22/02/2018 The One Show

Hello and welcome to

The One Show with Matt Baker.

And Angellica Bell.

We've got two of the UK's top

criminal barristers here tonight

who have prosecuted and defended

in some high profile cases and now

they have a new job.

Working with families whose

relatives were tried and hanged

for historic crimes which they might

have been innocent of.

Our first guest has played

a murderer and a murder victim

but he's recently been showing

us his funny side.

The jury's out on his

singing though.

# I never thought I could feel this

way and I have got to say...

He has

to make toast under another woman's

Grill. This tastes better than bath

water. He demands a helicopter to

Alton Towers?

# Everybody deserves a happy ending,

but we don't even try.

I don't think it is that bad. It is

Christopher Ecclestone.

We have all

enjoyed you. Looe that was character

saying. I have got a good voice, but

he has not. Have you enjoyed playing

that?

We laugh along with you. I

never play roles like that, I am

always a misery guts, so it has been

a joy to play that. All those lines

written by the writer, it is about

the writer.

Would you like to do

more comedy roles?

Yes, I would like

to keep it out of my personal life

and into my working life.

and into my working life.

You come

from the north-west of England.

You come from the

north-west of England.

Not everything is blooming

for the property market there,

because some housing developments

just aren't what they seem.

One story we've been

following for a while has seen homes

being sold that were substandard

and in some cases didn't even exist.

Five years ago dozens of people

contacted us to complain about

property developer from a fresh

Start Living.

There were flies and

maggots everywhere and they got in

the flat below.

This is the open

sewer pipe which is disgusting.

That

is disgusting. Karen told us she

bought a flat which was then

converted into a communal kitchen

for the building without her

permission.

Where the bed should be

I have now got bridges.

Others told

me their apartments had not even

been built, yet when I confronted

the company's director, Charlie

Cunningham, you was keen to put

things right.

I am doing everything

I can at the moment to get it sorted

out.

But just a few months later it

went bust, leaving debts of hundreds

of thousands of pounds. This is one

of their old buildings in Manchester

and when I was last here everyone

was told to get out for their own

safety. Look at it now. It is still

a mess. Anita bought a £60,000

one-bedroom flat here from Fresh

Start Living, just six months before

the building was shut down. What

were you told at the time about what

was happening?

Nothing, I contacted

Charlie Cunningham. What response

did you get?

No reply. After the

company's demise, a new company,

Absolute Living Developments,

brought the new building. Did that

mean with a new owner she could move

back in? Unfortunately not.

My flat

is gutted. All my belongings have

gone.

Where have they gone?

I don't

know. Why did they trespass on my

property without consulting me?

And

you lost money?

Yes, everything, I

have worked hard.

Others have had

the same experience and we have

discovered that Absolute Living

Developments was busy selling new

buyers off plan apartment in the

same development and they were

selling other flats in a location

across the way. They have also gone

bust, leaving millions of pounds per

worth of debt. What is going on?

Chris paid Absolute Living

Developments a £40,000 deposit for a

flat at the back of a's building,

but it has never been built.

I am

left with uncertainty and questions

about what has happened.

Chris found

out where his money had gone.

I

thought I was paying to the

developers, but as it transpires the

money was transferred to another

company.

Other buyers we spoke to

also confirm that their money was

sent to the corporate investment

firm DS seven. Its director is none

other than Mr Charlie Cunningham.

Could he really be involved in this

mess once again? It is not just

buyers here who so far have nothing

to show for their money. More than

300 buy to let investors across Asia

paid 50% down payment on flats in

the UK. Again, the bulk of the money

went to DS seven.

I spent two years

waiting for this building to come

through. I have lost all of my

investment.

It greatly undermined

people's confidence in the UK

property market as well as the legal

system.

Liquidator Louise Britain is

trying to get to the bottom of what

happened with ALD.

There is a lot of

money that has come through this

company.

Have you got any idea at

all where any of the money has gone?

That is what we are looking at,

where the money came from and where

the money flowed through any of the

companies and banking transactions.

In September last year, Louise took

her findings to the High Court and

obtained a freezing order on the

assets of Mr Cunningham and four

other parties. The liquidator

alleges Mr Cunningham's company DS

seven received payments of over £40

million from ALD over a two-year

period and he personally received

£1.4 million from companies

associated with ALD. But does this

offer any help to the growing list

of creditors?

