It was Harold Evans’ finest hour. Maybe it was British journalism’s finest hour, too. Under this tough, smart and persistent editor, the Sunday Times ran its legendary campaign in the late 60s and early 70s to uncover the truth about thalidomide, the morning sickness drug given 10 years previously to pregnant women, causing their children to be born with malformed limbs. Evans also battled to get proper compensation for the victims’ families. He was up against an army of lawyers deployed by the Distillers group, which owned the drug, enforcing endless injunctions and pursuing bullyboy tactics with the plaintiff families. Evans also faced a smug and complacent political class.
What an inglorious moment this was for the highly strung minister of health, Enoch Powell. Peevish at the impertinence of populist campaigners who presumed to put him under pressure, Powell sided with the corporate overdogs and petulantly blocked any inquiry. Finally, the paper published its findings about the historical origins of thalidomide, a sensational disclosure which explains the film’s title. There is just one thing missing from this excellent documentary: an analysis of the psychological taboo factor – a factor that Distillers used to its advantage. Many people simply found the images of the children too upsetting to look at or think about. So ignoring them wasn’t difficult. Anyway, this is a gripping account.
