest running sci-fi series in the world.

When Canadian TV executive Sydney Newman was drafted into revitalise the BBC Drama department in the early 1960's. His idea for an ageing time-traveller who would illuminate both human history and Alien civilisations struggled to be successfully realised.

After a number of other directors refused to work on the project, a 24-year-old Waris Hussein took the job. The only Indian-born director within the BBC at that time, he felt the stern gaze of the 'old order' upon his work.

The first serial was being recorded on the day US President Kennedy was assassinated and the first episode was transmitted the next day, despite concerns that the show might be postponed.

Doctor Who was played by the British actor William Hartnell. His sharp, sometimes grumpy demeanour came out of his increasing difficulty in learning the scripts, but the audience immediately took him to their hearts and the series had nearly six million viewers by Christmas.

Joining Sue MacGregor is:

* Waris Hussein, who directed the first episode

* Carole Ann Ford - the Doctor's granddaughter and companion Susan

* William Russell - the Doctor's right hand man Ian Chesterton

* Jeremy Young - the Doctor's first enemy - Caveman Kal

* TV presenter Peter Purves who, as companion Steven Taylor, played opposite William Hartnell in over 40 episodes.

Producer: Peter Curran

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2013.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people who played key parts in the early years of Doctor Who.

Dolly The Sheep2012090920120914 (R4)In this week's Reunion, Sue MacGregor gathers together creators of Dolly the cloned sheep - a revolutionary but divisive scientific breakthrough.

Dolly defied scientific convention. With her birth on 5th July 1996, her makers had done the impossible - cloned an animal from a cell taken from an adult mammal. When Dolly was announced to the world on 22nd February 1997 she became global front page news. Press and public flocked to her home at the Roslin Institute outside Edinburgh to catch a glimpse of the world's most famous sheep.

Dolly's birth sparked fears that human cloning, a favourite topic for science fiction authors, would soon become reality. Roslin scientists were called upon to advise Government select committees on the implications of cloning research and in the United States the Clinton administration scrambled to create laws to prevent human cloning.

Fifteen years on, Dolly's impact is still being felt. The research she sparked into stem cells, which could be used to treat conditions such as Motor Neuron Disease and Parkinson's, is still developing and with remarkable breakthroughs. Yet it too is controversial, some pro-life groups object to certain areas of research that use cells harvested from human embryos.

Joining Sue MacGregor to recall Dolly's creation and legacy is: Sir Ian Wilmut, then head of the Dolly team and now Chair of the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh; Professor Keith Campbell who led the scientific research; Dr Bill Ritchie, who implemented the cloning theory; Marjorie Ritchie, the Institute's surgeon; and John Bracken, the anaesthetist present at Dolly's birth and the man who named her.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the creators of Dolly the cloned sheep.

Dunblane2010042520100430 (R4)In the fourth programme of the BBC Radio 4 spring series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor revisits the Dunblane Primary School shootings in 1996.

On the morning of March 13, Thomas Hamilton, armed with four handguns and 700 rounds of ammunition, killed 16 school children and their teacher, and wounded many more in an attack that lasted three minutes before finally turning the gun on himself.

Dunblane's community was shattered in an instant and immediately thrust into the media spotlight. Messages of support flooded in from all over the world.

The shootings sparked a massive call for tighter gun controls. The Snowdrop Campaign, set up by Dunblane residents, was successful in achieving a change in the law in 1997, making it illegal to buy or possess handguns.

Sue is joined around the table by school teacher Eileen Harrild, who was Hamilton's first target in the school gymnasium, but despite being shot four times survived the attack; bereaved parents Mick North and Pam Ross, whose respective five-year-old daughters Sophie and Joanna were killed; social worker Marie Sinclair, who counselled some of the grieving parents, and Sunday Times writer Jenny Shields, who wrote about Dunblane and its consequences and accompanied gun control campaigners on their protests.

Producers: Chris Green and David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue McGregor reunites people affected by the Dunblane school shootings in 1996.

Eastenders2007041520070420 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites original members of the cast and crew of EastEnders.

the start

2/5. Sue MacGregor goes back to 1985 and the start of the popular soap, EastEnders. She reuni tes some or the original cast members, writers and producers, including Anna Wing (who played matriarch Lou Beale);

Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler ); Leshe Grantham (aka

Dirty Den); scriptwriter Bill Lyons ; and casting director

Jonathan MacKleish. Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated Friday 9am

Edinburgh Fringe Founders 19602005091120140803/04 (BBC7)Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founders and performers from the Edinburgh Fringe.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founders and leading performers from the Edinburgh Fringe. [Rptd Fri 9.00am]

Afternoon

Morning

Evening

8/8. Sue MacGregor reunites some of the founders and leading performers from the Edinburgh Fringe. Producer Kate Taylor Repeated on Friday at 9am

Eighties Fashion Designers2017082720170901 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites the designers who transformed 1980s fashion.

The eighties are considered one of the most experimental periods in British style history, but trends weren't limited to massive shoulder pads with sizeable hair to match. It was in this era that people expressed themselves in any way they wanted and, at the heart of it all, was a celebration of the individual.

As a result, a new generation of fashion designers emerged. Buyers worldwide flocked to see London's creations and British designs were stocked in shops from New York to Tokyo.

It was on 19 October 1987 that Black Monday hit and everything changed. The American buyers turned their back on importing from the UK and many British designers struggled to make ends meet. So they forged new collaborations and paved the way for the modern fashion industry.

Sue MacGregor brings together the designers who established their careers in the 1980s.

Bruce Oldfield is known for dressing a wealth of celebrities, including Princess Diana.

Considered one of the most important milliners, Stephen Jones began his career in 1980, opening a hat shop in Covent Garden.

Betty Jackson launched Marks and Spencer's Autograph range, but her success goes back to when she was awarded the first of many accolades in 1985.

Wendy Dagworthy is a former fashion designer, turned academic, and now retired. In the eighties, her label could be found in Macy's and Saks and she helped to set up the first London Fashion Week.

Best known for presenting BBC's The Clothes Show, Caryn Franklin promoted new, emerging designers on the box as well as in i-D magazine.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the designers who transformed fashion in the 1980s.

Euro 962016041720160422 (R4)The European Championship of 1996 was the opportunity for English football to recapture some pride, after the failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. England were the hosts, and an extraordinarily hot summer set the stage.

The tournament became poised as an important national moment - sales of St. Georges flags exploded and Skinner and Baddiel's Britpop infused tournament anthem Three Lions was inescapable.

But as the start of the tournament approached, lead striker Alan Shearer was struggling for goals, coach Terry Venables had had little time to implement his strategy, and no-one knew if the unpredictable but brilliant midfielder Paul Gascoigne would be able to show the form for which he was famous. While excitement built at home, the players were in the headlines for the wrong reasons when a pre-season tour of the Far East combined failings on the pitch with drunken photographs of players in the tabloid newspapers.

But once the tournament started, the team rode luck and individual brilliance to the semi-final.

Sue is joined by Darren Anderton, who played all five games, and by Ted Buxton, who was the assistant to the manager and the Chief Scout. David Davies was in charge of the team's relationship with the press, Harry Harris was covering the tournament as Chief Football Writer for the Daily Mirror, and Barry Davies was commentating for the BBC.

Producer: Robert Nicholson

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor and guests look back on the Euro 96 football tournament.

Far East Prisoners Of War2015042620150501 (R4)
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Sue MacGregor's guests remember their time as Far East POWs during the Second World War.

Early in the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese made major military advances throughout the Far East. The fall of Singapore in February 1942 resulted in the single largest surrender of British-led military personnel. Winton Churchill called it 'the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history'. In total, the Japanese took 140,000 Allied prisoners, including 67,000 British.

The prisoners were sent to forced labour camps throughout South-East Asia. The Thailand-Burma Railway is perhaps the best known project, but many more POWs were shipped via 'hell ships' to islands like Java and Ambon. The Japanese captors treated the prisoners horrifically, subjecting them to brutal beatings, intense work, starvation, disease and searing heat. Over a quarter of POWs died in the camps.

Sue MacGregor's guests include: Bob Morrell, who remembers his 'coffin duty' on the island of Ambon; centenarian Bill Frankland, who was a medical officer treating prisoners near Singapore.; William Mumby who was shipped throughout the region, and Tony Lucas, who was sent to the Thailand-Burma Railway and helped carve 'Hellfire Pass'. Sue is also joined by historian Sibylla Jane Flower who made a special study of Allied prisoners held by the Japanese.

After the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and V-J Day, the POWs undertook the arduous journey back to Britain. Many were reunited with their families who were unaware of their survival. In the following decades, many former prisoners of war kept quiet about their experiences.

Producer: Colin McNulty

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Finding Richard Iii2021040420210409 (R4)
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Kirsty Wark reunites the archaeologists, scientists, a religious leader and a distant relative involved in the remarkable search for, identification, and reburial of the last Plantagenet king.

Richard III was the last English king to die in battle and the first to have his genome sequenced. The discovery and identification of his remains is one of the greatest archaeological detective stories ever told.

After his death on Bosworth Battle Field in 1485, Richard's body was hastily buried in a Friary in Leicester. But over the years, rumours spread that his bones had been dug up and flung into a nearby river.

Others believed that his body could still be in its original burial place, now under a council car park. Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society wanted to know for sure.

The dig started on 25th August 2012 and, within hours, bones had been found. Dr Richard Buckley lead the University of Leicester's archaeological team and confesses that no-one really believed they would find him. But as osteologist Dr Jo Appleby uncovered more of the remains, she discovered he had a curved spine and serious head wounds.

More research was needed to be sure they had got their man. Professor Turi King, an expert in DNA, and Jo Appleby explain the painstaking process to identify the remains and to match the DNA with relative Michael Ibsen, and how they found out more about the way the King lived.

David Monteith, the Dean of Leicester, became embroiled in a legal battle over where the remains should be re-interred - York or Leicester - as some distant relatives of the King challenged how the University had looked after the remains.

As well as giving a DNA sample, Michael Ibsen was also a carpenter and reveals how he ended up making his first ever coffin - fit for a medieval king.

Historian and writer Thomas Penn explains the impact of this momentous discovery on our understanding of history and of the man himself.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites key figures involved in the search for the famous medieval king.

First London Marathon2010040420100409 (R4)In the first programme of the BBC Radio 4 spring series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor revisits 1981 and the first running of the London Marathon.

Before the London Marathon, long-distance running in Britain was the exclusive domain of elite athletes. Two former British Olympic athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley were inspired by the New York Marathon, and the jogging boom of the 1970's, and decided to set about organizing a marathon through the streets of London. With almost seven thousand runners participating in the first race, marathon running was suddenly on the map.

Sue is joined around the table by: David Bedford, current Race Director and former 10,000 metre world record holder; John Disley, an original founder and bronze medal Olympic steeplechase winner; John Bryant, journalist and marathon historian; Hugh Jones, course measurer and the first British man to win the London Marathon in 1982; and Veronique Marot, the second British woman to win, setting a British women's record in 1989.

Over 36,000 participants are confirmed for 2010. Though not the original intention of the founders, the London Marathon went on to become the largest one-day fundraising event in the world. By 2010, the marathon will have raised over a half a billion pounds for charity. Today, the London Marathon is a distinct mixture of elite competition and street carnival, an event that the capital is exceedingly proud of.

The producer is Colin McNulty, and this is a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people who participated in the first London Marathon in 1981.

Foot-and-mouth Disease2015083020150904 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people whose lives and livelihoods were dramatically changed by the Foot and Mouth epidemic of 2001.

In February of that year, Foot and Mouth disease hit the UK. During the next eight months there were 2,030 confirmed cases and more than ten million animals were destroyed. Across the country, dead bodies were piled onto huge pyres that took days to burn. The result was the creation of a sheep-free zone extending throughout the north of Cumbria, and Dumfries and Galloway.

The disease was spotted by a vet carrying out a routine inspection at Cheale Meats abattoir in Essex. Within a week, it became clear that Britain was experiencing its first major foot-and-mouth epidemic for 34 years.

Life in the countryside changed immediately. The owners of infected farms and their neighbours were quarantined in their homes as vets began destroying animals. During the first three weeks of the epidemic 1,100 suspected cases were reported, but with only 240 permanent veterinary staff, few of whom had any experience of Foot and Mouth Disease control, the authorities were overwhelmed.

Within weeks of the first confirmed case, the government ordered a mass cull of animals. The army was called in to help. It was estimated to be the biggest combined civil and military exercise in more than 30 years.

Sue MacGregor is joined by: Dr Alex Donaldson, the scientist called in to make the first official diagnosis; vet Peter Frost-Pennington who oversaw the slaughter of animals on infected farms in Cumbria; Brigadier Hugh Monro who was responsible for the cull in Southern Scotland; and farmers Paula Wolton from Devon and Peter Allen from Cumbria.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor looks back at the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001.

Four Weddings And A Funeral2014041320140418 (R4)In spite of its largely unknown cast, a promiscuous leading female character, a tragic death and a tiny budget, Four Weddings and a Funeral is still one of the most successful British films ever made.

It's 20 years since it opened in Britain - making household names of its stars, and taking an estimated $250 million worldwide.

The project was on the back burner for years as the determined and faithful production team tried desperately to raise enough money to make it work. The script went through more than 17 re-writes and dozens of actors were auditioned and rejected until exactly the right people were found to play the leading roles.

During filming, actors were collected one-by-one across London to save money on individual cars. Aristocrats (who owned their own morning suits) were hired as extras for the wedding scenes and US movie star Andie MacDowell was convinced into accepting a lowly fee, all to ensure that the film came in on budget.

Even after filming was complete, in just six weeks, both the film's leading man Hugh Grant and director Mike Newell believed it would flop. No-one anticipated that it would in fact be a box office smash in the US, and around the globe, and win five Baftas. It also succeeded in catapulting the poetry of W.H. Auden to the top of the best-sellers list.

Twenty years on, Mike Newell, writer Richard Curtis, producer Duncan Kenworthy and actors Kristin Scott Thomas and James Fleet are reunited to relive a landmark experience for them all.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five key players from the British film, Four Weddings and a Funeral

Globe Theatre2012042220120427 (R4)In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites five people who created a London landmark - Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Despite three decades of setbacks they defied the critics to make the Globe a critical and commercial success.

When Shakespeare's Globe was opened by the Queen on the 12th June 1997, it was the culmination of a dream that began over fifty years earlier. The American actor Sam Wanamaker visited London in 1949 hoping to find the original Globe, where William Shakespeare had written plays. Instead, he found a plaque on a brewery wall. Outraged, he began his quest to reinstate the Globe.

He wanted to bring the Elizabethan Globe to life in look and feel. But a simple idea turned into a protracted mission that risked the livelihoods and reputations of everyone involved. There were accusations that it would be a 'Disneyland' for Shakespeare. Some Southwark residents wanted council houses, not a theatre. And just when it looked like the Globe team had the go-ahead to build, a group of road sweepers became the catalyst for a lengthy court battle that almost ended the project before building began.

But timber by timber, Shakespeare's Globe took shape. And when it finally opened, audiences queued around the block, rainmacs in hand, for open-air performances under its thatched roof. Fifteen years on, experimentation and award-winning performances have firmly established the Globe in the Shakespeare circuit.

Joining Sue MacGregor is: Patrick Spottiswoode, the first Director of Education; Diana Devlin, who saw the project through some of its most difficult years; architect Jon Greenfield; Claire van Kampen, the first Director of Music; and Zoe Wanamaker, Sam's actor daughter who is now Honorary President of Shakespeare's Globe.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five founders of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Goodness Gracious Me2013081820221118 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor brings together the creators of the ground-breaking British Asian sketch show, Goodness Gracious Me.

The comedy show debuted on BBC Radio 4 in the summer of 1996. It was the first venture conceived, written and performed by British Asians. The title ‘Goodness Gracious Me' was inspired by the Peter Sellers song from the film The Millionairess, in which he plays an Indian doctor.

The series poked fun at British and Indian stereotypes and at the tensions between Asian culture and modern British life. One of the most iconic sketches - ‘Going for an English' - featured a group of Asians going out for an English meal and mispronouncing everything on the menu. This reversing of experiences was a hallmark of the show.

There was a growing confidence amongst a new generation of British Asians in the 1990s. Asian culture was at the forefront of the youth scene and there was a feeling amongst many in broadcasting that it was time the Asian community had their own TV series. At the BBC, multi-cultural programming was becoming integral to the schedule and yet doubts remained about whether mainstream audiences would tap into something which focussed on one ethnicity.

However, after an award-winning run on the radio, Goodness Gracious Me moved to BBC 2 where it continued to attract huge audiences for three more series, giving birth to a new genre - 'Asian Comedy'.

Sue is joined around the table by: Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar, who wrote and starred in the series; Anil Gupta, the producer who first pitched the idea to the BBC; Jon Plowman, then the BBC's head of comedy and entertainment and Richard Pinto the comedy writer who helped develop the idea.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2013.

Sue MacGregor reunites the creators of the British Asian sketch show Goodness Gracious Me

The comedy show debuted on BBC Radio 4 in the summer of 1996. It was the first venture conceived, written and performed by British Asians. The title ‘Goodness Gracious Me' was inspired by the Peter Sellers song from the film The Millionairess, in which he plays an Indian doctor.

The series poked fun at British and Indian stereotypes and at the tensions between Asian culture and modern British life. One of the most iconic sketches – ‘Going for an English' – featured a group of Asians going out for an English meal and mispronouncing everything on the menu. This reversing of experiences was a hallmark of the show.

Grange Hill2022081420220819 (R4)The most popular faces from the early days of pioneering children's drama Grange Hill are reunited. Todd Carty, Susan Tully and Lee MacDonald take Kirsty Wark back to school.

When Grange Hill hit our screens in 1978 it was the first time ordinary British schoolchildren had seen characters like themselves reflected on screen. Phil Redmond's pioneering drama, set in a fictional north London comprehensive school, ran for 30 years, making it one of the longest-running programmes on British television.

Controversial storylines included racism, periods, bullying and drugs. Inevitably there were complaints. Teachers and parents were scandalised by the upstart pupils who spoke back to teachers and agitated to ban school uniform. It didn't stop the BBC instantly commissioning a second series with double the number of episodes.

Todd Carty, who played heartthrob Tucker Jenkins, got fan mail by the sack-load and won his own spin-off series Tucker's Luck. Susan Tully, who played the bright but troubled Suzanne Ross, nearly left the series early after her Dad lost his job.

Lee MacDonald played Zammo McGuire who famously got hooked on heroin. The plotline sparked the recording of the hit anti-drugs single Just Say No by cast members and prompted an invite to the White House.

Also joining Kirsty is Erkan Mustafa whose character Roland Browning was bullied for his size, and Simone Nylander whose famous line; `I just want to help you Ro-land` became a national catchphrase.

Many of the cast went on to find fame in other long-running British dramas, most famously Tully and Carty who played siblings Michelle and Mark Fowler in Eastenders. For others though, the mass adulation ended once they walked through the gates of Grange Hill for the last time and back to real life.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The primary cast of ground-breaking children's drama Grange Hill are reunited.

Greenham Common2012040820120413 (R4)In the second of a new series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together five people from both sides of the fence at the Greenham Common airbase.

In the early 1980s the Berkshire military base became home to a nuclear arsenal capable of wiping out most of civilisation. Over many years thousands of women took part in massive protests, many hundreds were arrested and jailed - and policing costs alone ran into millions. The startling methods and unorthodox ways of the women dominated headlines for more than a decade.

Helen John was among the first protestors to arrive, Katherine Jones stayed for 17 years and Rebecca Johnson now travels the world advising on nuclear weapons policy. Mick Marsh was the base commander at the height of the protests and Mick Eathorne-Gibbons was the Conservative councillor for Greenham. They all played a key role in one of the largest and longest protests in living memory.

At its height, the camp was home to about 100 women - they endured terrible weather, squalor, ridicule and intimidation. Local residents were desperate to see the back of them.

Were the women fearless heroines challenging the might of the superpowers or, as many press reports at the time maintained, a band of peacenik feminists with a grudge against men In this programme they re-live those turbulent times and debate to what extent the actions of the peace protestors impacted on global negotiations to reduce Cruise missiles.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people from both sides of the Greenham Common fence.

Guantanamo Bay2015081620150821 (R4)Sue MacGregor speaks to former detainees and the head of the guard force at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2002, a detention camp was hastily built in a remote corner of Cub, to house the men captured in America's 'war on terror'. Thirteen years later, it is still there. And in the intervening time, Guantanamo Bay has become a byword for controversy, a place Amnesty International called 'the gulag of our time'.

Now Sue MacGregor reunites two of the men held there. Sami al Hajj, a Sudanese cameraman with the news organisation Al Jazeera, was picked up in Afghanistan. He says he was covering America's war with the Taliban. Moazzam Begg, who is British, was living with his family in Pakistan when he was arrested. He claims he was handed over for bounty money. They are joined by Colonel Mike Bumgarner, head of the guard force at Guantanamo, and lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.

Sami al Hajj spent eight years in the camp. He describes being beaten and forcibly kept awake. He went on hunger strike and says he was force fed until he threw up, in an attempt to break his strike. But the worst torture was being kept away from his family, particularly his baby son. Moazzam Begg was detained for three years. He says he saw two men beaten to death by American soldiers in Afghanistan on his way to Guantanamo.

