One of the more disappointing episodes in my career in the BBC Community Programme Unit involved Jeremy Seabrook, whom I greatly admired.
In 1987, in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s comment that she had “a big job” to do in the inner cities, we had invited Jeremy to explore the CPU archive of “public access” programmes relating to urban life, based on the personal view documentaries Open Door and Open Space for BBC Two.
We would select clips and film Jeremy talking to the people who had made the original films, to create an Open Space “special” called Inner City Blues.
Jeremy was enthusiastic. All was going well until I got a phone call from the CPU editor when setting up filming with Jeremy in Glasgow. At that time the BBC all too often ran in fear of upsetting Thatcher, so I was shocked but not surprised to hear the instruction to drop him from the programme, because he was “too left wing”.
I protested, but it was no good; senior management was not for turning. We were at least able to complete the Open Space special with some clips. There was no presenter but one or two explanatory captions were based on Jeremy’s ideas, although no one knew that.
