A feature documentary that follows veteran journalist Charlie Bird as he battles the debilitating effects of MND while t | dG1fQUdQMlZheG1NNms
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I've got a lead on a story that I'd like to cover with you.
00:08It's a great day for investigative reporting and it's a great day for public service broadcasting.
00:13It's about a ransom demand on the government that's been kept secret for more than 40 years.
00:17I just ran. I couldn't believe it.
00:20This story asks me questions about an era that shaped who I would become.
00:23Charlie Byrd in Ground Zero.
00:25And it will be my last.
00:31I need to tell you about my health. My motor neuron is moving to my limbs.
00:36I'm working with Charlie Byrd on a case from 1979.
00:40Dear Minister, there was a ransom demand for five million pounds.
00:44If you do this, we shall not introduce to this country one of the most deadly diseases that could afflict any country.
00:50Foot and mouth would have been devastating.
00:54It was always the position of governments that ransoms would not be paid.
00:58I mingled with well-known criminals. I don't want to go any further, Charlie.
01:02There was mayhem in the country. You will remember it. You were there.
01:05Other than you approaching me, I would never have revealed this story.
01:09The less people that knew about it, the better.
01:12His whole life he worked as a journalist.
01:14He forgets about M&D when he is doing work and he's getting stuck into it.
01:19I have a terminal illness, but I still have my journalistic nose for a good story.
01:24This is a cat and mouse game being played.
01:26They have to be right all the time. They only have to be right once.
01:29The fact that they were watching me really made the hair stand on the back of my neck.
01:34There is no way you can stop us carrying out our threats.
01:38What does this story mean to you?
01:41It's keeping me alive.