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Death On The Rock was a controversial and British Academy Television Award-winning episode of Thames Television's current affairs strand This Week, screened by the British television network ITV on 28 April 1988.[1] The British Academy Television Awards, also known as the BAFTAs or, to differentiate them from the BAFTA Film Awards, the BAFTA Television Awards, are the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry, analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States. ... Thames Television was a franchise holder of the British ITV television network, serving London on weekdays between 1968 and 1992. ... Ongoing events • Iraqi legislative election • Bill C-38 (Same-sex marriage in Canada) • Tsunami relief Deaths in February • 5 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma • 4 – Ossie Davis • 3 – Ernst Mayr • 3 – Zurab Zhvania • 2 – Max Schmeling Recent deaths Ongoing armed conflicts • Arab-Israeli conflict • Conflict in Chechnya • Second Congo War • Conflict in Iraq... This Week was the name of a current affairs series screened in the 1980s on the ITV network in the United Kingdom, produced for the network by Thames Television. ... A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... For other uses, see ITV (disambiguation). ... is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ...

Synopsis

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The documentary, produced by Roger Bolton and presented by Jonathan Dimbleby, investigated Operation Flavius: an SAS mission in Gibraltar which ended in the deaths of three Provisional IRA members. Jonathan Dimbleby, (born 31 July 1944, Aylesbury) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, a political commentator and a writer. ... Operation Flavius was the name of an operation by a Special Air Service team in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. ... SAS in their armed jeeps, during the North African campaign The Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern...

The brief of the mission had been to arrest three IRA members who were suspected by the Joint Intelligence Committee of being in the process of organising a bomb attack on the changing of the guard in Gibraltar, before such an attack could take place. The SAS were authorised the use of deadly force 'if those using them had reasonable grounds for believing an act was being committed, or about to be committed, which would endanger life or lives and if there was no other way of preventing that, other than the use of firearms'.^{[citation needed]} The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) was founded in 1936 as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence. ... The Changing of the Guard is the eighth and second last book in the Jedi Quest series that chronicle the adventures of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi between the events of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. ... Deadly force or shoot to kill is that level of force which is inherently likely to cause death or great bodily injury. ...

On 6 March 1988, the three IRA members, Danny McCann, Sean Savage and Mairéad Farrell, were shot. The programme examined to what extent the event had been an 'execution', with no attempt to arrest the IRA members. is the 65th day of the year (66th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... Seán Savage (b. ... Mairéad Farrell (1957-1988) was a member of the Provisional IRA who was killed by members of the British SAS during Operation Flavius while planning an attack on the British territory of Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. ...

The SAS had claimed that McCann had made an 'aggressive move' towards a bag he was carrying. They had presumed he was intending to trigger a car bomb using a remote control device.After McCann was killed, Farrell made a move towards her handbag and was therefore killed on similar grounds. Faced with arrest, Savage moved his hand to his pocket; the SAS therefore killed him. In all, McCann was shot five times, Farrell eight times, and Savage between 16 and 18 times. All three were subsequently found to be unarmed. Ingredients for a bomb, including 100 pounds of Semtex, were later found in a car in Spain, identified by keys found in Farrell's handbag.^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Car bomb (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Remote control (disambiguation). ... Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive. ...

The documentary interviewed witnesses who claimed that the SAS had given no warning prior to shooting, and that the event had been carried out 'in cold blood'. In addition, the defence that the IRA team may have had the capacity to trigger a car bomb by remote control, was subject to criticism, including that of an Army bomb disposal expert.^{[citation needed]} The Long Walk - A British Army ATO approaches a suspect device in Northern Ireland. ...

Government and Media reaction

The New York Times (June 13, 1989) review stated: "Events leading up to the Gibraltar killings are depicted in a reconstruction made for a British television documentary. Questions abound. Was the I.R.A. trio, carefully followed for days, in fact lured into Gibraltar? Why did the police fail to photograph the bodies or gather forensic evidence? Why was the press - Britain's tabloids were jubilant - told lies about a huge car bomb being defused and about the three suspects having died in a gunfight? This documentary's understated observation: There was a strong air of Government cover-up and disinformation."[2] The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media. ...

The then Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, attempted to prevent the broadcast of the programme in the United Kingdom, claiming it would prejudice the official inquest into the event. The Independent Broadcasting Authority refused, stating: 'the issues as we see them relate to free speech and free inquiry which underpin individual liberty in a democracy'. Following transmission, the programme was heavily criticised by sections of the press, notably the Rupert Murdoch-owned papers The Sunday Times and The Sun. The then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was said to be outraged by the documentary, and was increasingly concerned about ITV's 'monopoly' in independent broadcasting. Mrs. Thatcher said, in an interview: 'If you ever get trial by television...that day, freedom dies.' It was not shown in Gibraltar where the inquiry was held. The title of Foreign Secretary has been traditionally used to refer to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ... Richard Edward Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, CH, PC, QC (born 20 December 1926), known until 1992 as Sir Geoffrey Howe, is a senior British Conservative politician. ... The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 - cable and satellite television were the responsibility of the Cable Authority) and radio broadcasts. ... This article is about the general concept. ... Free Inquiry is a bi-monthly journal of secular humanist opinion and commentary, published by the Council for Secular Humanism. ... For other uses, see Liberty (disambiguation). ... Keith Rupert Murdoch AC, KCSG (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian born United States citizen who is a global media executive and is the controlling shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation, based in New York. ... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... This article is about a British tabloid. ... The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is, in practice, the political leader of the United Kingdom. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (née Roberts; born 13 October 1925) served as British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 until 1990, being the first and only woman to hold either post. ...

Carmen Proetta, an independent witness told Thames television, ‘They [security forces] didn’t do anything ... they just went and shot these people. That’s all. They didn’t say anything, they didn’t scream, they didn’t shout, they didn’t do anything. These people were turning their heads back to see what was happening and when they saw these men had guns in their hands they put their hands up. It looked like the man was protecting the girl because he stood in front of her, but there was no chance. I mean they went to the floor immediately, they dropped.’^[1]

The researcher for Thames Television which made the programme Death on the Rock believed Ms Proetta’s evidence as it coincided with another account they had received.^[2]

Inquiry into the documentary

A 1989 inquiry into the programme headed by former television management executive and government minister Lord Windlesham largely cleared it of any impropriety, although it found some errors had been made. ^[3] Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ...

References

• A Child of Its Time, The Economist (London), 4 February 1989.
• Windlesham, P., and R. Rampton. The Windlesham/Rampton Report on 'Death on the Rock' London: Faber, 1989.

External links

• Death on the Rock
• The New York Times (June 13, 1989) article

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