Colonel Mike Bumgarner describes how little guidance was given to those in charge of running the camp and points out that, while force feeding is unpleasant, detainees can't just be allowed to die. Clive Stafford Smith reveals the black humour at the heart of Guantanamo, recalling a detainee who was accused of being an Al Qaeda financier purely as a result of mistranslation.

Producer: Kate Taylor

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Gulf War Aircrew Pows2019042120190426 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together the RAF men who were captured and tortured by the Iraqis during the first Gulf War.

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Despite UN sanctions and attempts at diplomacy, President Saddam Hussein ignored the deadline to remove his troops. Operation Desert Storm, made up of forces from a large coalition of nations, began with a massive air offensive in the early hours of 17th January.

The RAF crews, flying Tornado aircraft from bases in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, had a particularly dangerous mission. Flying at low level, they targeted the airfields and runways, aiming to ground the Iraqi air force. The tactic took its toll and four planes were brought down very quickly after the start of the war.

The pilot and navigator crews were captured by the Iraqis and held in appalling conditions - kept in solitary confinement, beaten and starved. Flight Lieutenant John Peters recalls how hearing the screams of other men was almost more frightening than being beaten yourself. Flight Lieutenant Robbie Stewart describes sitting with a plastic bowl on his head, trying to avoid flying debris as the allies unwittingly bombed the prison. During one raid, Peters took advantage of the chaos to shout to his navigator John Nichol, `I bet you're not a fat bastard anymore!`

It was Peters and Nichol who, unwillingly, provided one of the most memorable images of what has since become known as the first television war. On pain of death, they appeared with other POWs on Iraqi television, condemning the war.

Joining Sue to recall their ordeal and its implications are airmen John Nichol, Robbie Stewart, John Peters, and his wife Helen, who was at home looking after a young family and waiting for news.

Producer: Kate Taylor

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor brings together the RAF men held as prisoners during the first Gulf war.

Hillsborough20090412At the end of the week in which the Hillsborough inquest found that the 96 Liverpool football died unlawfully at the FA Cup semi-final in 1989, Sue MacGregor revisits The Reunion from 2009 when, on the 20th anniversary, she brought together a group of people who were involved in the disaster to talk about the events of that day at a time when they were still in the midst of their fight for justice.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together people who were involved in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

2/5. Hillsborough Disaster. SueMacGregor gathers together five people who were involved in the Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989, a terrace crush that resulted in the death of 96 Liverpool football fans. Among the group is a woman who lost two daughters. Producer Chris Green Repeated on Friday at 9am See also Radio 5 Live at 7pm

Radio features: pages 134-135

Hillsborough20090417At the end of the week in which the Hillsborough inquest found that the 96 Liverpool football died unlawfully at the FA Cup semi-final in 1989, Sue MacGregor revisits The Reunion from 2009 when, on the 20th anniversary, she brought together a group of people who were involved in the disaster to talk about the events of that day at a time when they were still in the midst of their fight for justice.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together people who were involved in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

2/5. Hillsborough Disaster

Sue MacGregor gathers together five people who were involved in the Hillsborough stadium disaster of 1989, a terrace crush that resulted in the death of 96 Liverpool football fans.

Among the group remembering that day 20 years ago this week are a woman who lost two teenage daughters, and an ambulanceman. Repeated from Easter Day at 11.15am

Hillsborough20160501At the end of the week in which the Hillsborough inquest found that the 96 Liverpool football died unlawfully at the FA Cup semi-final in 1989, Sue MacGregor revisits The Reunion from 2009 when, on the 20th anniversary, she brought together a group of people who were involved in the disaster to talk about the events of that day at a time when they were still in the midst of their fight for justice.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together people who were involved in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

Hitler Diaries 19832008090720140601/02 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

She brings together some of those involved in the publication of the Hitler Diaries in 1983, which were subsequently shown to be a hoax.

This didn't stop Rupert Murdoch giving it his full backing, or Sir Trevor Roper endorsing it - at least at first. Notorious forger Kujau managed to pull the wool over the eyes of the Western media, even though the factual basis for his hoax withstood even less scrutiny than the so-called Mussolini Diaries of previous years.

Even controversial historian David Irving was not taken in - and along with journalist Gerd Hiedemann, Magnus Linklater and Philip Knightley he discusses how the 'coup' was acquired and how it fell apart. From September 2008.

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the people involved in the 1983 Hitler Diaries hoax.

3/5. Sue MacGregor reunites some of those swept up in the scandal surrounding the publication of the hoax Hitler Diaries in 1983. Producer David Prest Repeated Friday 9am

Hms Sheffield2012041520120420 (R4)Thirty years after the Falklands war, Sue MacGregor brings together six men from HMS Sheffield, hit by an Argentine missile on 4th May 1982, and sunk six days later.

The British Task Force had only just arrived in the disputed area of the South Atlantic. The company of HMS Sheffield, fresh from a six month tour of the Gulf, were just six days from home when they received the order to turn around and head South.

Few knew much about the Falkland Islands, and believed the dispute with Argentina would be solved before they even got there. But diplomacy failed and by 1st May hostilities had begun in earnest. Just three days later Sheffield was hit.

HMS Sheffield was one of three Type 42 destroyers, whose role was to protect the vital aircraft carriers, Hermes and Invincible from attack. That attack, when it came, was fast, low and devastating - an Exocet missile, fired from an Argentine Super-Etandard aircraft, locked on target, skimmed the waterline and hit Sheffield amidships, knocking out all her vital services. The crew had only a few seconds warning.

There was no explosion, just a rapid spread of thick, acrid smoke from a fire that raged uncontrollably for several days. Desperate attempts to fight the fire were in vain, and with the deck raging hot, and fire rapidly approaching the ship's own missile system, the order was given to abandon ship. Sheffield sank six days later, the first British warship to be lost in battle since World War Two.

In the hours that followed the survivors pieced together who was missing. Twenty men had died, some bravely staying at their posts, trying to restore vital services to the ship, others going back in to rescue others.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites six men who survived the sinking of HMS Sheffield in the Falklands.

Hong Kong Handover2012042920120504 (R4)In the last programme in this series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together five people who helped pave the way for the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

Hong Kong's 28th and last Governor Lord Chris Patten; General Bryan Dutton who was head of the British garrison; diplomat Hugh Davies who led the British negotiating team in the colony; legislator and pro-democracy campaigner Emily Lau lost her job on the stroke of midnight and influential Hong Kong businessman Sir David Tang who waved the British off.

In Hong Kong the clock was always ticking. Unlike her other colonial possessions Hong Kong was only ever on lease to Britain. A 99 year lease set to expire on the 30th of June 1997 when the territory would automatically revert to Chinese rule. By the eighties Hong Kong was the busiest container port in the word and the economic gateway to China. But no-one really knew what would happen in 97 when the lease ran out.

The killing of hundreds of demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, an act which brought a million people on to the streets of Hong Kong in protest, turned acquiescence at the thought of Chinese rule into fear. Hong Kong people started leaving in droves. Between 1984 and 1997 one sixth of the Hong Kong population emigrated, 66,000 in 1992 alone.

As Britain's withdrawal got underway there was still heated debate over how China would run the colony in the future. The 1984 Sino British Joint Declaration had provided a roadmap for Hong Kong's future but the devil was in the detail. Heated exchanges were still going on minutes before the highly orchestrated handover ceremony in which Governor Patten came face to face with those who had denounced him as a 'serpent' and a 'wrongdoer' who would be condemned for a thousand generations'.

Producer: Emily Williams

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the British handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

Hurricane Katrina2010082920100903 (R4)In this special edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor travels to New Orleans to gather together five Hurricane Katrina survivors who weathered the storm - five years after the hurricane hit.

One of the deadliest hurricanes in the history of the USA, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on 29th August 2005. Rupturing the levees around the city, it submerged eighty percent of New Orleans in water.

Thousands of people had been unable to evacuate or had chosen not to leave their homes. Some of the streets sat in up to ten feet of stagnant water, driving residents into their attics, scrabbling for higher ground in a city which sits below sea level.

Many took refuge inside the city's Superdome, but without adequate supplies or sanitation, conditions inside the overheated, overcrowded stadium became increasingly intolerable. Law and order across the city was breaking down, with stories of rapes, violence and widespread looting rapidly circulating.

Sue is joined around the table by: the leader of Joint Task Force Katrina, General Honore; the manager of the Superdome, Doug Thornton; photojournalist, Ted Jackson; Pastor Willie Walker and Phyllis Montana-LeBlanc.

With additional contributions from the musician Dr John.

Producer: Ellie McDowall

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

Iranian Embassy Siege2009090620090911 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Sue reunites those caught up in the siege at the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980, which ended with a dramatic storming of the building by SAS commandos. With contributions from hostages Sim Harris and Mustapha Karkouti, police negotiator Max Vernon, BBC reporter Kate Adie and Robin Horsfall of the SAS.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites those caught up in the 1980 siege at the Iranian Embassy in London.

'3/5. Sue MacGregor reunites people involved in the siege at the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980 which ended with a dramatic storming of the building by SAS commandos. She is joined by hostages Sim Harris and Mustapha Karkouti , police negotiator Max Vernon , journalist Kate Adie and Robin Horsfall of the SAS. Producer Emily Williams Repeated on Friday at 9am'

Island Records20220904Chris Blackwell first started Island Records in Jamaica in 1959 and launched some of the biggest and most influential artists across the musical spectrum. U2, Cat Stevens, Roxy Music, Fairport Convention and Free were all signed to Island, but it was the label's unique connection to Jamaica that helped popularise ska and reggae music throughout the world, as well as Jamaican born artists like Grace Jones, and British bands with links to the Caribbean such as Steel Pulse and Aswad.

Bob Marley, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, and Sly and Robbie, all took refuge on Island - a record label that catered proudly for those who wanted to explore their creativity in an independent way.

Joining Kirsty Wark are Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell; Grammy winning Jimmy Cliff, the singer who became a star after the landmark film The Harder They Come; Mykaell Riley who was a founder member of British reggae act Steel Pulse; pioneer Jamaican ska musician Owen Gray; and Marcia Griffiths, a member of the I Threes who supported Bob Marley and the Wailers for many years, and whose hit Young, Gifted and Black, with Bob Andy, became an anthem for young Jamaicans.

Producer: Charlotte North

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell reunites with some of the legends of Jamaican music

James Bond2014090720140912 (R4)Great stunts, gorgeous girls, car chases, gadgets and exotic settings have helped maintain James Bond as the longest running series in film history.

Sir Roger Moore's Bond 1973 debut in Live and Let Die saw 007 reinvented for a more progressive era. Bond is less concerned with international Cold War super-villains and instead spears drug cartels infesting the streets of Harlem. 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me was nominated for three Academy Awards. And Moonraker delivered a Bond for the Star Wars generation.

With his matinee idol looks and martini dry wit Moore brought tremendous naughtiness to the part. Sue MacGregor reunites him with the team who helped make him the most popular Bond ever according to two polls from the last decade.

Fresh from writing his new memoir 'Last Man Standing', Sir Roger is in the studio with co-producer and screenwriter (and step-son of 007 mastermind Cubby Broccoli) Michael G Wilson. His half-sister and co-producer Barbara Broccoli who has fond memories from the Roger Moore era. She officially started in the publicity unit for The Spy Who Loved me and became assistant director on Octopussy.

John Glen - the most prolific director of the Bond franchise - impressed the team with his handling of action scenes including the scene when Bond shot off the edge of a cliff appearing again when his Union Jack parachute opened up. The world cheered!

Richard Kiel who played the terrifying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me, recalls how making his character more 'human' made him so popular with fans that he was brought back for a second appearance in Moonraker. And Britt Ekland says today's Bond girls are victim to the era of political correctness. 'They are beautiful businesswomen instead of sex kittens like we were.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the key figures from the Roger Moore James Bond years.

Jerry Springer: The Opera2023081320230818 (R4)In April 2003, a musical written by comedians Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee opened at the National Theatre in London. It took its inspiration from the controversial American talk show Jerry Springer and combined opera with profanity, musical theatre with 'white-trash TV'.

In the musical, Jerry was condemned to a life in purgatory, settling arguments between Satan and Jesus, Adam and Eve, then Mary and Jesus, all portrayed in the manner of deviant and unruly guests.

The show swept the awards and stars including Oliver Stone and Harvey Keitel flocked to see it. But some thought the show was sacrilege.

When the BBC decided to screen Jerry Springer: The Opera in January 2005, it received a record 63,000 viewer complaints. The cast and crew found themselves bombarded with hate mail and had to cross picket lines to go into the theatre. BBC2 controller Roly Keating was forced into hiding.

Kirsty is joined by composer and writer Richard Thomas, who had the initial idea for the show, and his co-writer and the show's director Stewart Lee, who was brought to the brink of financial ruin by the protests. Mezzo Soprano Lore Lixenberg helped develop and played the roles of Peaches and Baby Jane and was with the production from its Battersea Arts Centre beginnings. David Bedella won an Olivier Award for his role as Warm-Up Man and Satan in the show. Married to a vicar at the time, David found himself a target for the Christian protesters. And there are two men who played Jerry Springer in the show - Michael Brandon who met and became friends with the real Jerry Springer as a result of his performance, and David Soul who played Jerry Springer during the show's West End Run.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the controversial hit musical Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Jersey Occupation2013090820130913 (R4)On the 1st July 1940, Jersey was occupied by German forces. Some called it 'the Model Occupation' - a taster of what might actually happen across the country if Hitler was successful in his plans to invade Britain.

Churchill's government had decided the Channel islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, were of no strategic importance and would be very difficult to defend and so, just a couple of weeks before, all troops had been withdrawn from the islands. The islanders were instructed to surrender to the German army. Hitler's forces were in occupation from July 1940 until the war ended in May 1945.

These were hard years for both the occupiers and the occupied. Food was scarce and, although acts of resistance were limited, the justice was harsh when it was meted out. Those who lived on the island were faced with a complex crisis of conscience - how should they live with the enemy?

In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites a group of Jersey people who endured that difficult time, finding out how they look back on it seventy years on: Bob Le Sueur, a young insurance clerk at the time, who helped Russian prisoners hide from their German Captors; Leo Harris, a teenager at the beginning of the war, who carried out acts of 'boys own' resistance; Michael Ginns, who found himself in an internment camp in Bavaria; Hazel Lakeman, who was also taken off the island and interned in terrible conditions; and John Floyd, one of the few Jersey residents who actually managed to escape from the island.

Producer: Kevin Dawson

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor and guests recall the Occupation of Jersey during the Second World War.

Kerry Packer\u00a0and The\u00a0world Series Cricket\u00a019772009082320090828 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Sue reunites some of those involved in the great cricket split caused by the launch of World Series Cricket by Australian business tycoon Kerry Packer in 1977. She is joined by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson, Tony Greig, who was England captain at the time, Mike Denness, team manager for Packer's World Series, and the commentator and writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins, who reported the story as it broke

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of those involved in Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.

'New series. 1/5. Sue MacGregor reunites the players involved in the great cricket split caused by Australian business tycoon Kerry Packer in 1977. Her guests are former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd , Australian fast bowler Jeff Thomson , England skipper at the time Tony Greig , team manager for Packer's World Series of Cricket Mike Denness and commentator Christopher Martin-Jenkins . Producer Chris Green Repeated on Friday at 9am'

For details see 11.15am FM

Kindertransport20100912Sue MacGregor gathers together some of the Jewish children who were brought to safety in England by the Kindertransport movement of the 1930s.

From the 2nd December 1938 until war broke out nine months later, almost ten thousand Jewish children were rescued from Nazi persecution from Germany and the occupied territories of Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The operation became known as the Kindertransport movement.

Following the Kristallnacht attack on Jews in Germany, the British government decided to offer refuge to a limited number of Jewish children. They were sent without their parents by train and boat to England. They were only allowed to take a small suitcase and ten reich marks. When they arrived many were either placed in temporary hostels or in foster families. Many found kind homes, some were exploited as easy domestic help and others were neglected.

To start with the children had occasional written contact with parents through the International Red Cross. But as WWII progressed, the communication died out.

Most of them never saw their parents again. A small percentage were reunited with parents who had either spent the war in hiding or survived the Nazi camps but it was invariably impossible to re-establish family relationships.

In 1989, fifty years after the last Kindertransport train left mainland Europe, hundreds of former Kindertransport children gathered in London to remember the event. Today many have united to form the Kindertransport Association. But others still prefer to hold their past at a distance.

Sue is joined around the table by Lord Dubs, Hella Pick, Ruth Humphreys, Sir Erich Reich and Ruth Barnett.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the Kindertransport children rescued from Nazi persecution.

King's Cross Fire2013041420130419 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together five people who were profoundly affected by the Kings Cross Fire in London, in which 31 people died and many others suffered physical and psychological scarring.

It's 25 years since the publication of a damning report on the fire - the worst in the history of the London Underground. Tony Ridley, had been managing director of the service for five years. His success in reversing a long decline in use of the underground was overshadowed by accusations of a blind spot over passenger safety, particularly over wooden escalators.

Law lecturer Sophie Tarrasenko was travelling to King Cross that evening in November 1987. She was forced to get off at an earlier stop because of a fire. It was not until the next day that she learned that her brother had been killed in the blaze. She went on to set up a Family Support Group to improve treatment of bereaved families.

Kwasi Afari Minta was the most badly burned of the survivors. The musician from Ghana sustained terrible burns to his face and endured numerous operations during his six months in hospital. He lost his battle for compensation and now survives on benefits.

Steve Heather was a leading firefighter that night. He remembers being completely disorientated while struggling in intense heat and pitch black. He also lost a close colleague, station officer Colin Townsley.

Lindsay Taylor was a reporter for London radio station LBC and always carried his recording equipment with him. By chance, he was travelling through Kings Cross when fire broke out. He spent most of the next 48 hours there documenting events as well as reporting on the subsequent memorial service and compensation battles.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Kings Cross fire.

Kyoto Protocol2018041520180420 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites environmentalists and politicians who fought fossil fuel industry lobbyists to secure the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.

The protocol which, for the first time, committed 38 developed countries to collectively cut their greenhouse gas emissions, took a gruelling diplomatic struggle to reach agreement in December 1997.

After ten days of intense negotiations in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto, the Argentinian diplomat overseeing efforts to strike the world's first legally binding climate agreement suspended the committee session and huddled with key players in an attempt to prevent the collapse of the talks.

We were making public policy on probably the defining issue of our time at three in the morning amongst people who hadn't slept for 48 hours,' recalls Joanna Depledge, who gained a close-up view of the Kyoto Protocols's make or break moment as a member of the United Nations Climate Secretariat. At about 5am, the morning after the official end of the conference, there was an agreement. When Chairman Estrada declared the so-called committee of the whole was recommending the adoption of the protocol 'by unanimity', the conference floor erupted in cheers.

Joining Sue MacGregor to look back on the making of the deal, and its impact, are Joanna Depledge formerly part of the the UN's Climate Secretariat, former British Environment Minster John Gummer, campaigner Tony Juniper of Friends of The Earth, and lawyer Farhana Yamin, who was then policy advisor to the Alliance of Small Island Nations.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the pioneering environmentalists behind the 1997 Kyoto protocol.

Les Miserables2011091120110916 (R4)In this episode of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together the people who created the musical Les Miserables, which has been playing to audiences around the world for more than 25 years.

The show was conceived in 1980 by French librettist Alain Boublil and composer Claude-Michel Schonberg. There wasn't a scene for musical theatre in France at the time so they turned their attention to Britain and eventually found interest in a young established producer of musicals, Cameron Mackintosh.

The early 80s was something of a revolution for musical theatre in the UK. The ground had been laid with the early Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals but it wasn't until Cats in 1981 and then Starlight Express in 1984 that the British began to show they could do musical theatre on a level with their American counterparts.

Cameron approached Royal Shakespeare Company directors Trevor Nunn and John Caird and they formed a groundbreaking collaboration between the subsidized and commercial theatres to bring Les Miserables onto the London stage.

The show opened at London's Barbican theatre in October 1985 and audiences loved it. But the critics were less enthusiastic describing it as 'a lurid Victorian melodrama' and 'witless and synthetic.' Despite the bad reviews the show continued to sell out and it soon moved into the West End and then onto Broadway. To this day the show has played in more than 42 countries worldwide and in 21 languages.

To recall the beginning of Les Miserables and to reflect on its enduring popularity, Sue is joined around the table by producer Cameron Mackintosh, composer Claude-Michel Schonberg, actor Michael Ball, lyricist Herbert Kretzmer and director John Caird.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites those behind the world's longest running musical - Les Miserables.

Lib Lab Pact2013082520130830 (R4)The 1970s are still remembered as a tremendously difficult time for Britain - rocketing inflation, crippling industrial unrest, record unemployment, IRA bombings and fuel shortages.

In 1976, Harold Wilson's shock resignation put Jim Callaghan at the helm of a Labour Government doggedly holding on to power with a tiny majority. Deaths, defections and disappearances quickly turned that thin majority into a minority.

The Government was on the brink of being uprooted by a Vote of No Confidence, tabled by an eager leader of the opposition, Margaret Thatcher. The equally eager and ambitious new leader of the Liberals was David Steel. When he offered the Government the support of his tiny band, Callaghan was forced to accept.