The authorities should

be looking into this and try to

untangle this complicated web.

I

want an answer from Charlie

Cunningham will stop we are

searching for answers.

searching for answers.

Thanks, Angela.

We have had a response

from Mr Cunningham.

He does not deny receiving some

money from Absolute Living

Developments but claims he was owed

it and therefore did

not do anything wrong.

He vehemently denies

all the allegations

made by the liquidator,

blames the downfall of the company

on the Malaysian directors and says

he never had anything to do

with the running of the business.

Investigations are still ongoing

and there is expected to be

a trial later this year.

No doubt Angela will keep us up to

date. Christopher, we mentioned at

the start of the show The A Word.

Singing like a bird. Singing like a

bird, but playing a widow, are you

becoming a role model?

I have always

been a role model for mail thanks.

It is an unusual story, it is a

three parter and the first episode

is from the man's point of view and

his truth. The second episode is

from the woman's point of view and

territory. In divorce as there are

always at least two. The third

episode is the resolution of that

and it is a custody battle. But it

is like The A Word. It is a very

serious matter and people don't want

to see a soapbox. So there is a

great humour in it, which was

attractive to me. There are a lot of

light moments in it as well which

helps the pill go down.

Let's take a

look at the Greg tucking in his

daughter for the night.

I wish you

were not going.

It will only be a

couple of hours. Go to sleep. Who

are you meeting?

Just a friend.

Who?

Miss nosy, an old friend, lie down.

I want mummy to come home.

I

promise, I really promise.

I love

that. It gets you.

She is a

fantastic actress.

Tell us more

about the character Greg.

He is an

ordinary working man, whatever that

means. He has got a small business,

he is a mechanic, he adores his wife

and she decides to leave the

marriage for a very good reasons

which he cannot see. In a sense Greg

has imprisoned her by not

understanding all of her needs. But

he is so focused on just being a

family man that he has failed to see

her as an individual.

Do you think

this drama will make people take

sides? It is celebrating a single

father and it is a woman who has

left the family and her home.

It is

very provocative role, really. The

idea to society that a woman would

walk out on her children is very

challenging, but I think the female

character is very brave because she

is so unhappy that she realises if

she does not make herself happy she

will not be able to parent

successfully. And at the same time

she acknowledges the deep love that

her husband has for the children and

vice versa. She does not want to

wreck that, but she also wants her

own autonomy, so she is incredibly

heroic. Some people will judge her

harshly, but that always happens to

women, always. The woman always gets

the rougher deal, not legally, but

in terms of society and perceptions.

We are putting that in front of an

audience to challenge them and

nobody comes a rosy. They both have

great areas and both of their grey

areas have a foreground.

We all have

them. A very interesting project to

be involved in if people will be

viewing it in that way. It is coming

to BBC One this spring.

It is coming to BBC One this spring.

When videos of screaming children

on flights go viral online,

it's no surprise that a quarter

of a million parents say they avoid

flying with their children so as not

to be "parent shamed".

And you are one of those.

I have

never been on a flight with my

children.

It is not that bad.

It is not that bad.

I'm sure everyone can relate to this

whether or not they have children.

Some people are now calling

for child-free flights.

Here is someone else who has not

taken my children on a plane, it is

my husband Michael.

What do the Flyers think about the

current viral videos of babies

crying on planes?

Here comes a

screaming baby.

screaming baby.

For some people this

is an absolute nightmare, but why?

After all, they are just children.

Should we expect them to be like

this? I am a father, I know.

I have

seen it from both sides where I have

had passengers with children and

they have been asked to move because

they are not happy with the noise,

but you don't what the parents to

know that they don't like their

kids.

I find it irritating.

Have you

been on a flight with an upset

child?

It is irritating, but we have

grandchildren who do the same.

As a

parent myself and on flights with

screaming kids, you feel really

guilty and you feel more stress

because you are trying to quieten

your child and they are not having

any of it.

The most annoying people

on flights are adults playing the

fool.

