Bernard Ingham: Self - Press Secretary to Margaret Thatcher 1979-1990

Quotes 

• Ian Curteis : Everyone is right from their own point of view. And if it was a private company, Michael Grade and Bill Cotton would be entirely justified. But it *isn't* a private company. They blocked the play. They didn't tell me why. They did not commission another play to put a similar viewpoint - the case for the defence.

  Michael Grade : There was no politics at the BBC. The BBC was not trying to change Ian Curteis's view of the world. It was not trying to change the script. We just wanted something we felt was worth a million quid of the licence-payer's money.

  Sir Bernard Ingham : I do not need persuading now, and I did not need persuading then, that there were elements within the BBC that didn't want to broadcast anything that portrayed Margaret Thatcher in a good light.

  Peter Goodchild : I never heard anybody actually saying "This is just a load of right-wing rubbish" or whatever. That wasn't the way it was discussed. There was no conspiracy.

  Eddie Mair - Narrator : [voiceover]  Yet fifteen years on, the BBC still stands accused. Production of the play may be complete but it seems the row behind it will never be resolved.

  Peter Fiddick : It was, from my point of view, impossible then and is impossible now to know what or who to believe.

  Chris Dunkley : It will be extremely interesting to see whether most of us now think it's a good or a bad piece of work.

  Alasdair Milne : I still believe, from the moment I first saw it, that it was worth making. I look forward to seeing it very much.

  Michael Grade : I don't like to see any work buried. I shall watch it with interest.

  Sir Bernard Ingham : I welcome it. Let's see what he wrote. Judge for ourselves.