The result was the Lib Lab Pact which, its architects and supporters claimed, helped stabilise the Government and the country. But critics say the deal split both parties. Close aids of Steel were shocked at how he had capitulated to Callaghan's lack of commitment on key issues like electoral reform. And Tony Benn was instructed to resign after whipping up dissent among disgruntled Labour colleagues.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key people involved in the deal: David Steel then the new leader of a Liberal Party still reeling from the Jeremy Thorpe scandal; Tom McNally, one of Callaghan's closest aids; Michael White, now deputy editor of The Guardian, then a political sketch writer; Roy Hattersley, then a Labour Cabinet minister; and Alan Beith, then a Liberal Party whip.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five key players involved in the Lib Lab pact of the late 1970s.

Libyan Embassy Siege2017040920170414 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people who were at the centre of the dramatic events outside the Libyan Embassy in central London in 1984.

At 5' 2', Yvonne Fletcher battled to fulfil a childhood ambition to become a police officer. Superfletch, as she was dubbed by colleagues, achieved her dream as a community officer with the Metropolitan Police and, in doing so, became the shortest police officer in Britain. She was due to marry a fellow officer.

On a spring morning in April 1984, she was sent to man an anti-Gaddafi demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in London. She was gunned down during the protest and pronounced dead several hours later on the operating table.

The Embassy had recently been taken over by the Committee of Revolutionary Students and renamed the Libyan People's Bureau. They were fiercely loyal to their leader, the notorious 'mad dog of the Middle East', Colonel Gaddafi, and targeted Libyan dissidents in the UK.

Sue and her guests look back on what, at the time, was the longest police siege in British history.

Oliver Miles was only a few months into his new post as British Ambassador in Tripoli.

PC John Murray was working alongside WPC Fletcher and travelled in the ambulance with her as she was dying.

Detective Superintendent Colin Reeve stepped up to run the police command centre, working 12 hours a day throughout the 11-day siege.

Adel Mansouri was a Libyan student who travelled from Manchester to what he believed would be a peaceful demonstration. He was also shot.

They discuss why warnings about threatened violence weren't passed to police on the ground, why the so-called Embassy still enjoyed diplomatic status, and whether Yvonne Fletcher's death could have been avoided.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests recall the Libyan embassy siege of 1984.

Life On Earth2014042020140425 (R4)Life on Earth was the first natural history blockbuster on television. Written and narrated by David Attenborough, it told the story of evolution in thirteen weekly instalments, stunning viewers with incredible underwater photography, and astonishing close-ups of creatures never before seen on British screens.

Broadcast in 1979, it took three years to make and involved a staggering one and a half million miles of travel. Viewers were exposed to more than 650 different species of animal, in a survey of life from bacteria to man and all in between.

In The Reunion, Sir David Attenborough is reunited with some of the team he worked with on the series. Richard Brock produced the popular episode on amphibians featuring extraordinary varieties of frog: one whose young emerge from under the skin on its back and another whose male incubates the eggs in his vocal sac, ultimately giving birth through his mouth. Assistant producer Mike Salisbury recalls the difficulties filming lions in Tanzania that eventually resulted in a groundbreaking depiction of a lion-hunt.

The most enduring sequence in the series was David Attenborough's astonishing encounter with gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda, frequently voted one of the top TV moments of all time. He and cameraman Martin Saunders reminisce about the extraordinary experience they had.

Pam Jackson and Jane Wales, the producer's assistants who planned the incredibly complex filming schedules describe what was happening behind the scenes, and their attempts to keep their presenter looking presentable even while scrambling through wild jungle.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

THE REUNION is a Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites Sir David Attenborough with the team behind Life on Earth.

London Occupy2022082120220826 (R4)The Occupy movement sprang up in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008. It was inspired by anti-austerity campaigns in Spain, and the events of the Arab Spring of March and April 2011, and although its aims were wide, it was broadly described as an 'anti-capitalist' protest.

On October 15th 2011, non-violent global protests began on New York's Wall Street, and outside London's Stock Exchange, then moving to Paternoster Square on the edge of the financial district.

Protestors called for an end to global exploitation under the banner `We are the 99%`, quoting an American statistic on the concentration of wealth among the top-earning 1% of society. They formed a camp of tents and temporary shelters on the doorstep of St Paul's Cathedral and the Church of England was drawn into the protests.

At first, Cathedral authorities were accommodating and broadly supportive of the protests, but then, claiming health and safety concerns, they sided with the police and the City of London in calling for the removal of protestors.

A simultaneous camp sprung up in nearby Finsbury Square, and protestors also occupied an empty UBS office building on Sun Street which became a social centre dubbed the 'Bank of Ideas'.

The legal process of eviction would take several months, during which the tented community created its own Assembly. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and the Green Party's Caroline Lucas, were among those invited to address the protestors.

Kirsty Wark is joined by a number of individuals who joined, or were caught up in, the protests around Occupy London.

Producer: Alice K. Winz

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites some of those caught up in the anti-capitalist Occupy London protests

Love Actually2021122420211229 (R4)Love Actually was the 2003 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Richard Curtis, which has grown in popularity over the years to become a Christmas classic.

It featured a stellar cast, but also many supporting actors who have gone on to have successful film careers. With multiple overlapping storylines, the film drew inspiration from Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and features numerous memorable scenes and one-liners. It was a box-office smash, grossing $246 million worldwide and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture (Comedy).

Kirsty Wark brings together stars from the film including Bill Nighy who became a household name after playing ageing rocker Billy Mack.

After a difficult few years in the media spotlight, EastEnders actress and pop singer Martine McCutcheon reveals how she was set to give up on showbusiness - until she got a call inviting her to play opposite Hugh Grant in Curtis's new film.

Child actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster played Sam, who learned to play the drums to catch the eye of his school crush. Thomas explains why he was reluctant to even come to the audition.

Olivia Olson was the 10-year-old who played Sam's love interest. She tells Kirsty how she had to record her scene-stealing song again - because it was too good the first time.

Lucia Moniz, was better known as a pop star in her native Portugal when she was cast to play Colin Firth's housekeeper, but only after her audition where she had to swim in thin air!

And producer Duncan Kenworthy, long-time collaborator of Curtis, explains how he encouraged him to change the storyline between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman to make it sad.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites some of the stars of the 2003 Christmas film Love Actually.

Maastricht Treaty2016042420160429 (R4)Former Ministers, backbench rebels and government advisors join Sue MacGregor to recall the dramas of the Maastricht Treaty negotiations.

The Maastricht Treaty is one of the most famous and controversial pieces of European legislation, forming the blueprint for economic and monetary union, and granting free movement to the citizens of the countries who signed it. But its path to signing was tortuous, causing deep divisions within the Conservative Party, turmoil on the economic markets, and friction between member states.

The summit at Maastricht was one of the first and most important tasks facing John Major when he took over the Premiership from Margaret Thatcher in 1990. Europe was already a highly divisive issue within the party, but Major was keen to be pragmatic, and less combative than his predecessor. But it cost him dear. Two-and-a-half years later he had twice considered resigning over the issue, faced severe rebellion from his own backbenches and crashed out of membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism amid turmoil on the financial markets on Black Wednesday. But finally the legislation was signed.

Sue MacGregor is joined by two former Chancellors of the Exchequer - Lord, then Norman, Lamont who, after losing his job, became a fierce critic of Government policy, and Kenneth Clarke who replaced him. The guests also include the Government Whip responsible for Europe, David Davies, and Conservative backbencher Sir Bill Cash, a prominent Euro-rebel, as well as John Major's Private Secretary for Foreign Affairs and later the Official Historian on Britain's Relationship with Europe, Sir Stephen Wall.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests reflect on the dramas of the Maastricht Treaty negotiations.

Madness2021050220210507/08 (R4)Kirsty Wark brings together members of the band Madness to explore a musical journey of more than 40 years. From their earliest days in the backstreets of North London to performing on the roof of Buckingham Palace, the band combined ska, zany videos and on-stage antics to produce a string of hits.

Kirsty takes them back to their childhoods to remember the experiences which formed them and inspired one of their most popular songs, Baggy Trousers. We hear stories of the early days - rehearsing below a Dentist's surgery, pub gigs and the moment when Suggs was nearly replaced as vocalist.

We find out about the band's musical influences - from ska supremo Prince Buster to Ian Dury - and discuss how the political landscape of the 1980s started to influence their song writing. An early headline of a review of one of their gigs read, 'Great band, shame about the fans', and they discuss in some detail how they dealt with racism at their gigs from National Front supporters.

After a period of departures and solo projects, the band remember their emotional and ear-splitting return with Madstock in 1992 - so loud that some people thought there'd been an earthquake in North London. They also talk about performing on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012, and their latest live streaming concert from the London Palladium.

Taking part in the programme are Mike Barson, Mark Bedford, Chris Foreman, producer Clive Langer and lead singer Suggs.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Louise Adamson

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark is joined by members of the band Madness.

Milton Keynes2007042220070427 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites architects and planners who created the new town of Milton Keynes.

3/5. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Britain's last and largest new town,

Milton Keynes became known for its concrete cows and endless roundabouts, but its founders were fired by anidealistic enthusiasm to create new homes for thousands of people who had been living in sub-standard accommodation un the inner cities. Sue MacGregor brings together some of the architects, planners, community workers anu residents who created the town.

Producer Louise Adamson Repeated on Friday at 9am

Miss World 19702010090520140706/07 (BBC7)
In 1970, the Miss World held at the Royal Albert Hall in London was disrupted by feminists protesting that the competition was a cattle market. Bob Hope, presenting the event, stood on a stage pelted with tomatoes and flour bombs. Bouncers were sprayed with blue ink. The women disrupting the competition shouted: 'we're not beautiful, we're not ugly, we're angry.

Bob Hope's less than enlightened verdict on the events was that anyone who might disrupt Miss World 'must be on some kind of dope'. But the Women's Liberation Movement proved otherwise.

The Women's Liberation Movement's protests at the Miss World contest were not solely aimed at rejecting the event itself though, but more at the implications of the wider exploitation of women in society. Economically and socially, women were subject to continual discrimination and the epitome of such prejudice was highlighted by this public celebration of female beauty.

The programme looks at the event through the eyes of the participants who were involved both on and off stage. It examines their motives for participating in the protest and how those organising the event and taking part as contestants felt about the contest. Sue is joined by the former Miss World of 1970; Jennifer Hosten, one of the key organisers; Peter Jolley and protestors Sally Alexander and Jo Robinson.

Producer: Christina Captieux

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites those involved in the controversial Miss World 1970 beauty contest.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

National Theatre2009040520170408/09 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

She brings together some of the original members of the National Theatre to remember its birth in 1963 under artistic director Laurence Olivier. Her guests are Sir Michael Gambon, Sir Derek Jacobi, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Joan Plowright and Bill Gaskill.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together some of the original members of the National Theatre.

New series 1/5. National Theatre

Actors Michael Gambon , Derek Jacobi ,

Maggie Smith , Joan Plowright and Bill Gaskill join presenter Sue MacGregor to remember the opening of the National Theatre in 1963 under the direction of Lawrence Olivier.

Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated on Good Friday at 9am Radio features: paqes 126-127

Nelson Mandela Release2009091320090918 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Sue gathers together the core negotiators and key campaigners involved in the secret talks which ultimately led to the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

She is joined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who led the Free Mandela Campaign throughout the 1980s; Dr Niel Barnard, who was the head of South Africa's National Intelligence Service and who had dozens of clandestine meetings with Mandela; Professor Willie Esterhuyse, an Afrikaner academic who liaised between the government and the ANC; Aziz Pahad, who was a core member of the ANC and led many of its delegations; former President Thabo Mbeki, who was a lead negotiator for the ANC; and journalist and political commentator Allister Sparks, who chronicled the negotiations in a revealing book.

Former President FW de Klerk also contributes to the programme, describing the surprise that he and other cabinet figures felt when they learnt of the years of secret meetings.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites key players involved in the secret talks to free Nelson Mandela.

4/5. Sue MacGregor brings together the core negotiators and key campaigners, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu , involved in the secret talks that ultimately led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Producers Sarah Cuddon and David Prest Rptd Fn at 9am

New Labour2014091420140919 (R4)When Tony Blair delivered the phrase: 'New Labour, New Britain!' to the 1994 party conference, his first as leader, it was the result of a decade of change within the party. Kinnock had rebranded it, introducing the rose as party emblem and had distanced the Labour Party from its far-left factions.

When John Smith came in, he launched the 'Prawn Cocktail Offensive' of the City and tackled the Union block vote, pushing through reform in 1993. His sudden death ushered in a new, young leader, Tony Blair, who swiftly removed the reference in the party's constitution to 'common ownership of the means of production' and New Labour was born.

20 years on, Sue MacGregor brings together some of the key people involved in the New Labour 'Project'.

Peter Mandelson is one of its founding architects. He relaunched the Party under Kinnock, bringing in ad-man Philip Gould with his focus groups and marketing techniques.

Anji Hunter was at Tony Blair's side from 1987 until 2001. Starting as his research assistant, she ran his office when he was Leader of the Opposition, becoming Director of Government Relations for Blair's government in 1997.

Regional Party organizer, Margaret, now Baroness McDonagh, helped expel the so-called 'loony-left' from the party in the 80s, pushed through the changes to Clause 4 and would later become the Labour Party's first female General Secretary.

Margaret Beckett was Deputy Labour Leader under John Smith and shadow Health Secretary under Tony Blair.

Peter Hyman was one of Blair's strategy men and speech-writers; and Sue, now Baroness Nye, kept Neil Kinnock's diary, before becoming Gordon Brown's right-hand woman for the next 18 years.

Producer: Rose de Larrabeiti

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the key people behind the creation of New Labour.

Nme Writers2007091620140518/19 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

This programme features former staff from the New Musical Express, who recall the heady days of the late 1970s when the magazine spearheaded a new style of writing consisting of pithy, intelligent commentary about life, ideas, pop and youth culture.

Sue MacGregor reunites writers from the magazine New Musical Express.

4/5. For more than 50 years the NME has been at the forefront of music journalism, enjoying its heyday in the 1970s, spearheading a pithy, intelligent commentary on popular culture.

Sue MacGregor brings together five of NME's talented writers to recall its glory days. Producer Kevin Dawson Repeated on Friday at 9am

Northern Rock2017091020170915 (R4)Sue MacGregor's guests recall the 2007 collapse of Northern Rock, the Newcastle-based bank whose rapid growth came to symbolise the region's renaissance.

On the evening of Thursday 13th September 2007, senior directors at the Bank of England were secretly negotiating the final details of an emergency loan to Northern Rock, when news of the deal broke on the BBC. The next morning, long queues formed outside branches as worried customers rushed to remove their savings. It was the first run on a British Bank in 140 years.

Five months later, the Bank was nationalised and eventually broken up, with the most profitable section sold to Virgin Money in 2012.

Northern Rock had grown rapidly over the prevoius 10 years, briefly becoming the UK's largest mortgage provider. With headquarters in Newcastle, it was one of the region's biggest employers and one of only two FTSE 100 companies in the area. It donated 5% of its pre-tax profits to local charities and was a major sports sponsor.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of those caught up in the Northern Rock crisis. Robert Peston was the BBC's Business Editor who broke the story of the Rock's troubles and was accused of causing the run on the Bank. Dennis Grainger is a former Northern Rock employee who had built up shares worth more than £100,000 through the company's save-as-you-earn scheme. He has fought a long legal battle for compensation after nationalisation rendered the shares worthless. Alastair Balls was Chair of the Northern Rock Foundation, which distributed more than £230million in grants. And Jayne-Anne Gadhia is the Chief Executive of Virgin Money which bought Northern Rock from the UK Government in 2012.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests remember the 2007 collapse of Newcastle-based bank, Northern Rock.

Parliamentary Expenses Scandal2019041420190419 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together key figures from Westminster and Fleet Street involved in the protracted battle over releasing MPs' expenses to the public.

The MPs' Expenses Scandal was one of the biggest political upsets in living memory, centring on the abuse and misuse of allowances and expenses. More than half of MPs were forced to pay back a total of more than £1million and the scandal led to the biggest clear-out of politicians in decades, as well as the first forced resignation of the Speaker of the House in three centuries.

Freedom of Information campaigners had been trying for years to get MPs' claims for second homes, travel and office expenditure into the public domain. But time and again they were blocked by parliamentarians who believed the public had no right to see how MPs were spending this taxpayers' money.

And then, in spring 2009, the information was leaked to the Daily Telegraph, who published damning evidence of MPs' spending. From dog food to duck houses, the public were appalled and MPs were united in shame. Some had taken deliberate efforts to defraud or mislead and six ended up in prison.

In this edition of The Reunion we hear how FOI campaigners like Heather Brooke were repeatedly thwarted by legitimate requests which were refused, an expensive High Court appeal, and even an attempt by MPs to exempt themselves from their own law. Andrew Walker, who was head of House of Commons finances, said MPs were on tenterhooks wondering who would be next to be exposed by The Telegraph, and Ann Cryer, then Labour MP for Keighley, and her son were both accused of claiming expenses on the same flat which belonged to her daughter. She said that Labour Party whips were on `suicide watch` as traumatised MPs battled through the mire.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor brings together key figures caught up in the MPs' expenses scandal of 2009.

Peter Brook's A Midsummer Night's Dream2015050320150508 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites cast and creatives to recall how director Peter Brook's revolutionary production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the RSC changed theatre and Shakespeare forever.

On 27th August 1970, an expectant audience arrived at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon. Such was the anticipation that the New York Times theatre critic, Clive Barnes, had crossed the Atlantic to join them. He was not to be disappointed. Not only did the performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream receive a resounding standing ovation, it did so at the first interval.

'Once in a while, once in a very rare while,' wrote a jubilant Barnes the next day, 'a theatrical production arrives that is going to be talked about as long as there is a theatre, a production that, for good or ill, is going to exert a major influence on the contemporary stage...It is a magnificent production.'

Although Peter Brook retained the original text, his method of developing the production was far from conventional. Rejecting the notion of 'director's theatre' he urged his actors to let the play 'work through them and do things to them'. He even tested out his ideas on a crowd in a Birmingham social club.

The costumes and scenery were no less radical. Working with designer Sally Jacobs, Brook set the play in a minimalist white space, featuring just two doors at the rear. Actors wore brightly-coloured satin costumes inspired by the Chinese circus and entered on stilts and trapezes.

Sue MacGregor is joined by Peter Brook, designer Sally Jacobs and actors Sir Ben Kingsley (Demetrius), Sara Kestelman (Titania/Hippolyta), Frances de la Tour (Helena) and Barry Stanton (Snug).

Producer: Matt Taylor

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor remembers Peter Brook's iconic Shakespearean production from 1970.

Pinochet2016050120160506 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the campaign to bring Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet to trial for human rights abuses.

For nearly two decades, General Augusto Pinochet repressed and reshaped Chile. He seized power on September 11th 1973, in a bloody military coup that toppled the Marxist government of President Salvador. He then led the county into an era of robust economic growth, transforming a bankrupt economy into the most prosperous in Latin America. During his rule, however, more than 3,200 people were executed or disappeared, and thousands more were detained, tortured or exiled. Pinochet's name became synonymous with human rights abuses and corruption.

He gave up the presidency in 1990 but held onto the post of commander in chief. Then, in October 1998, in an extraordinary turn of events he was detained in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges. It was the first time a former head of state had been arrested based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. The then-British Home Secretary Jack Straw ordered his release on health grounds in 2000, after a controversial medical test stated that Pinochet was not fit to appear before a court, and he returned to Chile a free man that same year.

Joining Sue around the table to look back on Pinochet's arrest and the landmark case that followed are Juan Garces, a former aide to Salvador Allende; the former Home Secretary Jack Straw; and Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who was personally transformed by the experience of descending into what he called the 'abyss' of investigating crimes committed by Pinochet.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests reflect on the rise and fall of Chilean dictator General Pinochet.

Pioneering Women Newsreaders2019050520190510 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together a group of pioneering female newsreaders who helped to redress the gender balance in the television newsrooms of the 1970s and 80s.

From the earliest days of broadcasting, women played an important role on air and in production. However, when it came to women being used as the voice of authority reading the news, the process of acceptance was slow.

In 1973, a BBC internal report entitled Limitations to the Recruitment and Advancement of Women revealed a long list of prejudiced attitudes to women. One of the many objections raised was the nature of the female voice. `To a large number of listeners and viewers', it said, 'a female voice is considered to lack authority in news reading and reporting.`

And it wasn't just a women's voice that hindered their progress. The feelings of the Editor of Radio News, according to the report, was that `he believes that women are simply not able to do hard news stories as they ‘see themselves as experts of women's features.'`

Having a woman reading the news was part of the whole new challenging dimension that commercial television was bringing to broadcasting. But it wasn't until 1975 that the BBC dared to put Angela Rippon at the helm of its flagship 9 O' Clock News. Articles in the tabloid press discussed her lips and legs, and turned the appointment of Anna Ford as an ITN newsreader in 1978 into a non-existent rivalry.

Joining Sue MacGregor and Angela Rippon to look back on the struggle to overcome stereotypes and sexism in the newsroom in the years that followed are former ITN newscaster Julia Somerville, BBC newsreader Jan Leeming, and Sue Lawley, who presented the evening news programme Nationwide throughout much of the 1970s.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor brings together female newsreaders who negotiated sexism in the 1980s.

Play School2010091920140511/12 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor reunites people involved with classic children's TV programme Play School, which ran from 1964 to 1988.

Devised by Joy Whitby, former producer of the Listen with Mother slot on BBC Radio, the programme was a direct response to concerns about the perceived poor standard of British pre-school education.