Back in 2016 budget Indian

airline Indigo introduced a ban

which stopped anyone under the age

of 12 from sitting in certain areas

on the flight. What could be done

about it? Some have suggested

childfree zones on planes. Would

children put up with those

restrictions?

I have been on a

flight with friends and we were in

the seas behind.

the seas behind. If you start

segregating, children will never

learn.

learn.

Especially a baby screaming,

I don't know how well that would go

down, that might just not be

creating the right areas. How do you

monitor it?

What about paying more

for your tickets to guarantee no

children on the fly?

What do you

think? You would have to have less

flights for parents and families and

I'm not sure if that is fair.

Parents are the people with the

kids. There will always be something

that frustrates you. Just breathe

through it and get on with your

life.

Get your own plain, simple as

that? How difficult can that be?

Both you and your husband have

talked about it. You have to take

your children on a plane.

But you

have said people have said things to

you.

Yes, they have and it made my

blood run cold. There was nearly a

major incident. I care for my

children.

children.

We have a couple of

barristers here.

Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein

are here, you may have

seen their names in the newspapers.

Sasha prosecuted Rolf Harris

and Jeremy defended Tulisa.

You are both involved in this new

BBC series. It is very, very

exciting. Jeremy, where does it

start, what is the idea with it?

There are ten death penalty cases.

They span the last 125 years. They

are an investigation into the

quality of the evidence, using

modern-day techniques. There is a

family member LinkedIn throughout,

and they are a fascinating insight

to the development of the criminal

justice process over a very long

period of time.

It is quite an

emotive series, you look at ten

individual cases but you actually

have contact with family members of

those involved.

That is what brings

it to light, because you have some

people, who have known about the

hanging and the stigma of what

happened all their lives, others

learned much more recently. But even

for those who only learned in the

last few years, they suddenly became

emotional, they wanted to vindicate

their relation. It became a passion,

a cause that they had.

There is a

different case every programme,

let's talk about the death of

Frederick Bryant on Monday's

programme. From 1935, why did you

want to reopen this case?

Charlotte

Bryant was the defendant, she was

hanged for the poisoning of

Frederick Bryant. This is a truly

fascinating case, not just because

it was a poisoning case, but because

the defendant was a woman, and it

involves putting the spotlight on

how women were perceived, and how in

particular women from the lowest

echelons of society were perceived.

So it is a truly fascinating case,

and it involves many, many facets

that I think the public will find

intriguing.

And what evidence were

you looking at?

This all turned on

the evidence of arsenic, because the

cause of death was arsenic

poisoning, so we learned a lot about

arsenic being a woman's weapon of

choice in those days, how was

detected, how it was administered,

and we were able to speak to

toxicologists, and find out an awful

lot about life in those days.

Arsenic was freely available. Rat

poison, weedkiller, anyone could get

it.

Charlotte, the lady you are

talking about, wrote a last-minute

plea for mercy. In this series, it

is read by her grandson.

It is

actually really difficult for me.

Do

you want me to read it?

Thank you.

She says, sir, may I respectfully

beg for your mercy in my case. The

date of my execution has been fixed

for Wednesday next, July 15. And I

am not guilty of the offence I am

charged with. I humbly beg for the

sake of my little children to spare

my life. I remain, yours

respectfully, Charlotte Bryant, and

that is thought to be the last time

that she wrote her name.

Dear me.

You can clearly see this is

emotional.

That letter says it all,

it brings home that we were dealing

with the death penalty here, and an

extraordinarily cruel and barbaric

concept.

So in the event that you

all agree there has been a

miscarriage of justice, Jeremy, what

happens next? What steps can be

taken?

Well, I think where it was

thought that a miscarriage of

justice might have occurred, then it

is open towards Mike Rowe relatives

to pursue the situation through the

courts. It is a very -- it is open

to the relatives to pursue the

situation through the courts. This

is a very complex affair, it may be

possible for some, not for others,

but doors are open, though there is

another aspect.

Another aspect was

that the programme itself, and the

process, provided closure for the

families, because they saw what the

evidence was, they saw that it being

analysed again. We updated them

throughout the programme, and

whatever the conclusion, at least

they felt that their relation's case

had been properly looked at in

modern-day times.

The emotion they

showed was quite extraordinary,

bearing in mind that many of his

relatives didn't know the person

concerned.

