The McLibel Trial
Kirsty Wark and guests recall the 1990s decade-long libel case between restaurant chain McDonald鈥檚 and two Greenpeace campaigners.
It was in 1994 that McDonald鈥檚 began a libel case against a postman and gardener from London. It took a decade for the case to be resolved, making it the longest-running libel case in English legal history.
In the late 1980s, Helen Steel and Dave Morris were active campaigners for a group called London Greenpeace and had distributed a leaflet that questioned the fast-food giants鈥� claims that their burgers were both healthy and good for the environment.
McDonald鈥檚 took offence and began a case against these, and other claims, made in the leaflet. The pair were unable to get legal aid and so faced the prospect of having to represent themselves in court. Keir Starmer was a young lawyer at the time and was keen to help - offering his advice for free.
The initial ruling in the High Court went in part against Steel and Morris and they were told to pay 拢40,000 damages. But by 2005 the pair had won their appeal to the European Court for Human Rights - and McDonald鈥檚 faced a PR disaster.
Joining Kirsty Wark are the 鈥淢cLibel Two鈥�, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, along with Timothy Atkinson who was part of McDonald鈥檚 legal team, and film maker Franny Armstrong who spent a decade following the case.
Excerpts from "McLibel", courtesy of Spanner Films.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Howard Shannon
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for 大象传媒 Radio 4
The Reunion - Eight incredible moments from modern history told by the people who were there
What happens when The Reunion brings together people to relive moments of modern history?
A full list of the re-published episodes
To mark the 200th edition of The Reunion, 28 editions have been re-published.
Best of The Reunion
A selection of the best editions of the programme.