Play School was ground-breaking in more ways than one as it accidentally became the first programme to be shown on BBC 2 after a power cut halted the opening night's programming.

Its enthusiastic presenters came from diverse backgrounds and became household names with the iconic three shaped windows, clock and toys to form an integral part of many early childhoods.

Sue is joined around the table by Joy Whitby, presenters Floella Benjamin, Brian Cant, who also fronted spin-off series Play Away, and Toni Arthur and musical director/pianist Jonathan Cohen.

The programme also features contributions from Johnny Ball and Play School historian Paul R. Jackson.

Producer: Chris Green

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites people involved with classic children's TV programme Play School.

Poll Tax2012090220120907 (R4)In this week's Reunion, Sue MacGregor and guests revisit one of the most dramatic battles of Margaret Thatcher's premiership: the poll tax.

The Community Charge, or poll tax as it was known, was designed to replace the rates and to make local councils more accountable to their voters by charging every resident for the use of local services. But with a wealthy landowner potentially paying the same as a dustman, it was seen by many as grossly unfair. A massive campaign of civil disobedience followed, that saw even Members of Parliament jailed for refusing to pay their bills.

On the eve of its introduction, on 31st March 1990, thousands of people demonstrated in London against the Poll Tax. But as the day wore on, police and demonstrators clashed violently. Buildings were set on fire, cars overturned, windows smashed, and shops looted. There were accusations of police brutality, and agents provocateurs. Dozens of protestors and police were injured. For many looking back, it was the final nail in the coffin of Mrs Thatcher's Britain.

By the end of that year Mrs Thatcher was forced to step down. Months later, the poll tax was scrapped.

Joining Sue MacGregor to recall the period is: Lord Baker, who as Local Government Minister helped devise the Community Charge, Chris Brearley, one of the civil servants who worked on the legislation, David Magor, Assistant Treasurer of Oxford City Council, Danny Burns, who co-ordinated resistance to the tax in the South West, and Chris Moyers, who started up her own protest group near Edinburgh to oppose the Scottish poll tax.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the architects and opponents of the infamous Poll Tax initiative.

Robben Island2006091020060915 (R4)Sue MacGregor goes to Johannesburg to reunite a group of former political prisoners who were incarcerated on Robben Island when Nelson Mandela was there throughout the 1960s and 70s. Robben Island was a world of chains and torture during South Africa's darkest apartheid years. But it also became a place where many of the country's future leaders learnt the skills which would later bring them to power. We hear the extraordinary stories of five former prisoners.

Sue MacGregor reunites former political prisoners incarcerated with Nelson Mandela.

'2/4. Robben Island. In Johannesburg, Sue MacGregor meets a group of former inmates of Robben Island - political prisoners at the same time as Nelson Mandela in the 1960s and 70s. Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated on Fri at 9am'

Round The World Yacht Crew2017081320170818 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets Tracy Edwards and others from the first all-female crew to complete the Round the World Yacht Race.

The Round the World Yacht Race is the Everest of sailing, extending over nine months and 33,000 miles of the world's toughest oceans. In 1989, 27-year-old Tracy Edwards lead the first all-female crew to compete in the race. They not only defied the sceptics who doubted they would complete the course, but won two of the legs and came second overall in their class.

The achievements in their yacht Maiden caught the world's attention and, as the race progressed, the crowds grew. In Auckland, 14,000 people lined the dock to welcome Maiden to New Zealand in the early hours of the morning. And, as she finally made her way home to Southampton, an armada of 600 dinghies, yachts and power boats accompanied her through the Solent.

Along the way, the twelve women had survived mountainous seas, icebergs, a tornado and a collision with a whale. Numerous equipment failures added to the challenge and a serious leak threatened to take them out of the race altogether.

Coming home, they ran out of food for the final five days when light winds slowed their progress. But they completed the race with a string of awards and a result that remains unbeaten by any British yacht to this day.

Skipper Tracy Edwards was the driving force behind the project, with Howard Gibbons involved from early on as Project Manager. As well as great sailors, all crew members had to take on additional roles - Jeni Munday was the on-board electrician, Mikaela Von Koskull one of the helms, and sail-trimmer Nancy Harris (nee Hill) maintained the winches.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor meets the first all-female crew to complete the Round the World Yacht Race.

Royal Opera House2007082620070831 (R4)Sue MacGregor recalls the transformation of the Royal Opera House in the 1990s.

New series 1/5. Jeremy Isaacs , Deborah Bull and Chris Smith are some of the key players in the furore surrounding Royal Opera House funding in the 1990s. Reunited by Sue MacGregor , they relive the experiences they shared.

Producer Eleanor Thomas Repeated on Friday at 9am

Same Sex Marriage2021080820210813 (R4)Kirsty Wark brings together gay rights campaigners, politicians and journalists to recall the battle to introduce same-sex marriage in Britain, and hears from the then Prime Minister David Cameron about his struggles to gain support within the Conservative Party.

Up until 2010, same-sex marriage wasn't on the political agenda in Britain, and lesbian and gay campaigners were divided over whether it was a good idea or not.

Many believed it lay at the heart of the patriarchal society which had curtailed women's rights for decades, and wanted to abolish marriage not broaden it. Others remembered the bitter resentments caused by the infamous Section 28, brought in by Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1988, which effectively banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools and was only repealed in 2003.

On 29 March 2014, Peter McGraith and David Cabreza became the first same-sex couple to exchange their wedding vows, shortly after midnight, as the legislation came into force.

Joining Kirsty Wark are Peter Tatchell, the activist who campaigned for same sex marriage for many years; Lynne Featherstone, then the the Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister who fought for it to become government policy; Benjamin Cohen, the CEO of Pink News who led the Out 4 Marriage campaign; Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England. and Nick Herbert, the Conservative MP who led the Freedom to Marry campaign.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Charlotte North

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the battle to introduce same-sex marriage in Britain.

Sharpe2023041620230421 (R4)It was a Napoleonic war drama to be shot in the Crimean Peninsula. But little did the producers know that they would be sending the cast and crew to film in a rapidly disintegrating Soviet Union.

Once in Crimea, the whole production faced near-starvation and danger around every corner as they set about creating one of Britain's most successful and critically acclaimed 90s television programmes, Sharpe.

It was to go down in television folklore for its unique tales of mishaps and hardship. Renowned actor Paul McGann was originally cast to play the lead character, Sharpe. But only six weeks into filming he picked up a serious injury and had to pull out.

It left the production in chaos and saw one of the highest-ever insurance pay-outs for a television series.

Everyone packed up back to the UK with the future of the series left in suspense. That was until a relatively unknown actor called Sean Bean took on the part and the show was back on the road. The cast and crew headed back to Simferopol in Crimea (later to be nicknamed `simplyawful`) and filming resumed.

Sharpe became a six series hit across nearly 15 years, with viewing figures topping 10 million.

Our panel includes Sharpe's author Bernard Cornwell, then-assistant producer Stuart Sutherland, one of the `chosen men` Jason Salkey who played one of Sean Bean's right hand men, Michael Cochrane who played Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson across the entire series, and Diana Perez who played Ramona.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the cast and crew of the 1990s Napoleonic drama Sharpe.

Sierra Leone Civil War2018090920180914 (R4)In 1991, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacked Sierra Leone from Liberia, backed by Charles Taylor, a warlord who later became Liberia's president. Their target was the rich alluvial diamond fields of Kono District, which would not only provide them with personal wealth, but facilitate the purchase of arms.

Amongst the catalogue of horrors that emanated from Sierra Leone in the decade-long civil war that followed was the forcible conscription of children, some as young as seven years old. Kidnapped by rebel forces or drawn into the Government's army, they were forced to become soldiers, human shields, spies and sex slaves.

The lowest point came on January 6 1999, when the rebels entered Freetown and began razing the city. In a hellish two-week period, thousands suffered amputation and more than 6,000 were killed. Eventually the rebel forces were driven out of Freetown by West African peacekeepers, but they also carried out despicable acts against the civilians they were supposed to be protecting.

Joining Sue MacGregor around the table to look back at the war and the subsequent pursuit of justice are Emmy-award winning camera-man Sorious Samura, who risked his life to film the systematic murder of his countrymen (his film Cry Freetown shocked the UN into sending 17,000 peacekeepers); former British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Peter Penfold, who found himself as right-hand man to President Kabbah; Martha Khanu who was a teenager living in the north of the country when fighting broke out, and social activist Zainab Bangura, who spoke out against the atrocities committed during the war.

Producer Emily Williams

Series Producer David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people caught up in Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.

Solidarity2017090320170908 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Solidarity movement in the 1980s who overcame years of political persecution to bring about the end of communist rule in Poland.

The strike that shook the Kremlin began just after dawn on the 14 August 1980. About 17,000 workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, to protest, among other things, a rise in the price of food. Their leader, Lech Walesa, had narrowly avoided arrest by secret police that morning, and had managed to scale the wall of the shipyard gate to join the workers. Within days, most of the country was affected by factory shutdowns.

Seventeen days later, the Communist authorities signed the Gdansk Agreement with Walesa. In its wake, workers' representatives formed the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union, Solidarity - the first independent trade union in the Soviet Bloc. In the months that followed, 10 million people in Poland joined Solidarity. But the regime tried to block, delay or otherwise cheat on all the main points of the agreement, repeatedly driving Solidarity into confrontation. Sometimes Poland seemed close to civil war.

In December 1981, the Polish regime, under pressure from Moscow, launched a military crack-down. Tanks moved into cities, and thousands of Solidarity members were dragged from their beds and arrested. Martial law was declared and Solidarity was banned. For the next seven years the movement went underground.

Finally in early 1989, the Polish government agreed to talks with Solidarity that paved the way for the first free elections ever in the communist bloc.

Joining Sue to look back on that turbulent decade are Lech Walesa, Solidarity's former spokesman Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Ewa Kulik who ran the underground movement in Warsaw, former Polish Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki and the film maker Jacek Petrycki.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Former leaders of Solidarity recall the bitter struggle for democracy in 1980s Poland.

Spare Rib2013091520130920 (R4)By the early 1970s, the idealism of the 60s was fading for many of the women involved in the counter-culture. They were left with a increasing realisation that, while the men might be building a new age, they would still be expected to make the tea and do the housework.

Although the Women's Liberation Movement was growing, a woman still needed her husband or father's permission to get a mortgage, women were barred from visiting Wimpy bars after midnight (on the assumption they must be prostitutes)and at the BBC female employees were strongly discouraged from wearing trousers.

Into this world burst Spare Rib, a women's magazine with a difference. As well as talking about fashion and food, it was packed with articles on women's rights, domestic violence, working conditions, sexuality... and a column called Spare Parts told readers how to put up their own shelves and mend their own shoes. An early reader offer was a purple dishcloth emblazoned with the words: 'First you sink into his arms, then your arms end up in his sink'. Unlike the mainstream magazines of the day, it discussed life, not 'lifestyle'.

In this edition of the Reunion, Sue MacGregor brings together five of the women who created Spare Rib. Among them are editors Marsha Rowe and Rosie Boycott, Angela Phillips who took the photographs, including the first carefully constructed cover shot, and Anna Raeburn who wrote the advice column. The ground-breaking magazine they produced was to outlast most other titles of the so-called underground alternative press, and change the lives of those who read and wrote for it.

Produced By Kate Taylor

Series Producer David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the birth of Spare Rib magazine.

Spitting Image (200th Episode)2023090320230908 (R4)For the 200th edition of The Reunion, Kirsty Wark brings together the original team behind the satirical TV hit of the 1980s, Spitting Image.

Recorded in front of an audience in Cambridge, where the Spitting Image archives are now held by Cambridge University Library, we relive the stories of a show which very nearly didn't happen.

Only when Central Television in Birmingham decided to take a risk with a puppet show for adults did Spitting Image hit the screens. The rest is history.

With co-creators Peter Fluck and Roger Law, producers Jon Blair and John Lloyd, writers Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, puppeteer Louise Gold, voice artists Chris Barrie and Steve Nallon, and the man who made it all possible, Central Television commissioner Charles Denton.

Producer: Mark Rickards

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

In the 200th edition of The Reunion, Kirsty Wark reunites the team of Spitting Image.

Spycatcher2015040520150410 (R4)Sue MacGregor's guests remember the epic battle to ban the MI5 memoir Spycatcher.

When former MI5 officer Peter Wright tried to publish his memoirs in 1985, Margaret Thatcher's government were determined to stop him. So began an almighty legal battle that cost the taxpayer millions of pounds and ultimately made Spycatcher an international bestseller.

The action played out in courts in Australia and New Zealand, and continued in Britain and Europe as the government tried to stop newspapers printing details that were by now very public knowledge.

The British Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong was subjected to a two-week cross-examination in which he admitted being 'economical with the truth' when necessary. It soon became clear that what was on trial was not just Peter Wright - but the Official Secrets Act itself. And if you were in Australia, it was also the entire British establishment.

Sir Robert - now Lord Armstrong - joins Sue MacGregor to remember that momentous battle at the end of his career. They are joined by the book's ghostwriter Paul Greengrass, now a director of Hollywood films such as The Bourne Supremacy and Captain Phillips; former MI5 chief Stella Rimington, whose time as Director of Counter-Espionage was 'largely dominated' by the case; Brian Perman, Managing Director of the publishers Heinemann; and journalist Richard Norton-Taylor who covered the case for the Guardian.

The programme also includes a contribution from the Australian politician Malcolm Turnbull who, as Peter Wright's lawyer, famously cross-examined the Cabinet Secretary.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Stonewall2009092020090925 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

Sue brings together the men and women who were instrumental in the early years of the gay rights campaign group, Stonewall. She is joined by Sir Ian McKellen, Matthew Parris, Lisa Power, Michael Cashman and Olivette Cole-Wilson.

In September 1988 a small group joined forces in a campaign against a law now known as Section 28. This law banned councils from 'promoting homosexuality' or 'promoting the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship'.

The gay rights scene at the time was radical and activist and there were no campaign groups engaging both gay men and lesbians together. Stonewall aimed to create a professional lobbying group that would fight against the discrimination of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Dubbed Stonewall to signal doggedness and to commemorate the New York riots in which gay protestors had fought back against police brutality two decades before, it called for full legal rights, which still seemed a loony-left pipe dream.

Stonewall's moderate tone attracted criticism from more radical veterans of the gay rights movement, but also lent its advocates greater media respectability and a hearing from government ministers.

Since its inception, Stonewall has led the way with an impressive number of reforms, pressing ministers and taking test cases to court. These reforms include the repeal of Section 28, equalising the age of consent, permitting civil partnerships and overturning the ban on gays in the military. Another legacy has been to allow gay and lesbian politicians into the mainstream - not just demanding equal rights, but as representatives of the wider community.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

The men and women who founded the gay rights campaign group, Stonewall.

5/5. Sue MacGregor reunites the men and women who founded the gay rights campaign group Stonewall. producers Sarah Cuddon and David Prest Repeated on Friday at 9am

Strangeways Prison Riots Of 19902008042720080502 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites rioters and staff involved in the Strangeways Prison riots of 1990.

Sue MacGregor brings together former inmates and wardens to recall the 25-day riots at Manchester's Strangeways Prison m April of 1990. Producer Deborah Dudgeon Repeated on Friday at 9am

Strictly Come Dancing2020122420201225 (R4)
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An all-star cast reunites to relive the early days of one of Saturday night TV's greatest success stories.

Many of those who took part in the very first series of Strictly in May 2004 had reservations about the idea of bringing ballroom dancing back to our TV screens. Dance consultant John Byrnes had to convince the other professional dancers that the programme would be a winner, even though he was not sure himself. Natasha Kaplinsky, who was at the top of her news presenting career, feared she would lose all credibility by agreeing to become one of the celebrity dancers. She finds out from judge Craig Revel Horwood that he thought her first routine was 'dull, dull, dull'. But Natasha went on to be the first winner and still has her prize glitter ball.

Celebrity dancer and star soprano Lesley Garrett loved taking part so much that she considered switching careers. although her training was so gruelling that she lost two stone. Her partner. Anton Du Beke, reveals how grateful he was to be paired with Lesley and says he may never have continued if the first series had not been such fun.

Executive producer Karen Smith knew the show would be a winner with Bruce Forsyth at the helm but reveals why a rhinestone-studded glove was needed to help with his cues.

It took a few weeks for the show to find its feet with the audience but, before long, viewers were spellbound by the transformations in the celebrities and the sheer fun on the dance floor. The withering remarks of the judging panel made it appointment viewing in millions of living rooms and a long awaited success story in the fight for Saturday night ratings.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

An all-star cast share memories of the very start of one of the BBC's most popular shows.

Tate Modern20160923Sue MacGregor brings together a group of artist, curators and directors involved in the early years of Tate Modern, Britain's first national museum of modern art.

The opening of Tate Modern in 2000 was the moment that modern art truly arrived in Britain. Decades of scepticism from critics and the public could have made for shaky foundations but, in the 1990s, public opinion began to change as the likes of the Young British Artists gained rock-star status through the Turner Prize.

When Tate Modern opened its doors, thousands of visitors rushed into the cavernous Turbine Hall. The gallery has since welcomed twice the original visitor projections and regularly tops the list of the most visited art museums in the world.

From a once neglected part of the Thames, the conversion of Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern put London's Southbank on the map, transforming it into a hub for visitors to the capital. In 2016, Tate Modern entered a new stage in its history with the addition of the Switch House, sparking record visitor numbers again.

But Tate Modern has faced scandals along the way. Defining what modern art is for the UK and why the public should care, continues to create controversy and divide the critics.

Sue MacGregor's guests are five people who have defined our engagement with modern art through their work with Tate Modern - Sir Nicholas Serota, the Director of Tate since 1988; Frances Morris, a curator when Tate Modern was founded and now its Director; Dawn Austwick, the Tate Modern project director; artist Michael Craig-Martin, an artist trustee at the time; and Sir Anish Kapoor, the first British artist to create work for the Turbine Hall.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites founders of Britain's first national museum of modern art.

Thalidomide Scandal2009042620090501 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together a group of people to tell the story of Thalidomide.

4/5. Thalidomide. Sue MacGregor gathers together a group of people to tell the story of the 1950s and 60s drug thalidomide given to pregnant women to counteract morning sickness. When it was first developed it gave no inkling of the enormous distress it would cause. Producer Katrina Fallon Rptd on Friday at 9am

The Alder Hey Organs Scandal2019090820190913 (R4)Twenty years ago, Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool was at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in NHS history - the retention of organs from dead children. Sue MacGregor reunites parents and hospital staff who were caught up in events.

In the autumn of 1999, parents of children who had died at Alder Hey several years earlier were shocked to find out that the hearts, lungs, brains, and even reproductive organs of their children had been kept by the hospital without their knowledge. In most cases, the organs - as many as 2,000 of them - had not been used for medical research but were stored in a dusty basement cellar in central Liverpool.

Much of the blame was placed on the actions of Professor Dick van Velzen, a Dutch pathologist who conducted post-mortems on children between 1988 and 1995. The government's Redfern Report accused him of systematically removing `every organ from every child' he came into contact with.

A census of hospitals across England found that more than 100,000 organs had been retained from children as well as adults, usually without the consent of relatives.

The retention scandals of the late 1990s and early 2000s transformed relations between doctors and patients, culminating in the Human Tissue Act of 2004, which required explicit consent for the retention of organs and tissue.

Joining Sue MacGregor around the table are Jan Robinson and Jan Valentine, parents who discovered their child's organs had been retained; Dr Mark Caswell, consultant haematologist at Alder Hey; Kate Jackson, director of the hospital's Serious Incident Team; and Clare Smith, Health and Family Correspondent for BBC North West.

Producers: Dan Hardoon and Kate Holland

Executive Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites those involved in the organ retention row at Alder Hey hospital.

The Berlin Airlift2014050420140817 (R4)
20140822 (R4)
At the end of WWII, a defeated Germany was divided amongst the victors - the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. The capital city Berlin, sitting deep in the Soviet zone, was also divided into four parts.

By 1948 it was apparent that the Western Powers' plans to rebuild Germany differed from those of the Soviet Union. Tensions came to a head on 24th June when, following a series of diplomatic spats, the Soviets closed all roads, railways and waterways into West Berlin. It seemed likely that two and a half million Berliners would starve to death or be forced to accept Soviet domination. It was one of the first incidents of the Cold War.

The Western Allies immediately took to the air, creating what Berliners called a Luftbrucke, an air-bridge, carrying food, coal, medicines and raw materials into the beleaguered city. The operation, which lasted for fifteen months was the largest humanitarian mission in Air Force history.

At the height of the operation, hundreds of planes were in the air around the clock. Their omnipresent roar became a part of daily life. Thousands of workers - Allied and German - supported the airlift effort on the ground. When two airports proved inadequate, Berliners of all walks of life came forward to speed construction of a third.

Sue MacGregor reunites British personnel involved in the operation - including RAF Dakota pilot Dick Arscott, air traffic controller Joyce Hargrave-Wright, flight engineer Alec Chambers, Fred Danckwardt who was head of security at the British airbase Gatow, and Freddie Montgomery who worked in British military intelligence in Berlin.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites British military personnel involved in the historic Berlin Airlift.

The Bid For London 20122020083020200904 (R4)
20210522 (R4)
The Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games held in London in 2012 are widely regarded as one of the most successful of modern times. They regenerated a largely wasteland area in East London and inspired a generation into sport.

