91Èȱ¬

A season marking the anniversary of the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank will air next month on 91Èȱ¬ Two and includes a unique collaboration between two 91Èȱ¬ departments – factual and drama.

Crash Season begins with The Love Of Money, a three-part series that chronicles the interlinked events of the Lehman Brothers' crisis that took capitalism to the brink of collapse.

The Love Of Money features an unparalleled range of eye-witness contributions from most of the major players at the centre of the storm including: Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, Mervyn King, Tim Geithner, Alan Greenspan, the Finance Ministers of France, Germany and Iceland, the CEO's of Merrill Lynch and Barclays, Lehman's lawyer Rodgin Cohen and its bankruptcy lawyer, Harvey Miller, as well as US Congressional leaders.

The series will also reveal exclusive footage showing former Lehman Brothers' CEO Dick Fuld struggling to keep his bank afloat in the weeks leading up to its collapse.

The Love Of Money is executive produced by Dominic Crossley-Holland and series produced by Michael Tuft.

As previously announced 91Èȱ¬ Two will also broadcast The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers, a work of fiction inspired by the real events that saw the bank go to wall on the weekend of 12 September 2008.

This one-off 60-minute drama was written by Craig Warner (Maxwell, The Queen's Sister), executive produced by Ruth Caleb (Short Stay In Switzerland, Born Equal, Judge John Deed) and produced by Lisa Osborne (Little Dorrit).

The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers is the result of an extraordinary collaboration between the 91Èȱ¬'s factual and drama departments.

During the drafting of the script the two teams worked together to ensure the drama had its feet in fact while still giving the drama the licence to give its own unique interpretation of the events.

Dominic Crossley-Holland, who has overseen the season, says: "The 91Èȱ¬ Two's Crash Season provides the definitive account of the causes, consequences and cost of the greatest financial crisis for 80 years.

"To start with there's an exciting creative collaboration in a gripping double bill produced by 91Èȱ¬ Factual and Drama departments. We deconstruct the collapse of Lehmans, a seminal moment of the crash which had a devastating impact worldwide.

"Combined, The Love Of Money series and The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers drama offer viewers an exciting way into one of the most important moments in the history of business."

Ruth Caleb says: "The drama simply could not have happened without cooperation from the Factual team. Their advice, support and huge generosity were key to us proceeding, and collaborating at the research stage enabled the writer, Craig Warner, to get access to an in-depth and detailed account of events.

"The drama was conceived, written and produced at great speed and this could only be done with considerable input from Dominic Crossley-Holland and his team."

Other programmes in the 91Èȱ¬ Two Crash Season include:

Warren Buffett: How To Be Rich – Evan Davis meets the one of the world's richest men, a hugely successful and legendary investor.

91Èȱ¬ World Service will also be investigating the impact of the global recession in Aftershock, a new season broadcasting across the 91Èȱ¬'s international news services, with 91Èȱ¬ World News and bbc.com, in September.

Opening the season on 5 September, The Day That Lehman Died on 91Èȱ¬ World Service is a new 60-minute radio drama which marks the anniversary of the collapse of this banking giant.

It is a fictionalised account of events over the weekend prior to the bank's demise, where bankers argued and negotiated, all too aware that Lehman was not the only one of its kind in trouble. This drama looks at how the critical decision to let Lehman die was made.

Written by Matthew Solon, an award-winning writer whose work has featured on 91Èȱ¬ World Service and 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4, the play is directed by John Dryden, whose previous credits include the 10-part serialisation of Vikas Swarup's Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) for Radio 4, which won the 2008 Sony Award for Best Drama.

The drama was recorded on location in and around Wall Street, including at the New York Stock Exchange, with cast members including John Shea and John Rothman. It was made with the assistance of WNYC Public Radio in New York.

The Day That Lehman Died was commissioned by Tony Phillips and executive produced by Jeremy Skeet and Marion Nancarrow.

PH