You can understand it,

though, you can feel it. Fascinating

programme.

I will definitely be

watching.

Murder, Mystery and My Family starts

on Monday on BBC One at 9.15am.

It is also on the iPlayer.

As one of Downing Street's more

colourful characters,

Labour MP and former Chancellor

of the Exchequer Denis Healey

revelled in the fun

of the political game.

And as his son Tim explains,

he was always happy

to play the fool at home.

One frame from my mother rang all

through my childhood, whenever dad

was larking around, whether it was

on or off screen, the cry was,

Denis, don't!

Denis Healey.

As

Chancellor of the Exchequer, people

have referred to him as the best

Prime Minister we never had.

That's

what it means, and that is what I'm

asking for, that is what I will

negotiate for!

My father was

irrepressible. This is a house in

north London where my sisters Jane,

Cress and I spent most of our

childhood. The owner's kindly

letting me in so I can take another

look. While! The configurations is

very much the same, and in some

strange way, the ambience is the

same. Dad had this fantastic last

for life. One of those things was

with any visiting friends of ours,

you would grab them by the arms, and

whirling them around at ferocious

speed! My mother, in the background,

always present. Denis, don't! He was

just an MP in the early days, a

bright young Labour MP, on the up.

In 1964, Harold Wilson made him

Defence Secretary. Ten years after

that, the became Chancellor of the

Exchequer, and the next move was to

11 Downing St. He did a lot of good

stuff, the most important thing was

keeping the British economy afloat

during a very troubled period. He

did acknowledge there was a streak

in himself of what he called brutal

facetiousness. He was a great

photographer, and although he was a

big, Floros personality, nonetheless

I think a lot of quieter tenderness

comes through. Nice little one here

I think we've got of us building a

snowman in the back garden. He loved

the outdoor life, he loved the

family camping holidays he took us

on. We discovered, recently, that

the paper girl who delivered here

was one Sarah Macauley, better known

today, perhaps, as Sarah Brown, the

wife of former Prime Minister,

Gordon Brown.

This is first time I

have been this far into the house. I

would have been doing this paper

round at the beginning of secondary

school, 12 or 13 years old. All of

those papers would stack up and on

Sunday was the super bumper pile,

and for your dad, I think he ordered

every single newspaper available.

Do

you missed the limelight?

Having

been in the public eye, it never

goes away. I am Sarah Macauley in my

head.

Did dad kept at Christmas?

I

can't believe, having met your dad

in Morrison years, that he wouldn't

have been a great tip.

Dad was a

really keen swimmer and often

brought us here, to the lied over.

He needed to unwind and one of his

great joys was swimming. He loved to

entertain. My sister made a murder

mystery film, involving all of us,

and mum and that threw themselves

into their parts with typical

relish. He really loved television.

I can't think of many other major

political figures who would have

coped so well with playing piano in

a TV special. And he really relished

being taken off by the

Impressionist, Mike Yarwood.

Yes,

Harold and I had lots of fun in

those days, even though we hardly

had any money. Later, he made me

Chancellor of the Exchequer, and we

had even less money.

LAUGHTER

We used to love walking on hamster

teeth, with dad yodelling out his

favourite theme tune for our jaunts,

the entry of the clowns, that famous

circus theme... The views from

Parliament Hill Fields are

absolutely fantastic. The skyline

has changed enormously since I was a

boy. Dad died at 98, two years short

of his hundredth birthday, and I

think it was his great ambition,

actually, even more than to be Prime

Minister, was to lift to 100. He

didn't quite make it, -- live to

100, but two years on we are there

now, and I can say it is happy

birthday, dad. APPLAUSE

Thank you for sharing those lovely

memories. He has inherited the

eyebrows, hasn't he? And the voice.

It says a lot about him that

although he must have had an

incredibly stressful life at work,

those are the memories Tim has as a

dad at home.

Beautiful. What was it

like growing up to you as a child,

Christopher?

I was very happy, I had

that kind of, huge amount of love

and laughter in my family. I had a

great childhood, really.

And you

have a wonderful little from your

parents, Shakespeare, the complete

works. Shall I tell everyone what

has been happening over the last two

and a half minutes?

