One Pair of Eyes — Season 1, Episode 51: Anthony Grey: One Man's Freedom

Episode synopsis

Anthony Grey was the Reuters correspondent in Peking at the height of China's Cultural Revolution. He was arrested by the Chinese Government, as a political hostage, and held prisoner for 806 days. "Two years of solitary confinement in China might seem to be a destructive and negative experience. Now perhaps the elusive positive aspects are becoming clearer in my mind. Undoubtedly my views of what is important in life have been radically affected by what happened to me". In this film Anthony Grey draws on his experience of Peking, and an earlier assignment in Berlin, to explore what it means to be a free individual; and discusses with a number of people, among them Michael Stewart, MP, and Arthur Koestler, some of the political and social forces that can put an individual's freedom at risk.

About One Pair of Eyes

A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1James Cameron: Temporary Person Passing Through
• E2Dr Alex Comfort: A Traveller in the Dreamtime
• E3Anthony Howard: A City of Magnificent Intentions
• E4Nicholas Tomalin: No Worse Heresy
• E5James Cameron: The Road to Kingdom Come
• E6Jo Grimond: The Dead Hand of Democracy
• E7Peter Wilson: You've Got to Win
• E8Norman Parkinson: Stay Baby Stay
• E9Sir Tyrone Guthrie: Off to Philadelphia
• E10James Cameron: Berlin - The Haunted House
• E11Margaret Drabble: A Place Called Exile
• E12Claud Cockburn: One More River To Cross