Banned by the BBC – Screened by
World In Action
World In Action was acknowledged world-wide as one of the great television investigation programmes. It was a privilege to be a member of the team. Granada TV took public service broadcasting seriously and from the top of the company gave massive support to its journalists.
On its 30th birthday ITV screened a retrospective of greatest hits – and Andrew helped introduce them.
Corruption and the London Police
Andrew had quit the BBC in 1985 after they gave into pressure from the London police and the Thatcher government and refused to screen an investigation – The Untouchable – that he researched and presented about allegations of corruption at the highest levels of Scotland Yard.
This banned documentary is still under lock and key at the BBC.
BBC exposé halted by Yard pressure - The Observer, October 13, 1985
A year later Andrew joined the Granada TV World In Action programme and remade the banned BBC film with director Paul Greengrass.
In the 30th birthday retrospective a former editor Gus McDonald talked about the lonely life of investigative journalists – and cued up one of Andrew’s biggest investigations: Scotland Yard’s Cocaine Connection.
Andrew talks about the odd relationship between London’s top gangster and top detective, and plays an American police phone tap.
And now, one of the most memorable confrontations in the history of British television.