Don't spoil it,

we will surprise everyone.

That I

won't say anything, just take it

away, whatever you want to do.

Trying to get in character. Hail

Macbeth, Hail to the, fading of

Calder.

I know I am fain have

glanced that power of Cawdor? Safe

from whence you owe this strange

intelligent and why you stop our way

upon this blasted heath. Speak, I

charge you.

Seek to know no more.

Bit of live Shakespeare there.

Loving your work!

You saw it here

first!

I will never be as good at

you.

I don't know.

RSCH, come on.

There is good reason we are talking

about Shakespeare because you are

deep in rehearsal for Macbeth.

Yes.

When I was 17 I was in an amateur

production of Macbeth, and it toured

round the North West of England and

there was wine, women and song

involved in it. I had a small part

in it and I fell in love with the

lifestyle, but I fell in love with

the play. It is because of that play

that I became an actor. At 17 I have

this ridiculous notion that one day

I wanted to play Macbeth. It is a

true story, it sounds American, but

it's not.

It actually happened,

yeah.

I decided I will wanted to

play Macbeth at the Royal

Shakespeare Company, and at 504I

have managed to do it.

APPLAUSE

When I set off to drama school, my

mum and dad went to Marks &

Spencer's, which is The posh shop,

as you know, make bought me the

complete works of William

Shakespeare. The woman at the till

said, bloody hell, Shakespeare, you

too must be clever. My dad

apparently said, it is not for me,

it is my son, he is an actor. And my

mum took the Mickey because I was

nowhere near. My dad gave me my love

of language. My dad was a man for

his crosswords. He used to take his

dictionary out and he would pick a

word out, with the word out and say

isn't this a marvellous word? He had

a burning desire for language will

stop when he had his dementia,

sometimes if you got anxious,

because I'd played Hamlet and I

would sometimes do some of the

Hamblett things for him in the

Trafford centre and it would calm

him down.

He would be so proud of

you.

I am very proud of him,

actually, I was very proud of my

dad.

Macbeth opens at the Royal

Shakespeare Theatre on 13th March.

Best of luck with it.

Thank you very

much full stop

one reason why people

love The A Word is because it is set

against the stunning background of

the Lake District.

famous for its fast flowing

becks and waterfalls.

Patrick's been to another

of our spectacular natural parks,

The Yorkshire Dales,

which is blessed with similar

Rivers are a constantly changing

force of nature. If every British

river was connected in one single,

meandering line, it would circle the

Earth, twice. The Yorkshire Dales

national park has some of the

fastest flowing rivers in the UK,

and many spectacular waterfalls.

This landscape is unpredictable. And

constantly changing. So only the

most adaptable animals can thrive

here. One bird particularly well for

life in the falls is the dipper.

They're dipping and bobbing is

thought to help them pinpoint

underwater prey, and with a meal in

sight, their unique river skill is

revealed. They can swim underwater.

Within large to preen glands, ten

times the size of other birds, they

can give their feathers the

essential waterproofing that they

need. Highly developed wing muscles

help them push against the currents.

Strong legs and feet provide grip,

and an additional eyelid protects

their eyes whilst underwater. It is

these unique adaptations that will

help the dippers survive the

approaching the river. Autumn has

arrived, and the leaves are on the

term. Injecting their burst of

colour into the river habitat. At

this time of year, rain is never far

away, and the first downfall of the

season has begun. Autumn brings with

it the UK's highest rainfall,

causing some rivers in the Dales to

rise three metres in just 20

minutes.

minutes. As the river rises, the

excess water of the falls comes

crashing down, and becomes a raging

torrent, heading straight for the

differs. It is such a chant up

riverbed, no matter how many times a

dipper dips and bobs, their

visibility is hampered, making it

extremely difficult to hunt, and

even they struggled to battle

against these new currents, and can

only stand and watch, as their meals

rush quickly passed. This inability

to hunt means many dippers won't

make it past their first year on the

river. Luckily, this autumn downfall

passes quickly, and the river

returns to its natural rhythm once

more. Allowing the dippers to

continue doing what they do best.

Beautiful.

Beautiful.

Thanks to Christopher

for joining us.

Round of applause for Christopher.

Tomorrow,