On the track, Team GB's sporting performance was the best this country had produced at an Olympics since 1908, and there was an equal emphasis on the Paralympics too, with over 4,000 athletes from 164 countries competing in front of packed crowds.

However, the initial resistance and negative reception to the bid when it began in 2003, was a world away from the euphoria and patriotism that London 2012 would inspire. By the time London had decided to bid, the UK hadn't tried to host the Olympics for a decade. There had been three previous failed British bids, by Birmingham and Manchester, and many years of cynicism by those who felt that hosting an Olympics was nothing more than an elaborate and expensive exercise in national ego boosting.

Encompassing resignations, a TV investigation that nearly scuttled the team's hopes, and a dramatic final push involving Prime Ministers and global superstars, the story of the bid for London 2012 contains almost as much drama as the Games themselves.

Kirsty Wark is joined by core members of the bid team:

Barbara Cassani was the first Chair of the bid and Sir Keith Mills was its Chief Executive.

Jonathan Edwards and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson sat on the Athletes Advisory Board.

Richard Caborn was the Minister for Sport and Sir Craig Reedie was a member of the International Olympic Committee

Lord Sebastian Coe became Bid Chair in its second stage.

Producer: Steve Hankey

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the team behind London's bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.

The Blk Art Group2023091020230915 (R4)In 1979, a group of young black British artists broke onto the British art scene. Collectively, they called themselves the BLK Art Group and, together with other artists like Tam Joseph, they made work that challenged ideas of race and society in Britain in the 80s and early 90s.

It all began when artist Eddie Chambers founded a group known as the Wolverhampton Young Black Artists. The group then later re-branded as the BLK Art Group and included Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, Eddie Chambers and Donald Rodney, all based in the Midlands.

They took their inspiration from a variety of sources, including the American Black Arts Movement of the 60s and 70s, which included artists and writers like Amiri Baraka, Audre Lorde, Larry Neal and Maya Angelou.

The group were all from the British African-Caribbean community and exhibited at a number of galleries across the country. For almost 20 years, they collectively and individually pursued themes of politics, gender, class and race.

Their work has been cited as an inspiration by many black artists that followed, including Chris Ofili and Steve McQueen, both of whom went on to win Turner Prizes.

Joining Kirsty Wark are: artist and curator, Marlene Smith and Wenda Leslie, both founding members of the BLK Art Group, and Eugene Palmer, best known for creating archival and multi-textured pieces, who was also a member of the group; Tam Joseph, whose best-known work Spirit of the Carnival portrayed a traditionally exuberant carnival figure penned in by police wielding riot shields, explored similar themes and was closely associated with the BLK Art Group; and Pogus Caesar who observed and photographed many of the artists and their work.

Producer: Rema Mukena

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites members of the BLK Art Group and their associates.

The Boxing Day Tsunami2022040320220408 (R4)In 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered a massive tsunami. Waves as high as 100ft hit the shoreline of Banda Aceh in Indonesia, killing more than 100,000 people and pounding the city into rubble. Then huge waves rolled over coastlines in Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, killing tens of thousands more. In total, nearly 230,000 people died, making it one of the deadliest disasters in modern history.

Kirsty Wark reunites survivors and key figures involved in the Boxing Day tsunami.

Novia Liza was a university student living in Aceh. She lost seven members of her family. Novia and her remaining siblings were separated from each other and cared for by other family members. But the relationship with her carers broke down and she returned to live in the shattered remains of her home. She has never spoken publicly about her grief until now.

British engineer, Andy Chaggar, was seven weeks into a year-long world tour with his partner Nova. They were staying in the idyllic holiday resort of Khao Lak in Thailand, in a beach bungalow. Nova and their friend were both killed. Andy sustained terrible injuries and struggled for years with mental anguish. Returning to Thailand to aid the recovery helped with his own healing. He eventually set up his own international volunteer agency with his new partner Emma, a fellow aid worker.

Kontoro Mangkusbroto was appointed head of reconstruction and rehabilitation in Aceh after the tsunami. He faced anger from locals who'd been living in tents for months, his weight dropped, and rebel independence fighters jeopardised the reconstruction process. Pak Kontoro faced down all the problems, spending years in the province to rebuild communities.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites five people whose lives were changed by the tsunami of 2004.

The British Rock And Rollers2011032720140608/09 (BBC7)
In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites five people who took part in the earliest days of rock and roll in the UK.

The first stirrings occurred when the film Blackboard Jungle, featuring Bill Haley and The Comets singing 'Rock Around The Clock' was released in 1955, but when Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley entered the UK charts in May 1956, a passion for rock and roll was ignited amongst the youth.

Within a matter of months Tommy Steele's 'Rock With The Caveman,' generally considered to be the first rock and roll song to have originated in the UK, had reached number 13 in the charts. The rock and roll revolution was under way.

Tommy Steele was discovered in the 2i's Coffee Bar in Old Compton Street in Soho, as was Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Mickie Most, Joe Brown, Vince Taylor and Terry Dene amongst many others. The person who discovered him, Larry Parnes, was the UK's first pop manager.

In this programme, Sue MacGregor will be discussing those days with Bruce Welch from The Shadows, Terry Dene, Vince Eager and Marty Wilde who all signed up with Larry Parnes and Clem Cattini, who played drums with all of them.

Producer: Brian McCluskey

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people from the birth of rock 'n' roll in the UK.

The Centre For Alternative Technology2013042820130503 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites the pioneers behind The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), the radical community that launched the Green Movement in Britain from a disused slate quarry in Machynlleth, Wales.

Led by an entrepreneurial aristocrat turned environmentalist, a group of self-declared 'Crazy Idealists' arrived at 'The Quarry' in 1973 with an urgent mission. The limits to growth and resources had been forecast, the nuclear threat was real, and fundamentally new ways of living had to be found that were more self-sufficient, locally-focused, and alternative to the assumptions of modern industrial society.

From humble beginnings as a tiny commune sidelined by the scientific establishment, CAT went on to build some of Britain's first ever electricity generating windmills and the largest solar roof in Europe. They attracted the patronage of the royal family, the suspicions and support of their local Welsh neighbours, and the interest of tens of thousands of visitors. Forty years on, the alternatives that CAT pioneered are becoming mainstream, and the Centre's work is more relevant than ever.

Joining Sue MacGregor are: Mark Matthews, the Centre's first director; architect Roderick James, who designed the first complex of buildings; Bob Todd, the Centre's pioneering technical expert; Liz Todd, Bob's wife and an early volunteer, who raised her young family on the site; and Des Rees, the Welsh builder who unexpectedly found himself immersed in The Quarry's unique way of life.

Producer: Patrick Sykes

Series Producer: David Prest

The Reunion is a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the pioneers of the Centre for Alternative Technology.

The Challenger Disaster2017042320170428 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together four people who were profoundly affected by the Challenger disaster, when NASA's space shuttle exploded just after lift-off.

On January 28, 1986, people watched in horror as Challenger, one of America's four space shuttles, erupted into a ball of flames just over a minute after lift off, killing everyone on board. 'Flight controllers here are looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction,' reported the NASA launch commentator as television screens showed a cloud of smoke and water vapour where Challenger had been, along with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean.

At Mission Control, the doors were immediately locked and the phones disconnected as flight controllers, following protocol, began backing up the flight data. In the stands near the launch site there were heartbreaking scenes as the astronauts' friends and families reacted with disbelief and shock.

Challenger's crew of seven was led by led by Dick Scobee and included Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old social science teacher from New Hampshire, who had been chosen from over 11,000 applicants to become America's first civilian astronaut. Salvage crews spent several weeks bringing up pieces of the shuttle and carefully recovering the remains of the seven astronauts.

A special commission appointed by then President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident identified a failure in a solid rocket booster joint as the cause for explosion, but also the pointed the finger at problems in NASA's organisational culture and decision-making processes.

Joining Sue MacGregor round the table to look back on one of NASA's darkest tragedies are June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger Space Shuttle Commander Richard 'Dick' Scobee; Steve Nesbitt, NASA Chief Commentator; astronaut Norman Thagard; and Allan McDonald, former Morton Thiokol Director of the Space Shuttle Rocket Booster Project.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests discuss the Challenger space shuttle disaster of 1986.

The Collapse Of British Leyland2020082320200828 (R4)
20211016 (R4)
Kirsty Wark gathers management, workers and union leaders from the giant car-maker British Leyland.

In 1968, the Labour Government instigated the merger of two leading motoring manufacturers to form the British Leyland Motor Company. The ambition was to create an industrial powerhouse, capable of building more than a million cars a year and challenging the global dominance of America's Ford and Vauxhall.

At its peak, British Leyland employed 250,000 workers in scores of plants, but throughout the 1970s the model range was incoherent, bitter internal rivalries dogged production and industrial relations were atrocious. Successive governments poured in millions of pounds to stop the company from going bankrupt and forcing a spike in the dole queue.

In the 1980s, state support faded. Margaret Thatcher's government clamped down on the unions and privatised nationalised businesses. British Leyland was broken up and sold off, bringing an end to British-owned motor manufacturing.

Joining Kirsty to discuss those turbulent times are five people who were in the thick of it:

Harold Musgrove started in 1945 and rose through the ranks to become chairman and chief executive of what became the Austin Rover Group.

John Power started at Cowley in the 60s on the brand new Mini and became a shop steward on his first day.

Chris Green was 16 when he started as a commercial apprentice at British Leyland's vast Longbridge plant.

Alison Harper was the company's first female design sculptor.

The motoring journalist and former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey test drove the cars and watched as the company fell by the wayside.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark gathers key figures from the strife-torn car giant British Leyland.

The Courtauld Institute2011081420130530/31 (BBC7)
In this edition of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites five past pupils of London's Courtauld Institute of Art, which pioneered the teaching of art history, has produced countless stars of the art and museum world, and whose most famous Director was the fourth man in the infamous Cambridge spy ring.

On the 15th November 1979, Anthony Blunt was exposed as a Soviet spy. The former Cambridge don was at the peak of his career as an art historian - he was Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, had received a knighthood, and as director of the Courtauld Institute, had made it one of the most prestigious centres for the study of art history.

The news was greeted with outcry by the public for whom Blunt represented elitism and sordid decadence. Blunt was stripped of his knighthood, hounded by the press, and never returned to the Institute he had dedicated his life to. But to his students, Blunt was a remarkable tutor who had given them their careers, many as staff at the Institute.

Joining Sue around the table is: Booker-prize winning author and past tutor at the Institute, Anita Brookner; Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor; travel-writer Michael Jacobs; founder of the Art Newspaper, Anna Somers Cocks, and the art critic who was a close personal friend of Blunt's, Brian Sewell.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five star pupils of the former spy Anthony Blunt.

The Covid-19 Ward2020123020210102 (R4)
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Kirsty Wark brings together six people who were in the eye of the storm during this year's pandemic.

The poet and author Michael Rosen is reunited with some of the intensive care staff who cared for him during his battle with coronavirus. He has no memory of much of his time in hospital as he was in an induced coma for seven weeks. The staff who looked after him rarely see their patients again once they have been discharged.

For the ICU staff at the Whittington Hospital in north London, the rising tide of infected patients was like 'a tsunami' and the following weeks were like working in 'a warzone'. Michael's consultant, Professor Hugh Montgomery, said that he and his team watched six coffins go out in one morning. Charge nurse Ally Auladin said, 'You'd start your day putting on PPE, then it would be 100mph for the rest of the day.

Senior nurse Jo Eardley said, 'You could work a whole day and not know your patient's name because we didn't have time.' The baffling symptoms of infected patients meant that much of their previous training and experience was useless. Junior doctor Amanda Macaskill Stewart said; 'It's the first time I've worked with a disease that I didn't know about. We were hoping for the best without really knowing.

Michael's wife Emma Williams said that, on the night after Michael was intubated, she feared he may never wake up. As medics worked around the clock to save him, Michael's poem celebrating the NHS took on a new resonance during the pandemic.

For months after his discharge, Michael struggled to make sense of what he had been through. But for Amanda, 'He was truly one of our happy stories.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Michael Rosen and the medical staff who cared for him during his battle with coronavirus.

The Dale Farm Evictions2022042420220429 (R4)Kirsty Wark reunites key people involved in the 2011 evictions from Dale Farm, Essex, one of the biggest Gypsy and Traveller sites in the UK.

In 1996, one Irish Traveller family legally bought an old scrapyard in the Crays Hill area of Basildon and began living on it, eventually joined by other families. As more families moved in, local tensions grew. And half the residents were on plots with no planning permission, effectively breaking the law by being there.

In an effort to ensure that planning laws were being applied, Basildon Council began a 10-year legal battle to evict the illegal residents of Dale Farm. Yet supporters and residents argued that Gypsy and Traveller families had nowhere else to go.

After taking the case to the High Court, the residents of Dale Farm were evicted on 19th October 2011, leaving almost 1000 people without a home. The police began clearing the site at 7 am, facing serious opposition from activists who had rallied to the site to defend the Travellers' rights. It was fully cleared the following day, at a cost to the taxpayer of over £6.5 million.

Ten years later, the site stands derelict, not returned to greenbelt as promised or developed in any other way.

Kirsty is joined by supporters of the Dale Farm site, including campaigner and member of the Gypsy Council, Candy Sheridan. Journalist Katharine Quarmby has been covering the Dale Farm site since 2006 and is the author of No Place to Call Home, a detailed account of Dale Farm. We hear from a representative of Basildon Council and activist voices, as well as the perspective of those living on the site itself.

Producer: Leonie Thomas

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites those involved in the 2011 Dale Farm eviction.

The Day Today2021081520210820 (R4)Kirsty Wark brings together the cast of comedy show The Day Today. First broadcast in 1994, this six-part series savaged the business of TV news.

Coming off the back of the hugely successful and award-winning Radio 4 comedy On the Hour, Armando Iannucci, Chris Morris and cast brought their characters into the living rooms of millions. There was hapless sports reporter Alan Partridge, Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, Rosy May and the eponymous newsreader and host Chris Morris.

Satirising the form of news presentation, with a groundbreaking use of comedic graphics and music that always went on slightly too long, the joke was always on the pomposity of news and how it was presented.

Armando Iannucci, co-creator (with Chris Morris) and series producer, came up with the concept while on a BBC training course.

Patrick Marber played hapless reporter Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan among other characters.

David Schneider, who was in a double act at university with Armando, contrived the very first early demos and was a regular cast member throughout.

Steve Coogan was drafted in after the initial pilot for On The Hour to help create a realistic sports reporter, who later morphed into Alan Partridge.

Doon Mackichan played multiple characters in The Day Today, as well as shows that followed, such as Brass Eye and Alan Partridge.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Simon Jarvis

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the team behind 90s TV news parody The Day Today.

The Dome2010082220140824/25 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor gathers together the key people responsible for building, co-ordinating and realising the creative concepts that became The Millennium Dome at Greenwich.

Following Labour's landslide election victory in May 1997, the Prime Minister Tony Blair was determined to change the way Britain saw itself and he seized upon the idea - mooted under the outgoing Tory government - to have a major event to celebrate the forthcoming new millennium.

After much discussion and heated argument it was decided to build a dome on the site of a disused gasworks on East London's Greenwich peninsular. It would stage a grand millennium extravaganza and house a year-long exhibition to rival the 1951 Festival of Britain.

It was a hugely controversial decision from the very start, and became a project rife with argument, sackings and constant flack from the press.

The person who took the brunt of the criticism was Chief Executive Jennie Page, who was eventually sacked - shortly after the opening night. This is the first time she has spoken publically about her personal millennium experience.

Sue also hears some hitherto unreported and little known stories of both the pain and the excitement of life under the Dome.

Sue is joined by:

Jennie Page, the Dome's former Chief Executive.

Mike Davies, the flamboyant architect who designed the Dome structure.

Lord Charles Falconer, the Minister for the Dome who succeeded Peter Mandelson.

Eva Jiricna, designer of the Dome's 'Spirit Zone'.

Peter Higgins, who created the 'Play Zone'.

Producer: Dilly Barlow

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the key players behind the creation of the Millennium Dome.

The Enfield Poltergeist2018040820180413 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites the witnesses of the so called Enfield Poltergeist.

Poltergeist activity was first reported at the Hodgson family's three bedroom North London council house by Woman Police Constable Carolyn Heeps, in August 1977.

Over the next 18 months, over thirty eye witnesses, including neighbours, psychic researchers, several journalists, and the local lollipop lady, said they saw heavy furniture moving of its own accord, objects being thrown across a room, and the daughters seeming to levitate several feet off the ground. Many also heard, and recorded, unexplained knocking noises, and finally a gruff voice claiming to be a 'G.H.O.S.T.

The activity was centred on the two daughters, Janet and Margaret Hodgson, who were then 11 and 14, with Janet acting as the conduit for the mystery voice. It has been described as the most documented paranormal event in Britain, with psychic researcher Maurice Grosse leading the observations.

With both sceptics and believers intrigued by the case, the question still remains - was this a true entity of the unexplained? Or could the activity be blamed on human mischief making?

Joining Sue to discuss, and attempt to explain, what they witnessed are former BBC Radio reporter Roz Morris, who recorded the poltergeist for The World This Weekend; Graham Morris, then of the Daily Mirror, who took a famous series of photographs of the girls levitating; and Richard Grosse who, as a newly qualified solicitor, helped his father cross-examine the Enfield poltergeist.

The programme also features Janet and Margaret Hodgson, the two daughters at the centre of the case, reflecting on events forty years later.

Researcher: Dan Hardoon

Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the witnesses of the so-called Enfield Poltergeist in 1977.

The Eurovision Song Contest2023043020230505 (R4)Once a year, countries across Europe come together for a night of glittery madness known as the Eurovision Song Contest. Running since 1956, the song contest has evolved from a formal affair involving only seven countries into Europe's largest - and campest - election, all while weathering the tumultuous second half of the 20th century.

The early years of the contest laid the foundations for its modern iteration, and were integral to the careers of several stars. In this programme Kirsty Wark reunites Dana, Lulu, Phil Coulter, and Pete Murray, with help from historian Dean Vuletic.

In the 1950s and 60s, Eurovision was populated by native language ballads and besuited diplomats - a far cry from the rock 'n' roll that was dominating the mainstream airwaves. Success at the contest, however, promised the possibility of fame and fortune across the continent.

Phil Coulter wrote the music for Puppet On A String, which became the UK's first winner in 1967, and Lulu built on an established career to win in a controversial four-way tie at the 1969 competition with Boom Bang a Bang. Dana was only 18 when she sang All Kinds of Everything, kicking off Ireland's legendary run of wins at the contest in 1970, and DJ Pete Murray was watching the action from the commentator's box throughout the period. Dean Vuletic provides a rare glimpse into the European Broadcasting Union's archives.

Ahead of this year's competition in Liverpool, our guests discuss the secret formulae of winning Eurovision entries, reflect on how contemporary politics produced voting scandals, and share stories from behind the scenes.

Producer: Rebecca Guthrie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the stars of the early years of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Fast Show2013122520221125 (BBC7)The first episode of BBC TV's The Fast Show in 1994 had 27 sketches in just half an hour.

Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, former writers for Harry Enfield, created a concept which re-invigorated the sketch show format and crammed it with catch-phrases.

Sue MacGregor brings the cast back together to reflect on the series which launched their careers.

Higson and Whitehouse recruited young stand-up comedians whose worked they liked, such as Caroline Aherne , John Thomson , Simon Day and Felix Dexter, alongside actors such as Mark Williams and Paul Shearer. This process involved each 'auditioning' their proposed character in front of the ensemble.

Competitive Dad, the obscene Suits You tailors, Jazz Club, Does My Bum Look Big in This?, and the touching repressed romance of Ted and Ralph, scored a very high strike rate for introducing catchphrases and comedy characters to schools and work places around the country.

Some characters prompted spin-offs, such as Swiss Tony (Higson) the coiffed car salesman who compares everything to 'making love to a beautiful woman', and football pundit Ron Manager (Whitehouse).

We also hear from collaborators such as Kathy Burke, Harry Enfield, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, as well as TV critic Matthew Norman who wrote a famously fierce review of the first series.

Producer: Peter Curran

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in December 2013.

Sue MacGregor reunites the original creators and cast of BBC TV's The Fast Show.

The Fastnet Race Disaster2015041220150417 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people who experienced the worst disaster in the history of ocean racing - the Fastnet Race of 1979.

It was the race that every ocean going yachtsman aimed to complete at least once in his life-time. A 600 mile course through mercurial tides and dangerous headlands, the Fastnet was the Grand National of ocean racing. In 1979, Former Prime Minister Edward Heath and CNN founder Ted Turner were among the 2,500 competitors.

But as they made good progress around Land's End and up towards the south coast of Ireland, the wind was changing. Described as the storm of the century, Low Y was a depression which swept across the Atlantic gathering force. Fifty foot waves and winds of up to 60 knots took forecasters by surprise and scattered the 300 plus yachts taking part.

Vessels from Holland, France, Ireland and Germany joined British naval and RAF search teams and rescue crews scouring the 20,000 square miles of ocean looking for yachts, life-rafts and bodies.

Unknown terror, selfless bravery and superhuman strength saved most of them, but 15 people perished.

