91Èȱ¬

A play in two parts: Outside and Inside.

At 8.46am on Friday February 28, 1975, a packed rush-hour tube train smashed into a dead-end tunnel at Moorgate station. The front carriage was forced upwards into the tunnel roof, instantly killing the driver, Les Newson. Forty-two passengers also died, and to this day nobody knows why Les Newson did what he did.

On that wintry morning, for Chief Inspector Brian Fisher, Head of Disaster Planning for the City of London Police, the priority was the rescue of the survivors, trapped in the dark, many in terrible pain or suffocating for lack of fresh air. It was to be the biggest call out since the Blitz for the emergency services across London.

Firemen, ambulance crews and medical staff had to work in dark, cramped conditions, in intense heat, and without any means to communicate quickly between the tunnel and the surface. The team from Clerkenwell Fire Station, led by Brian Goodfellow, endured extremes of stress and danger, with Brian almost dragged to his death at one point.

In the devastated front carriage there were just a handful of survivors, waiting and praying in the dark, desperately trying to keep up their spirits as the distant sound of rescue ebbed away. One by one the survivors’ voices fell silent until there were only two left alive - City worker Jeffrey Benton and newly qualified appointed Policewoman Margaret Liles. Crushed together by the impact, unable to see one another yet in the most intimate closeness, they had no choice but to try and keep each other alive, in the faint hope of rescue.

Written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
In 1975, Laurence was a young journalist working for the Sunday Times, charged with investigating how this disaster occurred. He had more than just a professional desire to discover the facts - his father had been a passenger in the second carriage and was among the fatalities.

Moorgate - Part One: Outside
Brian Fisher: Jonathan Aris
Brian Goodfellow: Lorne MacFadyen
Margaret Liles: Lizzy Watts
Jeffrey Benton: Tyger Drew-Honey
Trevor: Matt Addis
Mrs Liles: Joanna Brookes
Val Benton: Jessica Dennis
Dave: Paul Panting
Jimmy Young: Alistair McGowan

Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL production for 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4