The Angry Buzz

Current affairs television in the UK, in more than half a century of programmes, has set out to tell us something we didn't know, treating its audience as citizens with the right to demand that 'something must be done'. Over their 36 year history, "This Week" and its replacement "TVEye" helped to mark out that democratic project. This is the story of "This Week", one of the few giants of the genre, set within the wider pattern of 'the angry buzz' of inquiry and dissent that is current affairs television. It is a timely tale, now that many fear that current affairs may be an endangered species. Pat Holland follows "This Week" from its beginnings in the 1950s through the challenging programmes of the 1970s - which brought home the reality of poverty at home, famine in Africa and accusations of torture in Northern Ireland. The story continues right up to its demise in 1992, often blamed on its controversial programme 'Death on the Rock', on the shooting of IRA terrorists in Gibraltar.
It shows how "This Week"'s uncompromising coverage of the spectrum of public affairs regularly brought it into conflict with the authorities, and brings to life people with a real sense of purpose and commitment and the realities of digging behind the headlines against a highly charged international political backdrop.