Joining Sue around the table to look back on the wildest and most desperate night in ocean racing history are: Jerry Grayson, the first helicopter pilot sent out to rescue the stricken yachts; Alan Green of the Royal Ocean Yachting Club which organised the race; Nick Ward whose crew-mates abandoned their yacht in a life-raft without him; Christian Schaumloffel who helped rescue Nick; and Stuart Quarrie who was out in the storm with four terrified trainees.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor looks back at the deadliest disaster in the history of ocean racing.

The Final Years Of John Major's Government2023082720230901 (R4)Bitter divisions over Europe, inflation, mad cow disease and sleaze - the final years of John Major's government were one long disaster. Kirsty Wark reunites key figures who were in the thick of it to discuss what went wrong and whether Major could have done more to end the civil war within his party.

The man who had unexpectedly won the 1992 General Election spent much of the rest of that term trying to contain Eurosceptic antipathy, in and outside of the party. The largely loyal press had become increasingly hostile and exposes on the private lives of MPs and financial misdemeanours dominated the front pages.

By 1997, the Conservatives were a minority government and even the PM didn't expect victory in the General Election, but the scale of their defeat by New Labour was crushing.

The guests include Kenneth Clarke, now Lord Clarke, who was made Chancellor of the Exchequer seven months after Black Wednesday and was the party's most prominent Europhile. John Redwood, an arch Eurosceptic, says standing against John Major in the 1995 leadership contest saved the pound. Elinor Goodman was Channel 4's political editor and compares the troubled times of the late 1990s with today's Conservative Government. And Howell James was the Prime Minister's Political Secretary, being called upon to write speeches and advise on crucial decisions. He remembers driving through London with John Major and his family on the night of the 1997 election with `Things Can Only Get Better`, Labour's campaign anthem, ringing out across the River Thames.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Senior politicians relive the final years of John Major's government.

The Food Writers2015082320150828 (R4)Long before the phrase Celebrity Chef, a generation of writers and food experts had a major impact on the way we cooked, ate and thought about food. Mary Berry, Rose Elliot, Prue Leith, Claudia Roden and Katharine Whitehorn join Sue MacGregor to recall the post-war decades of British food.

British food in the 1950s was a 'great plain of desolation', according to the first edition of the Good Food Guide. Fourteen years of austerity under rationing had left their mark on both the skill and the imagination of the ordinary home cook. New arrivals Prue Leith and Claudia Roden found British food disgusting, particularly in restaurants and canteens. Both would go on to influence it for the better.

As a younger generation sought an independent life away from home, Katharine Whitehorn's classic survival manual, Cooking in a Bedsitter, guided them through the problems of, 'cooking at ground level, in a hurry, with nowhere to put the salad but the washing up bowl, which is in any case full of socks.

Elizabeth David introduced a generation of cooks to the smells, taste and lifestyle of the Mediterranean, spawning a design revolution that allowed consumers to get the look at home. Restaurants introduced lighter, fresher ingredients and updated d退cor.

As growing numbers of women went out to work, supermarkets and convenience food made life easier for many. Mary Berry taught readers and viewers of the 1970s and 80s how to make the most of their new freezer. Meanwhile, diners were finally discovering vegetarian food was not just 'a load of old lentils', as Rose Elliot's books reached a new audience seeking a healthier way of eating.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor gathers influential food writers, including Mary Berry and Prue Leith.

The French Resistance2019040720190412 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together members of the French Resistance who fought against Nazi German occupation of France and the collaborationist Vichy regime during the Second World War.

On 18 June 1940, as the French Prime Minister Phillipe P退tain prepared to sign an armistice with the Nazi invaders, General Charles de Gaulle spoke to the French people on the BBC from London asking them to join him in continuing the war.

`You had to be completely insane to believe him at the time,` says John James - then one of 8 million refugees fleeing the advancing German army. `For people like me, to know everything wasn't lost, gave us great hope.`

Hundreds of thousands of people answered de Gaulle's call and joined the French Resistance.

They carried out acts of sabotage against the Nazis and their Vichy allies, published underground pamphlets or offered help to downed allied airmen or the persecuted Jewish population. Over 100,000 members of resistance movements died during the war - some executed, others killed in combat or left to die in camps.

De Gaulle's relationship with the Allies was difficult. London and Washington considered that the liberation was the task of the Allied troops, who would then occupy France under the authority of an allied Military Government that would run the country. De Gaulle and important sections of the Resistance had other ideas.

Sue MacGregor is joined by Marcel Jaurent Singer, a secret agent of the Special Operations Executive set up by Winston Churchill; Rene Marbot, a soldier in de Gaulle's Free French army; John James, a member of a guerrilla fighting unit; Mich耀le Agniel who helped Allied airmen escape to freedom; and historian Matthew Cobb.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor brings together former members of the French Resistance.

The Glastonbury Festival20160828Billed acts bailed out, naked hippies horrified locals, and Hells Angels provided the security. But even then, Michael Eavis knew that the first Glastonbury Festival, held at his dairy farm in Pilton in 1970, was the start of something that would change his life. Sue MacGregor reunites key players from the early days of the festival.

Now Glastonbury is a British institution and the biggest festival of its kind in the world. It's a rite of passage for any self-respecting teenage music fan and the acme of many musicians' careers.

At the first Pilton Pop, Blues & Folk Festival, The Kinks were booked to headline but cancelled in disgust after reading that they were to appear at 'a mini festival'. Eavis was delighted when a band called T Rex stepped in to replace them. But a disappointing turn-out left him in the red.

Winston Churchill's debutant turned peacenik granddaughter bankrolled the 1971 'Glastonbury Fayre'. Her entourage of Notting Hill hippies lent it a glamorous air, although the organisers still lost money!

Acts in 1971, included Melanie, veteran of Woodstock and the Isle of Wight festivals, the incendiary Arthur Brown whose dark and theatrical stage act countered the hippies' peace and love aesthetic, and flautist Jessica Stanley Clarke's prog band Marsupilami. Jessica's home in Pilton became the negotiating ground between festival organisers and incensed villagers. Jessica, now Jekka McVicar, is an organic herb grower recently appointed vice-president of the Royal Horticultural Society.

Arthur, Jekka and Melanie are reunited with Michael Eavis and Chris Church, who bunked off school to go to the early festivals.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites key players from the early days of the Glastonbury Festival.

The Gm Crops Debate2020090620200911 (R4)
20211023 (R4)
Those in favour of genetically modified crops saw them as a way to solve the world's food crisis and claimed they could bring about `the biggest revolution of a lifetime`. Others thought that genetic modification went against the laws of nature, and would lead to so-called Frankenstein foods.

It all began in 1994 when the FlavrSavr tomato became the first genetically modified crop to be approved for sale in the US. It eventually made its way to British supermarket shelves in the form of tomato puree, but when campaigners found out they boycotted retailers in an attempt to stop them from stocking it and other products derived from GM crops.

Over a series of months, activists ripped up fields of Government backed trials of GM maize and soya, Prince Charles went head-to-head with the pro-GM establishment, and supermarket chains were forced to reassure the public that they were free from GM `contaminated` products.

Kirsty Wark talks to those at the centre of the debate:

Dame Joan Ruddock sat on the Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

John Gatehouse was a biochemist who helped develop GM.

Tom Sanders was a member of the UK Committee on Novel Foods.

Sue Mayer was the founder of anti-GM organisation, GeneWatch.

Alan Simpson was the Labour MP who clashed with Tony Blair over GM.

Jim Thomas was a young activist with Greenpeace.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark gathers those involved in to the GM crop debate in Britain in 1999.

The Good Friday Agreement2023040920230414 (R4)The Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, was a political deal designed to bring an end to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland.

It was signed on 10 April 1998 and approved by public votes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Jonathan Powell was Chief of Staff to Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. During that time, he was the chief British government negotiator on Northern Ireland.

Monica McWilliams co-founded the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and played an instrumental role in the Multi-Party Peace Talks. She is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly and served as Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

Lord Paul Bew is a life peer and British historian. He served as an adviser to Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble.

Mark Durkan was a member of the Social Democratic and Labour Party negotiating team and went on to lead the SDLP. He is a former MP for Foyle.

Mark Devenport was the BBC's Ireland correspondent when the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated. He covered Northern Ireland for over twenty

years.

Kirsty also speaks to Bertie Ahern who served as Taoiseach between 1997 and 2008 and who jointly negotiated the agreement with Tony Blair.

Producer Charlotte North

Series Producer David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites those who helped to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement.

The Hit Factory2015041920150424 (R4)'I had a vision of Motown-type songs with more modern chords and techno, gay, disco rhythms.'

When pop impresario Pete Waterman suggested collaborating with song-writers and musicians Matt Aitken and Mike Stock in 1985, they had little idea of what an impact they were going to have on the music industry.

Their musical template included a take on 'HI-NRG', a sound that had been particularly popular in gay clubs of the North of England. Waterman was a frequent DJ at the clubs and was well acquainted with the dance-floor lights that were triggered by the sounds of the particular record being played.

When one of our records came on, it was louder than the previous one and the lights would go off like fireworks' says Waterman.

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)' by Dead or Alive, reached number one in December 1984 and the writing, production and management trio had hits with Bananarama, Donna Summer, and Divine - but their real achievement was in breaking the careers of new artists like Rick Astley, Sonia, Sinitta, and Mel and Kim. The triumph was in spotting that two stars of a cult Australian TV soap could become pop giants. Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue, both together and separately, would go on to top charts around the globe.

Sue MacGregor is joined by Sinitta and Jason Donovan, together with Pete Waterman and recording engineer Phil Harding, to re-live the days when their unique sound ruled the airwaves.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the pop hitmakers of the 1980s.

The Hunting Ban2011090420110909 (R4)In 1997 Labour came to power with a promise to ban hunting with dogs, and thousands of rural people rose up to oppose them. Sue MacGregor reunites five people from both sides of the campaign.

Within weeks of entering parliament, the new Labour government had locked horns with the countryside. The party that had come to power promising to govern for the whole nation, had managed to alienate great swathes of the rural population who demanded recognition.

At the heart of it all was a battle over hunting with hounds. For many in rural Britain this represented a way of life they'd known for centuries, and for others, their livelihood.

For many in the urban population, Labour's victory was a chance to finally kill off what they saw as an arcane and cruel pastime. They had the backing of a vocal animal rights lobby and a Labour manifesto pledge to give MPs a free vote on the issue.

The result was a battle that took the government by surprise. The countryside rose up and demonstrated like never before. Not since the Tolpuddle Martyrs in the 1830s had an issue brought so many on to the streets of London to protest. As parliament witnessed heated debates, angry demonstrations outside turned bloody. Thousands of previously law-abiding people threatened civil disobedience, as MPs and anti-hunt campaigners received death threats and dead foxes on their doorsteps.

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people on opposite sides of the campaign to ban hunting.

The Hutton Inquiry2013050520130510 (R4)On 29 May 2003, the Today programme broadcast a report criticising the government's use of intelligence in the lead up to war with Iraq.

At the heart of the report was the allegation that Number 10 had 'sexed up' an intelligence dossier to make a more convincing case for war. More specifically, that the government probably knew that one of the key claims in the dossier was wrong before they put it in: the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction that could be 'ready within 45 minutes of an order to use them'.

The government, and specifically Director of Communications, Alastair Campbell, were furious. The row that followed was one of the bitterest in BBC history, and was fuelled in part by the death of the story's source, government scientist, David Kelly. The Hutton Inquiry was set up to establish what went wrong and exposed the inner workings of the BBC, secret services, civil service and government machinery. Its findings, when published in January 2004, caused reverberations throughout the British establishment.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of the people who were caught up in that row: Andrew Gilligan, the Today programme reporter whose broadcast was the cause of the argument; Geoff Hoon, Defence Secretary, who was accused of leaking David Kelly's name as the source of the story; Tom Kelly, who as Tony Blair's spokesman was at the heart of the storm and Greg Dyke, who resigned as Director General when Hutton's conclusions were so critical of the BBC.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon and Kate Taylor

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor's guests recall the Hutton Inquiry and the BBC's bitter row with government.

The Kennedy Assassination2013090120130906 (R4)On the 22nd of November 1963, President John F. Kennedy was campaigning in Texas. That morning, Air Force One touched down at Dallas Love Field Airport. The President and First Lady waved to jubilant crowds that watched the motorcade move through downtown Dallas.

In Dealey Plaza, Kennedy was shot in the head by an assassin's bullet. Less than half an hour after the shooting, 75 million Americans had heard the news. President Kennedy was declared dead at 1pm, Dallas time.

Within three chaotic days, three murders rocked the city of Dallas. After President Kennedy, police officer J.D. Tippit was shot and killed by the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, who himself was later fatally shot on live television.

In this special 100th edition of The Reunion recorded in Dallas, Sue MacGregor reunites five people who were intimately connected to the events surrounding the Kennedy assassination: Clint Hill, the former Secret Service agent who frantically climbed up the back of the presidential limousine as the shots rang out; Gayle Newman, who stood with her young family in Dealey Plaza and became one of the closest eyewitnesses; Hugh Aynesworth, then of the Dallas Morning News, who reported on the events in November 1963, Kenneth Salyer, who was part of the medical team at Parkland Hospital, desperately trying to revive the President; and James Leavelle, retired Dallas Homicide Detective, who was famously handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot by Jack Ruby.

Producer: Colin McNulty

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

In the 100th edition from Dallas, Sue MacGregor and guests recall the JFK assassination

The Last Debutantes, 19582007040820140720/21 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor reunites society girls, now in their 60s and 70s.

New series 1/5. The series in which Sue MacGregor plays host to a group of people who were part of a unifying force or landmark event in history begins with her reuniting a group of women, now in their 60s ana 705, who talk about being part of a British institution that died out in 1958: the debutantes.

Producer Emily Williams Repeated on Friday at 9am

The Launch Of Private Eye20160904Sue MacGregor brings together the group of cartoonists and writers responsible for the launch of Private Eye magazine.

On 25th October 1961 a scrappy magazine containing six pages of jokes and cartoons, printed on yellow paper, appeared in coffee shops in London's South Kensington. More than fifty years on Private Eye, is Britain's bestselling current-affairs magazine and copies of the rare first edition, which cost sixpence, are now worth over a thousand pounds.

In the beginning, if we had an aim, it was to provide an alternative to Punch, which was then like the Bank of England,' says the Eye's former editor Richard Ingrams.

Private Eye's early covers had great shock value. Gerald Scarfe made his name there, depicting Harold Macmillan posing naked in the chair associated with Profumo Affair model Christine Keeler. He later drew Harold Wilson kneeling behind Lyndon B Johnson in support of the Vietnam War, pulling down the president's trousers and licking his bottom.

The magazine quickly built a reputation for breaking stories that other papers would not print, taking on the rich and powerful and risking expensive libel actions that threatened to close the magazine down.

Reunited to look back on the launch and development of Private Eye are its two first editors Christopher Booker and Richard Ingrams, long time cartoonists Barry Fantoni and Gerald Scarfe, and publisher Peter Usborne.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together the satirists who launched Private Eye magazine in 1961.

The Litvinenko Poisoning2021041820210423/24 (R4)Kirsty Wark and guests recall the poisoning and death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

For many, it's a photo of the Russian exile that's best remembered - it showed him lying in a bed at London's University College Hospital. His hair had fallen out, his skin had lost its colour and pain ravaged his face as he lay fighting for life. Litvinenko was a former KGB and later FSB Russian officer and long-time political opponent of Vladimir Putin's Kremlin who now lived in exile in the UK.

He was the author of Blowing Up Russia, a book that claimed the FSB was behind a series of apartment block bombings in Moscow in September 1999. It is reported to have enraged his former boss, Vladimir Putin. Litvinenko had fallen victim to the deadliest poison known to man where just one millionth of a gram is enough to kill. The casual manner that it had been carried around London's hotels and restaurants by his attackers led to widespread panic and fears of radiological contamination in the capital.

Whoever set out to kill Litvinenko would have expected him to die in a few days and the poison never be discovered. But he clung onto life for 23 days - giving doctors and Scotland Yard the vital time needed to discover the truth. The murder led to a breakdown in relations between Britain and Russia and political indecision saw it take almost ten years for an inquiry to be held.

Joining Kirsty Wark to recall the events of that time are Alex Goldfarb, family friend of the Litvinenko's and political campaigner; Sir Ken MacDonald, at the time Director of Public Prosecutions of England and Wales; Brent Hyatt, a Scotland Yard officer who interviewed Litvinenko; Yevgeny Kanevsky, who followed the story for the BBC World Service's Russian Service; and, Marina Litvinenko - Alexander Litvinenko's widow.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark's guests recall the poisoning of Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

The Lockerbie Bombing2023082020230825 (R4)Not a single person in Lockerbie forgets where they were on 21 December 1988 - the day which shattered their community.

Shortly after 7pm, while Pan Am Flight 103 was in flight over the Scottish town, it was destroyed by a bomb that had been planted on board, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew.

Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto the town below, killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United Kingdom, as well as the UK's deadliest aviation disaster ever.

The bombing sparked international outrage. In response the families of the victims campaigned for the perpetrators to be prosecuted.

In 2003, leader Muammar Gaddafi accepted Libya's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims, although he maintained that he had never given the order for the attack. But doubts about the perpetrator of the crime persist today.

Kirsty Wark was one of the first reporters on the scene in 1988. In an emotional episode of The Reunion, Kirsty brings together the families and emergency workers who were caught up in the tragic events of the Lockerbie bombing.

We hear from Colin Dorrance, who was an eighteen-year-old officer with the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and was one of the first officers on the scene, and Les Gracie, who was a firefighter with Dumfries and Galloway Brigade. Also on the programme are Marjorie McQueen, a local Lockerbie resident, Annie Lareau, a former student at Syracuse University, whose friends were on flight Pan Am 103, and David Wilson, a Lockerbie resident who was a member of the local Council in 1988.

Producer: Charlotte North

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The tragic events of the Lockerbie bombing are recalled with Kirsty Wark.

The Maidan Uprising2022091620221015 (R4)In November 2013, a mass protest began in Kyiv's central square that would have a profound impact on Ukraine for years to come. The target was President Viktor Yanukovych and his culture of corruption. Nine years earlier, he'd been thrown out of office after rigging an election, but after 3 years back in power, he'd built up a vast personal estate on the outskirts of the city with golf course, private zoo and a full-size replica of a Spanish galleon.

But his perceived ties with Russia were the real problem and they stood in the way of a historic economic agreement with Europe that had been 20 years in the making. Thousands filled Kyiv's central Square - the Maidan. On social media, they called their protest the `Euro-Maidan` and it was a name that stuck.

But what started as a peaceful protest turned shockingly violent. Sticks and stones became Molotov cocktails, stun grenades and tear gas, rubber bullets were replaced by the real thing.

Kirsty Wark is joined by five people who were there. Hanna Hopko was a representative of the Maidan Public Sector. She addressed the crowds and attended to the wounded in St. Michael's Cathedral. Valentin Nalivaichenko was a former Head of the secret service. Arseniy Yatsenyuk was the leader of one of the opposition parties who became a leader of the protests (and later Ukraine's Prime Minister). Yaroslav Hrytsak was a historian who observed the protests at first hand and was often interviewed on radio and television and Gabriel Gatehouse was a BBC Correspondent who covered the protests from the start.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Nina Bielova

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the dramatic events of Ukraine's Maidan uprising of 2013.

The Maze Prison2010041820100423 (R4)Sue MacGregor is in Belfast to meet prisoners, staff and negotiators who were involved in the Maze Prison hunger strikes of the early 1980s.

From its earliest days, the Maze Prison was like no other penal institution. Its prisoners, mainly locked up for involvement in 'The Troubles', saw themselves as prisoners of war rather than criminal offenders, and were given a lot of freedom to run their own lives. But a change in government policy sought to address that. The paramilitaries were to be treated like 'ordinary decent criminals', wearing prison uniform and conforming to prison rules. The prisoners and their supporters were outraged, launching a campaign that resulted in ten men starving themselves to death. Many more were to die in riots and revenge attacks outside the prison.

Two former Republican prisoners who survived the hunger strikes, Raymond McCartney and Pat Sheehan, join Loyalist prisoner Billy McQuiston and prison officer Des Waterworth to recall the fight for political status. Also joining Sue round the table is Father Oliver Crilly, who tried to negotiate an end to the protest and whose two cousins died in it, and journalist Chris Ryder.

The hunger strikes are largely regarded as a major turning point in Northern Ireland's political history. The first man to die, Bobby Sands, attracted worldwide attention when he was elected to Westminster from his prison hospital bed. But the wounds of the battle are still raw today with questions remaining over whether more deaths could have been avoided.

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4. The producer is Deborah Dudgeon.

Sue MacGregor reunites some of those involved in the Maze Prison hunger strikes.

The Mclibel Trial2022041020220415 (R4)It was in 1994 that McDonald's began a libel case against a postman and gardener from London. It took a decade for the case to be resolved, making it the longest-running libel case in English legal history.

In the late 1980s, Helen Steel and Dave Morris were active campaigners for a group called London Greenpeace and had distributed a leaflet that questioned the fast-food giants' claims that their burgers were both healthy and good for the environment.

McDonald's took offence and began a case against these, and other claims, made in the leaflet. The pair were unable to get legal aid and so faced the prospect of having to represent themselves in court. Keir Starmer was a young lawyer at the time and was keen to help - offering his advice for free.

The initial ruling in the High Court went in part against Steel and Morris and they were told to pay £40,000 damages. But by 2005 the pair had won their appeal to the European Court for Human Rights - and McDonald's faced a PR disaster.

