Synopsis:

This award-winning docu-drama depicts the dramatic events leading up to death of Government Scientist Dr David Kelly. More than the deaths on the battlegrounds of Iraq, it was Kelly's suicide that brought the Blair government to task over its participation in the war. Kelly was a Ministry of Defence advisor whose name was leaked as the source of the controversial BBC report on the 'sexing up' of the Iraqi dossier. The outcry following his death lead to the Hutton inquiry, in which Lord Hutton, by sticking slavishly to his narrow remit, cleared the government and blamed the BBC. Peter Kosminsky's drama emerged from his sitting through the Hutton inquiry and his interviews of 120 of the players. It pits the machinations of government spin against one man's conscience, showing the tragic consequences. It reveals the nature of the battle to control whom history is written by and raises questions about truth and deception in politics, the manipulation of public opinion and public trust in its institutions.