Joining Kirsty Wark are the `McLibel Two`, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, along with Timothy Atkinson who was part of McDonald's legal team, and film maker Franny Armstrong who spent a decade following the case.

Excerpts from 'McLibel', courtesy of Spanner Films.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the 1990s decade-long libel case involving McDonald's.

The Miners' Strike2014040620140411 (R4)When five hundred Yorkshire miners at Cortonwood Colliery downed tools on 5th March 1984, they set in train events that would lead to the longest and most bitter industrial dispute in British history.

The Miners' Strike that followed would set miner against miner and transform quiet pit communities into battlefields, as thousands of riot police attempted to defend the right to work. The next twelve months of strife would plunge many families into poverty and place a tremendous burden on the country's Exchequer.

On one side of the dispute was the National Union of Mineworkers - victorious over Edward Heath in 1974 and led by the charismatic militant, Arthur Scargill.

Arraigned against them was Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, buoyed by electoral triumph and fully prepared to defend their new vision for Britain against what the Prime Minister called 'the shock troops of the hard left'.

The Miners' Strike still bitterly divides opinion and the legacy of the strike remains a matter of fierce debate between government and miners, and even within the Union itself.

Thirty years on from the start of the strike, those divided by the picket line join Sue MacGregor in The Reunion.

Kim Howells was research officer for the South Wales NUM, Mel Hepworth worked at Askern pit near Doncaster and became a flying picket for much of the strike, Barbara Jackson was one of the organisers of Sheffield Women Against Pit Closures. Ken Clarke was a Health Minister during the strike and his Nottinghamshire constituency included the Cotgrave Colliery, and Bill King of Bedfordshire Police led Police Support Units at the height of the strike.

Producer: Jerome Lyte

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor brings together some of those involved in the miners' strike of 1984-5.

The Murder Of Georgi Markov2018082620180831 (R4)Sue MacGregor and guests recall the murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov on London's Waterloo Bridge.

The assassination of a Bulgarian dissident in 1978 captured headlines around the world. As details of the unconventional murder weapon emerged, the incident soon became infamous as the 'umbrella murder'. It was one of the first in a series of poisonings in the West, attributed to the former Soviet Union.

During the 1960s, Georgi Markov was one of Bulgaria's best-known writers. But in 1969, as party censors clamped down on his work, he defected to the West and settled in London. He began working for the Bulgarian section of the BBC's External Services, but it was his reports for Deutsche Welle and Radio Free Europe, which depicted the reality of life inside communist Bulgaria, that incensed the regime and its leader.

On 7th September 1978, as Georgi Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge between shifts at the BBC, he felt a sudden pain in his right thigh which appeared to have been inflicted by the tip of a stranger's umbrella. That night he developed a fever and four days later he died of unexplained blood poisoning.

It soon emerged that a tiny metal pellet filled with the poison ricin had caused his death. Fingers were immediately pointed at the Bulgarian and Soviet secret services, although the assassin was never identified. Scotland Yard's investigation into his murder remains open.

Joining Sue to look back on this political murder are Peter Udell, Georgi Markov's manager at the BBC; Bernard Riley, the doctor who tried to save him; Rumiana Ebert, a friend and fellow Bulgarian 退migr退; Michael Cockerell, who investigated the case for Panorama; and Markov's brother Nikola, who received warnings that his brother was a target for the Bulgarian regime.

Producer: Dan Hardoon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor and guests recall the umbrella murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov.

The National Lottery2008041320140622/23 (BBC7)
Sue McGregor reunites five people behind Britain's weekly gamble.

'2/5. Sue MacGregor discovers a complex series of relationships, fuelled by accusations of underhand dealings, when she reunites five of the people who were key to the foundation of the National Lottery in the UK. Producer Kevin Dawson Repeated on Friday at 9am'

The Navy Lark2008083120140831 (BBC7)
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Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

She brings together some of the original team behind The Navy Lark, one of the most popular and longest-running radio sitcoms. Participants include June Whitfield, Leslie Phillips, George Evans, Heather Chesen and Tenniel Evans.

Sue MacGregor reunites the crew of HMS Troutbridge. With Leslie Phillips, June Whitfield.

'2/5. The Navy Lark was one of Britain's longest-running radio sitcoms. Some of the talent behind it, including Leslie Phillips , June Whitf ield, George Evans , Heather Chesen and Tenniel Evans , are reunited by Sue MacGregor. Producer Sarah Cuddon Repeated on Friday at 9am'

The Nuclear Submarines2016040320160408 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets the pioneers of Britain's first nuclear submarines.

Fifty years ago, the first all-British designed nuclear submarine HMS Valiant went into service. Known affectionately as 'The Black Pig' for the frequency with which she needed repairs, she featured a revolutionary noise-limiting design that allowed her to hide at sea for long periods, undetected. Valiant paved the way for the Polaris submarines that followed. Based on the Valiant design, they carried Britain's nuclear deterrent underwater for the first time.

Valiant was beaten to sea by another nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought. Although British-built, much of Dreadnought's machinery, including her nuclear reactor, was American - the result of a deal to speed up Britain's nuclear propulsion project and give the Americans a nuclear ally in the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Nuclear technology revolutionised life at sea. Whereas conventional diesel submarines regularly had to surface in order to recharge their batteries and suck in fresh air, nuclear submarines could stay submerged for months, under their own power and creating their own fresh air. Valiant and her successors embarked on Cold War games of cat and mouse, following Soviet ships, and sliding underneath to photograph their hulls or propellers.

Joining Sue to discuss the building and early days of the first British nuclear submarines are six of the men who designed and worked on them - Admiral Peter (SPAM) Hammersley, David Wixon, John Jacobsen, Bas Bowyer, Harry Brazier and Wally Whymark. They recall the early teething problems, life underwater, and Cold War espionage.

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

The Omagh Bombing2014042720140504 (R4)
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The Omagh bomb was the worst massacre in Northern Ireland's modern history. On Saturday the 15th of August a massive bomb placed by the so-called Real IRA killed two unborn twins, six men, twelve women and eleven children. The dead included Protestants, Catholics and a Mormon. The blast wave was so powerful that the bodies of several victims were never found.

The bombing was 'a barbaric act intended to wreck Ireland's aspirations for peace and reconciliation,' said President Clinton who came to walk amongst the wreckage. Only four months earlier Northern Ireland's main political parties had signed up to the Good Friday agreement, power sharing was on its way and the Provisional IRA was on ceasefire.

No one has ever been convicted in connection with the massacre at Omagh but in April 2014, Seamus Daly was arrested and charged with 29 counts of murder over the attack.

The 43-year-old bricklayer, originally from Culloville, County Monaghan, but now residing in Jonesborough, County Armagh, also faces counts of causing the explosion in Omagh and possession of a bomb in the County Tyrone market town with intent to endanger life or property.

In this episode of The Reunion, recorded shortly before charges were brought against Daly, Sue MacGregor is joined by Kevin Skelton whose wife Mena was killed by the bomb, Michael Gallagher and Victor Barker whose sons Aiden and James also died, former RUC police constable Richard Scott, and by BBC Northern Ireland's Political Editor Mark Devenport.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

THE REUNION is a Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people whose lives were changed by the Omagh bomb.

The Opening Ceremony Of The London Olympics2022041720220422 (R4)Four years after the UK awkwardly took the baton from Beijing to host the Olympic Games in a London bus, many in the UK were braced for an embarrassing opening ceremony at London 2012. The media fed public cynicism with speculation of a ‘Teletubbyland' style event. Meanwhile, the UK was experiencing its wettest summer in 100 years.

Despite this, curiosity was intense - photographers climbed trees around outdoor rehearsals in Dagenham where 15,000 volunteers practised in the rain, and helicopters were sent over the Olympic Park to catch glimpses of the preparations.

Amid the sneers and speculation, there was a dedicated band of creative visionaries, production masterminds, arch negotiators and loyal, passionate volunteers who were committed to making London 2012's opening ceremony a success.

What was to unfold before peoples' eyes on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 - both in the stadium and for the millions watching on TV around the world - would turn expectations on their head and inspire the British press to declare it The Greatest Show on Earth.

How was this vision conceived, how was it executed and how did it stay a secret? Kirsty Wark is joined by those at the heart of this landmark event that stunned everyone with its vision of the UK - executive producer Stephen Daldry, designer Suttirat Larlarb, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, production stage manager Sam Hunter, and volunteer Rex Osafo-Asare.

Producer: Ruth Abrahams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites the team behind the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony.

The Pioneers Of Women's Football2021082920210903 (R4)
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Women have played football for as long as football has been around with the modern game being codified by the FA in 1863.

But it was the First World War and the formation of team from a munitions factory in Preston known as the Dick Kerr Ladies that really drew in the crowds - one game in 1920 attracted 53,000.

But the women's game was considered to be un-ladylike and seen as unfair competition for the men's game and so the FA brought in a ban in 1921.

It was to last almost 50 years.

But pressure from within saw it abolished and in November 1972 the women's game flourished with the staging of the first international match when England played Scotland in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Greenock. More international games followed, with the Wales FA staging their first international in 1973.

These early pioneers helped lay the foundation of the successful professional women's game we see today.

Joining Kirsty Wark are England player Patricia Gregory and Scotland's Elsie Cook who co-organised that first international; Margaret Rae, Scotland‘s captain from 1972 onwards; Michelle Adams, who was Wales youngest player aged just 15 in 1973 and went on to get an MBE for her contribution to women's football; Rose Reilly who played for both Scotland and Italy; and Sue Whyatt who was England's goalkeeper beginning with the return England v Scotland international in 1973.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Pioneering women's footballers recall the end of their 50 year ban.

The Rise And Fall Of The Sdp2018081220180817 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites the Labour rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981.

Launched on a wave of euphoria, the SDP aroused the hopes and enthusiasm of millions of people in the early 80s. Promising to break the mould of British politics, its leaders, the gang of four - Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers, were some of the most respected figures in British public life.

Then, as now, British politics was in a state of flux. Margaret Thatcher was an inexperienced prime minister. Her austere economic and public spending policies seemed disastrous. The Labour party should have been demolishing her but was becoming an unmanageable cauldron of left-wing and centrist factions, ineffectually led by Michael Foot who was pledged to unilateralism, and leaving NATO and the EU.

The SDP, in alliance with the Liberals, soared to an astonishing 50% in the polls. But despite the defection of 28 Labour party MPs - the largest parliamentary defection since 1886 when the Liberals had split over Ireland - the alliance disintegrated amidst acrimony and bitter in-fighting by the autumn of 1987. David Owen and Bill Rodgers didn't speak for seventeen years.

Now they, and Shirley Williams, join Sue MacGregor around the table - along with the SDP's former chief exec Dick Newby and defecting Labour MP Mike Thomas - to chronicle the party's short but turbulent history and analyse the reasons for its early success and its ultimate demise.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

The Romanian Orphanages2021042520210430 (R4)
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Kirsty Wark brings together a group of people whose lives were changed by the discovery of long neglected orphanages in Romania in 1990.

It was a revolution triggered by the fall of the Berlin Wall a few weeks earlier. On Christmas Day 1989, Nicolae Ceacescu, the communist leader of Romania was overthrown and executed, along with his wife Elena. A few days later, western journalists started to discover abandoned children living in horrifying conditions in orphanages throughout the country. They were often run down, providing inadequate, verging on squalid, living conditions.

For many years, the state policy in communist Romania was to encourage large families. However, as the economic situation worsened, many Romanians struggled to make ends meet and over 100,000 children were abandoned and given to state orphanages to look after.

Joining Kirsty are the presenter of Challenge Anneka, Anneka Rice, whose programme followed the restoration of a children's orphanage, the former teacher Monica McDaid who first inspired the programme and now lives and works in Romania, Jane Nicholson founder of the Romanian orphanage charity FARA, Mark Cook of Hope & Homes for Children, Iuliana Georgiana who was taken in by an orphanage in Buftea when she was 7 years old, and Alexandra Smart who was abandoned as a baby and grew up in Bucharest's notorious `Number 1` orphanage before being adopted as a two year-old and brought to Britain in 1990.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Emma Jarvis

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark and guests recall the discovery of long-neglected Romanian orphanages in 1990.

The Scottish Parliament2019042820190503 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together those who campaigned for and then secured a Scottish Parliament - the first in the country for almost 300 years, since the Acts of Union in 1707.

It was the election of Tony Blair in 1997 that saw the UK Government publish a white paper on Scottish devolution, proposing the creation of a Parliament for Scotland.

On September 11th of that year, a referendum was put to the Scottish electorate and 74% voted yes.

A little under two years later, on May 6th 1999, voters elected 129 MSPs. No overall party won and so Scottish Labour led by First Minister Donald Dewar and the Scottish Lib Dems led by Jim Wallace entered tricky discussions on forming a coalition. The SNP became the official opposition.

The Scottish Parliament has gone on to have its fair share of tribulations with the death of Donald Dewar in October 2000, the resignation of his successor Henry McLeish just a year later, and escalating building costs of the Parliament's new home at Holyrood.

Guests joining Sue to look back on the opening of the parliament include former First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish, special adviser to Donald Dewar, Labour MSP Wendy Alexander, the leader of the Scottish Lib-Dems Jim Wallace, the SNP's Roseanna Cunningham and the Parliament's first Presiding Officer, David Steel.

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor brings together those who campaigned for and secured a Scottish Parliament.

The Silver Jubilee2022050120220506 (R4)Kirsty Wark reunites key people involved in The Queen's silver jubilee of 1977 when communities were alive with streets parties and the nation turned red, white and blue.

The late '70s, industrial unrest continued to rumble, inflation was at 15% and the dole queue was long. What the nation needed was a huge party. At the start of the year, the appetite for celebrations was underwhelming. But in the spring of 1977, the Queen embarked on a huge tour of the commonwealth, visiting 36 countries including all four corners of the United Kingdom and getting the public in the mood for a summer of celebrations.

Elsewhere, anti-royalists staged their own spectacles including the notorious punk band the Sex Pistols who performed their hit record God Save The Queen on a boat which sailed past the Houses of Parliament. They were eventually stopped in their tracks by the police.

Kirsty is joined by veteran Royal commentator Dickie Arbiter who describes the `electric` atmosphere on The Mall, where thousands had camped out overnight to get a better view as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh passed by in the Golden State Coach. Royal biographer Hugo Vickers describes how he worked in the office of the London Celebrations Committee which set in motion local street parties and glamorous cultural events. Mary Pearson, whose father Sir Martin Charteris was the Queen's Private Secretary, attended many of those events and sat of the wall of Clarence House gardens to watch the Queen process through the crowds to a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites people involved in celebrations for the Queen's silver jubilee.

The Sun Newspaper2014082420140829 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites journalists working on The Sun newspaper in the 1980s to consider how it revolutionised our news.

In November 1969, the presses rolled on a new tabloid that would change Britain forever. 'Does your daily paper bore the pants off you?' asked the television advertisement, 'Then wake up with The Sun'. The paper was to be a combination of sex, sport and contests - according to its young proprietor Rupert Murdoch. This simple formula had shocked many in his native Australia but made Murdoch a fortune. Fleet Street critics were scathing, but the paper's young working class readership lapped up the scandal.

From day one, The Sun chose sex as the battleground for the coming circulation war with its rivals. Girly pictures were a standard element in tabloids at that time and usually came with spurious fashion features or stories. But The Sun boldly dispensed with those. The regular, topless Page Three features started on the paper's first anniversary.

In the 1980s, with Editor Kelvin Mackenzie at the helm, the paper carved out a position as strident, campaigning, anti-establishment and hugely profitable. His style was epitomised by outrageous headlines such as 'Freddie Starr ate My Hamster', 'Gotcha' after the sinking of the Belgrano and 'It Was The Sun Wot Won It' after the Conservative Party election victory in 1992. Rupert Murdoch referred to him affectionately as 'my little Hitler'.

Joining Sue around the table to look back on the meteoric rise of the paper are five journalists who were there, including legendary news editor Tom Petrie, Harry Arnold the Royal Correspondent and Wendy Henry who later went on to become editor of the Sun's sister paper The News of the World.

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor looks back at the phenomenal rise of the Sun newspaper in the 1980s.

The Trial Of The Mangrove Nine2021090520210910 (R4)Kirsty Wark reunites a group of people involved in the trial of the Mangrove Nine in 1971.

The Mangrove Nine were a group of British black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, west London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved various challenges by the Nine to the legitimacy of the British judicial process. They were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.

Joining Kirsty are five people who were caught up in the events of that time, and the trial of the Mangrove Nine that followed.

Clive Phillip took part in the protests and was a close friend of the Mangrove's owner Frank Crichlow, Desmond Gittens ran the neighbouring Black People's Information Centre alongside Rhodan Gordan, one of the Mangrove Nine defendants, Desmond's daughter Aisha Gittens knew many of the defendants well.

Farrukh Dhondy attended the trial and compiled a daily newsletter for the British Black Panther Movement, and Education Campaigner Gus John was then a youth worker in neighbouring Westbourne Grove and a frequent visitor to The Mangrove.

Producers: Olateju Adeleye and Rosemary Laryea

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites those involved in the trial of the Mangrove Nine in 1971.

The Vietnamese Boat People2017040220170407 (R4)Sue McGregor reunites four Vietnamese refugees and one of the men who rescued them from their sinking fishing boat in 1978.

On the evening of 1st October 1978, a British cargo ship, MV Wellpark, spotted a distress flare 120 miles off-land in the South China Sea. When the crew went to investigate, they found 346 Vietnamese refugees crowded onto a sinking, rudderless fishing vessel. In a daring rescue that lasted many hours in very rough seas, every single passenger was saved and eventually given refuge in Britain.

Around 800,000 people are believed to have fled Vietnam by boat in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. They were escaping a repressive regime under the new Communist Government, but many didn't survive the journey.

Some were refused permission to land by neighbouring countries who couldn't cope with the exodus, others were attacked by pirates or sank in vessels unfit for the high seas. In 1979 the United Nations declared the plight of the Vietnamese Boat People 'a grave crisis' and urged the international community to take the refugees in.

Sue MacGregor is joined by the Wellpark's Training Officer, Graham MacQueen and four of the refugees he helped rescue - Dr Philip Huynh, Diep Quan, Dao Nguyen and James Huynh.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites four of the Vietnamese Boat People with one of their rescuers.

The Wapping Dispute2017082020170825 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together trades unionists and editors from opposing sides of one of the most bitter strikes in British industrial history - the Wapping Dispute.

In the early 1980s, working on newspaper presses was noisy, dirty and dangerous. Machine minders suffered lung and hearing problems. But their wages and the camaraderie went a long way to compensate.

Rupert Murdoch owned The Sun, The News of the World, The Times and the Sunday Times and planned to move them all out of Fleet Street to Wapping in London's Docklands. The move was predicated on thousands of jobs losses and stringent new conditions for those remaining in post. Negotiations stalled, leading to the sacking of 5,500 workers and a 13 month dispute.

Discussing the events are Charlie Wilson, editor of The Times, who was dubbed 'Scabbie Jock' by union members. He says they created a miserable and unhelpful atmosphere at his paper. Kelvin MacKenzie was the notorious editor of The Sun but bowed to union demands when they refused to print stories that offended their politics.

Baroness Brenda Dean was the General Secretary of the SOGAT union. She witnessed violence between police and demonstrators and had £10,000 of union funds sequestrated by News International. Marie Alvarado was a clerical worker for The Times and, like most of her colleagues, had no idea about Wapping almost until she went on strike. Paul King was a machine minder at The Sun. He was charged with assaulting a police officer, which he denied. He says the dispute led to the deaths of several colleagues.

With thanks to Linda Melvern's Wapping Archive.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people from opposing sides of the 1980s Wapping dispute.

The Yorkshire Ripper Investigation2016082120160826 (R4)Sue MacGregor meets detectives and a journalist involved in the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, the biggest criminal investigation in British history at the time.

In 1975, a series of murders began in Leeds that would soon stretch to Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax and Manchester. It would take more than five years for police to finally arrest Peter Sutcliffe, a Bradford lorry driver, whose brutal attacks on women claimed at least 13 lives and left many others permanently injured. The failure to catch the killer attracted widespread criticism.

Four former detectives join Sue MacGregor to remember the investigation. John Domaille was a senior officer who later became Assistant Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police; Andy Laptew was a junior detective who interviewed Peter Sutcliffe and flagged him up as a serious suspect, but whose warnings fell on deaf ears; Elaine Benson was a rare female detective who worked in the incident room and interviewed suspects; and David Zackrisson investigated the 'Wearside Jack' tape and letters in Sunderland, a disastrous red herring from a man claiming to be the killer that later turned out to be a hoax. Christa Ackroyd was then a local journalist in Halifax, who remembers the impact the killings had on women living in the North of England.

Producer: Deborah Dudgeon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Former detectives remember the five-year hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper.

The Young Ones2018042920221111 (BBC7)
Sue MacGregor reunites five people who made their names in the ground-breaking BBC TV comedy THE YOUNG ONES.

In the early 1980s, the most popular TV comedies were cosy sitcoms like To The Manor Born and Last of the Summer Wine. Live stand-up comedy was largely confined to working men's clubs and seaside resorts. Mother-in-law and Irish gags were still a staple.

But, in the backroom of a London Soho strip club, an underground venue called The Comic Strip emerged. The non-sexist, anti-racist but violent and bolshy acts drew a fashionable crowd. Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman were among the stars in the audience.

TV producers drew from the performers they saw there for the casting of The Young Ones. The bunch of loud-mouthed scruff bags thrown together as housemates in grotty, tumbledown digs, really broke the mould.

When The Young Ones was first aired in November 1982, ratings were pitiful. But before long, the show, with its wild slapstick and surreal twists, soon won a dedicated following.

Within six months, a second series was on TV and the team had a BAFTA award for their mantelpiece.

Like the British classic Fawlty Towers, the team decided that The Young Ones should only run for 12 episodes. By then, everyone involved had made their name and alternative comedy became the TV phenomenon of the decade.

Joining Sue MacGregor:

* Actor Nigel Planer who played depressed musician Neil

* Chris Ryan who played Mike 'The Cool Person

* Alexei Sayle who played members of the Balowski family

* Lise Mayer - co-writer with Ben Elton and her then partner Rik Mayall

* Stephen Frost who played a number of roles across both series

Producer: Karen Pirie

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2018.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people from the ground-breaking 80s TV comedy The Young Ones.

Tiananmen Square Protests2021082220210827 (R4)Kirsty Wark reunites eyewitnesses to the June 4 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by students and residents in Beijing.

Hundreds of people were killed and many more wounded when People's Liberation Army units rolled into Tiananmen Square, ending more than seven weeks of peaceful protests seeking political reform.

The cataclysmic chain of events began with the death of Hu Yaobang. The former general secretary of the Communist Party was a reformist and his liberal views were despised by party hardliners. Thousands of students occupied Tiananmen Square which was soon covered with a jumble of flags and banners calling for democracy. They staged sit-ins and went on hunger strikes demanding dialogue with political leaders. Art students rolled a replica of New York's Statue of Liberty, about 10 metres tall, onto the square.

The weeks of demonstrations left the Chinese Communist Party dangerously divided. A night and a day of bloodshed, as the army opened fire in central Beijing, left the party's reputation in tatters. The arrests and recriminations continued for more than a year.

James Miles was the BBC's Beijing correspondent reporting from the streets; author Diane Wei Ling climbed onto the tanks to try and negotiate with the soldiers. Student leader Zhou Fenghsou was arrested and spent a year in prison. Wuer Kaixi, number two on the most wanted list, made a dramatic escape to the west with the help of Jean-Pierre Montagne, the French deputy consulate in Hong-Kong who was part of a secret underground railway which helped 130 dissidents avoid capture by the Chinese government in the months following June 4.

Presenter: Kirsty Wark

Producer: Emily Williams

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites witnesses to what happened in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

Tonight Programme20100502In the fourth programme of the BBC Radio 4 spring series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor revisits the Dunblane Primary School shootings in 1996.

On the morning of March 13, Thomas Hamilton, armed with four handguns and 700 rounds of ammunition, killed 16 school children and their teacher, and wounded many more in an attack that lasted three minutes before finally turning the gun on himself.

Dunblane's community was shattered in an instant and immediately thrust into the media spotlight. Messages of support flooded in from all over the world.

The shootings sparked a massive call for tighter gun controls. The Snowdrop Campaign, set up by Dunblane residents, was successful in achieving a change in the law in 1997, making it illegal to buy or possess handguns.

Sue is joined around the table by school teacher Eileen Harrild, who was Hamilton's first target in the school gymnasium, but despite being shot four times survived the attack; bereaved parents Mick North and Pam Ross, whose respective five-year-old daughters Sophie and Joanna were killed; social worker Marie Sinclair, who counselled some of the grieving parents, and Sunday Times writer Jenny Shields, who wrote about Dunblane and its consequences and accompanied gun control campaigners on their protests.

Producers: Chris Green and David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the team behind the pioneering BBC Tonight programme.

Transglobe Expedition2008082420080829 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five people who were involved in a truly epic expedition.

1/5. Sue MacGregor gathers together five people who were involved in an epic expedition, the first ever circumnavigation ot the globe, via the North and South Poles.

Producer Kevin Dawson Repeated on Friday at 9am Radio features: pages 110-111

Tv-am2006091720140713/14 (BBC7)Sue MacGregor reunites some of the men from ITV's first breakfast service.

3/4. TV-am. Sue MacGregor re-unites key members of the launch team for Britain's first ever commercial breakfast

TV station: former TV-am chairman Peter Jay ; David Frost one of the Famous Five presenters; shareholder

Jonathan Aitken ; Nick Owen , who began on the sports desk; ana

Greg Dyke , the man credited with turning the station around. Producer Emily Williams Repeated on Friday at 9am

Ugandan Asians2012082620120831 (R4)Sue MacGregor gathers together a group of Asians who were forced to flee from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972.

Manzoor Moghal was a businessman and a prominent member of the Asian community when he was forced to leave; Tahera Aanchawan was training to become a physiotherapist; Councillor Ravi Govindia, now leader of Wandsworth Council, was completing his A levels; Chandrika Joshi, now a dentist, was 14 years old when her family were expelled; and the writer and broadcaster Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was a young student at the time.

Asians had first arrived in Uganda in the late 19th century under British colonial rule. They prospered in trade, business and the professions and, by 1972, they were at the centre of the Ugandan economy. But when Amin came to power he declared they were bloodsuckers. He claimed he'd had a dream in which God had ordered him to expel all the Asians from Uganda. He stated Britain should take responsibility for any Asian with British citizenship and gave them 90 days to leave.

As the Asians made urgent plans, stories emerged of looting and attacks by Amin's army. Houses and shops were abandoned. Each family was allowed to take just £50 in cash and two suitcases with them.

British Prime Minister Edward Heath agreed Britain should accept all those with British passports. A resettlement board was set up to help the Asians find accommodation, but many faced hostility from those supporting Enoch Powell's anti-immigration campaign. Despite often high levels of education, they were forced to take whatever work they could find. Many took factory jobs and others started their own businesses but, in the next few years, the Ugandan Asians changed the face of urban Britain.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites a group of Asians who were expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972

Unhcr Bosnia2011030620110311 (R4)In this episode of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor gathers together six people who were closely connected to the humanitarian aid operation in Bosnia during the war of 1992 to 1995.

This was the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War 2. Atrocity after atrocity stirred public opinion to demand action but this was seen as a civil war to which there was no easy military solution. The most the international community could agree to start with was a mission to deliver humanitarian aid.

The relief organisation which found itself at the centre of the crisis was the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. The operation in Bosnia was one of the most complex and risky they'd ever undertaken.

More than two million people were displaced during the conflict by what became known as 'ethnic cleansing.' Many suffered starvation or rape and were forced into concentration camps. Others were massacred. Supplies of food, fuel, medicine, clothes and shelter were critical.

But the conditions under which aid workers were operating were exceptional. In the long term their experience in Bosnia would have an unprecedented impact on the future of the organisation and its way of working.

Sue is joined around the table by; Tony Land, Chief of Operations for the UN refugee agency for much of the war; Larry Hollingworth, was a logistics officer with UNHCR; Amira Sadicovic, worked as UNHCR's external relations officer; Kris Janowski became its longest serving field-worker, Paddy Ashdown was the most prominent British politician to visit Bosnia during that period and Misha Glenny reported from Bosnia for the BBC throughout the war.

Producers: Sarah Cuddon and David Prest

A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites those behind the humanitarian aid operation during the Bosnian war.

Virago Press2020091320200918 (R4)
20211030 (R4)
Kirsty Wark reunites those involved in the founding and early years of the feminist publishing company Virago.

In 1973, a group of women got together to form Virago Press. They wanted a publisher that would publish books for `52 per cent of the population`.

The company's first book was an oral history of an isolated rural East Anglian village. Mary Chamberlain's Fenwomen was denounced by the News of the World for its alleged portrayal of the sex and sleaze of village life.

Virago went on to publish many influential authors including Maya Angelou, Angela Carter, Sheila Rowbotham, Margaret Atwood and Sarah Waters.

It also became known for republishing lost works from women authors of the past under the banner of Virago Modern Classics.

Taking part are Ursula Owen, one of the original founders; Alexandra Pringle, who became Virago's Editorial Director; Lennie Goodings, former publicist, now current chair of Virago; Mary Chamberlain who was the company's first published author with the oral history Fenwomen; and the biographer and critic Hermione Lee who contributed to numerous Virago editions over the years.

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Wark reunites those involved in the early years of feminist publisher Virago.

Wallace And Gromit2014122520141227 (R4)Wallace and Gromit - created by Bristol-based animation company Aardman - have entertained millions, made their Plasticine stars national treasures, won multiple Oscars and boosted sales of Wensleydale cheese.

Sue MacGregor is joined by Aardman founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, producer Carla Shelley, ex-manager Mary Lowance and Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park - as well as the two stars themselves - to recall four decades of comic craft and innovation at Aardman that have left an indelible impression on British cultural life.

Aardman came to prominence with their Plasticine man Morph and went on to create classics, such as Creature Comforts which pioneered the use of real-life interviews as the voices of Aardman's eccentric animal kingdom.

Wallace and Gromit remain firm favourites. Wallace, the eccentric inventor from Wigan who loves cheese, and his silent but very well-read associate, quietly saving the day with a range of facial expressions that have brought comparisons with the great silent star Buster Keaton.

A collaboration with American producers Dreamworks led to the big-budget feature film Chicken Run. And few who saw it will ever forget Wallace's moonlit transformation in The Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Yet there have also been moments of real-life drama, like the huge fire that destroyed many character models, original drawings and sets.

As our guests reveal how they created these extraordinary films and characters, they reflect on the ups and downs of their experiences and look forward to the next chapter of Aardman, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun The Sheep and those characters waiting in the wings.

Produced by David Prest and Peter Curran

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites the creative team behind Wallace and Gromit.

When Rugby Turned Pro20190901Sue MacGregor reunites key figures from the moment amateurism in Rugby Union gave way to a professional game.

Rugby Union was the last of the world's most popular team sports to go professional. By 1995, when other sports saw players being paid six-figure sums annually, Rugby Union players were still officially playing for free.

As Rugby Union grew, maintaining amateur regulations from the 19th century across numerous different associations worldwide became increasingly difficult. Hypocrisies and double standards were a frequent occurrence.

In the summer of 1995, the second Rugby Union World Cup was held in South Africa. It was one of the most politically poignant sporting tournaments ever. The hosts were playing in their first tournament following their post-apartheid re-entry into the sporting community.

Over two billion people around the world watched that World Cup and the colossal event attracted the interest of both broadcasters and sponsors, who offered to invest substantial sums into the sport. Growing pressure, from inside and out, became too much for those who wanted to maintain the amateur regulations and on 27th August 1995 the global administrators of Rugby Union agreed to it becoming a professional game.

Joining Sue MacGregor to look back on the battle to change Rugby Union's status are former England player Brian Moore, Welsh international John Devereux, Australia captain Michael Lynagh, the former Secretary of the English Rugby Football Union Tony Hallett, and the Daily Telegraph's Rugby Union Correspondent Mick Cleary.

Producer: Steve Hankey

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites key figures from the moment when Rugby Union turned professional.

Windsor Castle Fire 19922008091420080919 (R4)Sue MacGregor presents the series which reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history.

She gathers together five people who were involved in the fire which swept through Windsor Castle on 20 November 1992. Nine of the finest state apartments, the medieval Great Kitchen and more than a hundred further rooms were destroyed. She hears the dramatic story of the fire and explores the background to the remarkable restoration which followed.

Sue MacGregor reunites five people involved in the Windsor Castle fire of 1992.

4/5. Sue MacGregor reunites five people who were involved in the dramatic events surrounding the fire at Windsor Castle in 1992 and the restoration that followed.

Producer Kevin Dawson Repeated on Friday at yam

Withnail And I2008050420080509 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites the cast and director of the 1987 cult movie Withnail and I.

< Sue MacGregor reunites the cast and director of the British cult movie

Withnail and I. Actors Richard E Grant ,

Paul McGann , Ralph Brown and writer and director Bruce Robinson are on the stage of the BFI. Richard Griffiths recorded an interview about his role as Uncle Monty. Producer Kevin Dawson Repeated on Friday at 9am

Women Of Punk2017041620170421 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites five musicians who embraced the anarchy of punk music and created a unique style of their own.

For many young people, Britain in the late 1970s was a place without hope. Unemployment was high. The value of the pound was low and, despite the feminist activity of the early 1970s, the most many girls aspired to was to marry well and look good.

Female role models were hard to fine - especially in music. The only all-girl troupes on Top of the Pops were Legs and Co.

Then punk happened.

Women could dress how they liked, behave how they wanted and develop their own sound without being manipulated by the mostly male gatekeepers of the record industry. Young women who didn't fit the traditional mould of femininity found a new tribe in punk. A place where they could finally be themselves. But the movement attracted fear and aggression from straight society. And few made much money from the short-lived scene.

Sue MacGregor brings together five female punk pioneers.

Gaye Advert, bass player in The Adverts, was described as the first female punk star. But the industry focus on her looks caused animosity in the band.

Toyah Willcox, an aggressive tomboy, found her emotional rebellion in punk and appeared in Derek Jarman's cult punk film Jubilee.

Gina Birch of The Raincoats played her first gig in November 1977 a few weeks after forming her all-female band.

Tessa Pollitt abandoned her A levels to join all girl punk band, The Slits.

Vivien Goldman was in the The Flying Lizards and Features Editor on the weekly music paper, Sounds. She is now a Professor of Punk in New York.

The guests discuss the impact and legacy of their movement.

Producer: Karen Pirie

Presenter: Sue MacGregor

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites five musicians who embraced the anarchy of punk.

World Cup 19662006042320140427 (R4)
20140502 (R4)
Even if you weren't there, or watching it on television, even if you weren't born on the 30th July 1966, it's a date etched on the heart of every England football fan. It's the day England, at Wembley, after progressing through a tournament full of controversy, excitement and some extraordinary upsets, won the World Cup.

Inside the stadium were almost 94,000 fans. On television, the audience was 400 million. Watching it now, it seems somehow more than four decades away. It's not just the grainy black and white film - it's the cropped hair and short shorts of the players, the lack of logos on the England shirts - just three heraldic lions; it's also the measured, understated commentary of Kenneth Wolstenholme, all on his own throughout the match.

The goals, when they came, produced little jumping about and no hysteria - it was more a case of a rather satisfied jig. When Bobby Moore took the trophy from the Queen and held it up for the crowd to see, he didn't forget to wipe his hands first. It was, without doubt, England's greatest sporting victory.

In this episode of The Reunion, originally transmitted in 2006, Sue MacGregor gathers five men - three of them players - who made that day so extraordinary.

Hat-trick goal scorer Sir Geoff Hurst, and his fellow West Ham player Martin Peters; George Cohen, known as Mr. Dependable, who played for Fulham; the man in charge of BBC television's coverage of the match, Alan Weeks; and one of the all important admin men - the team liaison manager for the London matches throughout the tournament, Alan Leather.

Producer: Chris Green

Series Producer: David Prest.

THE REUNION is a Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 4.

Three of England's 1966 World Cup winners join Sue MacGregor to recall the triumph.

4/5. From the 1966 World Cup-winning squad,

Sue MacGregor reunites Geoff Hurst. Martin Peters and George Cohen with BBC commentator Alec Weeks and team liaison officer Alan Leather.

Producers Chris Green and David Prest PapeatpdWednesday 8pm FM/LW

York Minster Fire2019081820190823 (R4)Sue MacGregor reunites those who battled to save York Minster and its contents when fire broke out in 1984.

In April 2019, the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris made world headlines but, in July 1984, a similar fate befell York Minster, one of Britain's best loved Gothic cathedrals. It was in the early hours of the morning on July 9th that fire broke out, destroying the roof of the South Transep, and causing extensive damage to the magnificent medieval Rose Window.

York Minster was one of Britain's best loved and most visited Cathedrals, and an active place of worship under Archbishop John Habgood and the Dean, Ronald Jasper. Three days before the fire, senior clergy were assembled in the Minster for the ordination of the new Bishop of Durham, David Jenkins. But the new Bishop held somewhat non-traditional theological views and his observations were too controversial for many in the Church of England to stomach. The belief that the York Minster fire was some sort of sign of discontent from God about his appointment found an outlet on the letters page of The Times. `‘Just lightening,' says the Bishop dismissively. To those as old-fashioned as I, lightening is the wrath of God,` wrote one correspondent.

In the event, York Minster was restored within four years, re-opening a year ahead of schedule. The BBC children's show Blue Peter ran a competition to design six new bosses in part of the restored roof, and the young winners got to meet the Queen when she re-dedicated the Minster in 1988.

Joining Sue in York Minster's Consistory Court to reflect on the fire and its aftermath are former Canon Chancellor John Toy; Alan Stow, retired divisional fire commander; Bishop David Wilbourne, a chaplain in York at the time; master mason John David; and lead joiner Geoff Brayshaw.

Producer: Howard Shannon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Sue MacGregor reunites those who saved York Minster from the devastating fire of 1984.

Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster2011082120110826 (R4)In the third programme of the latest BBC Radio 4 series of The Reunion, Sue MacGregor reunites people involved with the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster.

The Townsend Thoresen ferry capsized minutes after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on March 6, 1987 - the worst maritime disaster involving a British registered ship in peacetime since the Titanic sinking in 1912.

193 passengers and crew were killed - the youngest was just 23 days old - and very few families survived all together.

The disaster would have been much worse if the ferry had not capsized onto a sandbank. The subsequent public inquiry found that human error was to blame - the ship's bow doors had been left open.

The design of roll on roll off ferries, with a huge open car deck, was also a contributory factor. However, senior management at Townsend Thoresen were also heavily criticised.

They were accused of imposing quick turnaround times for ferries in order to meet increasing passenger demand in an era of cheap fares and booze cruises.

Sue is joined around the table by survivor Simon Osborne, who lost two close friends; Margaret de Rohan, whose daughter and son-in-law died in the tragedy; Captain Malcolm Shakesby MBE, who took control of the immediate rescue operation; Dover Counselling Centre co-founder Dr Bill Moses MBE and Dr Ian Dand, who investigated the cause of the disaster for the public inquiry.

Producer: Chris Green

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor reunites people affected by the 1987 Zeebrugge Ferry disaster.

Zimbabwe2014083120140905 (R4)Sue MacGregor brings together those who played a key role during the bitter wrangling which led to Zimbabwe's independence in April 1980.

Rhodesia was Britain's last colony in Africa. By the early 1960s, 200,000 white settlers still dominated the country's three million black population. In 1965, civil war broke out between the white Rhodesian forces and the guerrilla armies of the two rival black nationalist parties, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU).

Over the next fifteen years, the war escalated as the nationalist movement gained massive momentum.

When Margaret Thatcher came into power in 1979, she inherited the crisis. To the surprise of many she called for all-party negotiations which would lead to the first independent elections. It was her Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, who devised a plan and persuaded the various parties to negotiate.

What followed was three months of nerve wracking talks. 'Every moment of those talks I thought the whole thing might fall apart,' recalls Lord Carrington. By the skin of their teeth, an agreement was signed and, in February 1980, polling opened which would lead to a landslide victory for Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party and independence for a newly named Zimbabwe.

Sue is joined by Lord Carrington, former Conservative Foreign Secretary; Dumiso Dabengwa who was head of intelligence for the military wing of ZAPU; Dzingai Mutumbuka, the youngest member of the ZANU-PF delegation; Dennis Norman who was President of the Rhodesia National Farmers' Union; and historian and Africa correspondent Martin Meredith.

Producer: Sarah Cuddon

Series Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Sue MacGregor gathers five people who helped to bring independence to Zimbabwe in 1980.

0220080418'2/5. Sue MacGregor discovers a complex series of relationships, fuelled by accusations of underhand dealings, when she reunites five of the people who were key to the foundation of the National Lottery in the UK. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am'
0420070504Sue MacGregor reunites the scientists who established the Halley Bay station in Antarctica

Series reuniting groups of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history

4/5. In 1985 the British Antarctic Survey scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer. Little did they know that their work was to have worldwide impact. Sue MacGregor brings together the key people who were part of this ground-breaking discovery. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

0520070511Sue MacGregor reunites bombers and victims of the 1984 IRA blast in Brighton's Grand Hotel

Series reuniting groups of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history

5/5. In the early hours of 12 October 1984, as Margaret Thatcher sat redrafting a speech in her room at Brighton's

Grand Hotel, an IRA bomb exploded killing five people and injuring many more. Sue MacGregor brings together both perpetrators and victims to see how their lives were changed for ever by this terrorist attack on mainland

Britain, and how some of them are building a sense or reconciliation after 23 years. Repeated from Sunday at 11.15am

05Brighton Hotel Bombing20070506Sue MacGregor reunites bombers and victims of the 1984 IRA blast in Brighton's Grand Hotel

Series reuniting groups of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history

5/5. In the early hours of the 12 octoberl984, as Margaret Thatcher sat redrafting a speech in her room at

Brighton's Grand Hotel, an IRA bomb exploded killing five people and injuring many more. sue MacGregor brings together both perpetrators and victims to see how their lives were changed for ever by this terrorist attack on mainland Britain, and how some of them are building a sense of reconciliation after 23 years. Producer David Prest Repeated on Friday at 9am

05 LAST200709285/5. Sue MacGregor meets a group of former Bhagwan Rajneesh sannyasins to reflect on the rise and fall Of the CUlt. Rptd from Sunday at 11.15am