Summary of "Attacking the Devil - Harold Evans and The Last Nazi War Crime"
Summary
This documentary traces Harold (Harry) Evans’s career as an investigative editor—particularly his leadership of the Sunday Times “Insight” team—and shows how sustained journalism helped expose and ultimately redress the thalidomide disaster while reshaping British press freedom.
Sustained, legally aware investigative journalism can mobilise public opinion, challenge powerful interests and expand press protections.
Core narrative and findings
Thalidomide disaster
- The drug marketed (1958–61) as Distaval/Contergan caused catastrophic birth defects: thousands of babies were born without limbs or with other severe deformities.
- The film presents survivors’ testimony about births, social stigma and institutional neglect (including suffocated infants and poor state support).
Origins and mechanism
- The investigation links thalidomide to post‑war pharmaceutical development at Chemie Grünenthal (name variants appear in subtitles).
- Evidence suggests the compound derived from wartime nerve‑agent/anti‑convulsant research.
- Experts explain that thalidomide acts as a neurotoxin at specific early embryonic days (roughly days 20–35), producing highly specific patterns of damage.
- The film raises circumstantial evidence that Nazi‑era science and personnel (notably Otto Ambrose/Ambros) played roles in the drug’s development, and argues that testing failures and corporate priorities (profit and rapid marketing) were decisive factors.
Initial legal and official responses
- Many governments and regulators reacted slowly or defensively.
- The UK Minister of Health (Enoch Powell) refused an inquiry or public warning; civil servants tended to accept manufacturers’ test data.
- The legal environment (contempt of court, libel, Official Secrets) severely constrained the British press and campaigners.
Litigation and gagging
- Families sued the Distillers Company (a powerful conglomerate chaired by Alexander McDonald).
- Wealthy defendants used gagging writs and legal pressure; media reporting of pending cases was heavily restricted.
- Early out‑of‑court settlements leaked no usable information and left most victims unable to sue because of time limits.
Newspaper intervention and strategy
- Harold Evans led a long‑term moral campaign at the Sunday Times: publishing human stories and photographs, pushing MPs, and publicising inadequate compensation offers.
- Insight’s reporting combined three threads:
- the legal story,
- investigative research into the drug, its manufacture and testing, and
- direct engagement with affected families.
- Lawyers worked to publish morally persuasive material while navigating contempt rules.
Public and institutional mobilisation
- Tactics included photographs, parliamentary lobbying (MPs Jack Ashley and Alf Morris among supporters), letters to MPs, buying shareholder lists and writing to shareholders, consumer pressure/boycotts (including international attention via Ralph Nader), and sustained national coverage.
- These tactics shifted public opinion and investor pressure against Distillers.
Key turning points and outcomes
- David Mason, a thalidomide parent, refused an inadequate settlement and became a public catalyst for the campaign; he won important legal skirmishes that undermined Distillers’ claims.
- Massive public and shareholder pressure, together with continued Sunday Times exposure, forced Distillers to increase its offer to around £20 million; the government removed punitive taxation, added support, and a trust fund was established for long‑term compensation.
- The Sunday Times faced injunctions that initially prevented publication of a full factual exposé. Appeals to senior UK courts (including the House of Lords) and to the European Court of Human Rights led to a landmark judgment expanding press protections—recognising the importance of reporting essential facts even amid legal constraints.
- Years later ministers formally expressed regret (the film shows a filmed statement by Health Minister Mike O’Brien), and subsequent research and the thalidomide trust uncovered more about the drug’s development and corporate responsibility.
Broader themes and legacy
- Evans’s work is placed alongside earlier successful press campaigns (for example, campaigning for cervical smear screening and work exposing wrongful hangings) to demonstrate how persistent journalism can effect policy change and legal reform.
- The film highlights the constraints British journalists faced (Official Secrets, contempt, libel) and celebrates the institutional capacity of a serious national newspaper to marshal legal, investigative and moral resources for the public good.
- It warns of the fragility of that institutional counterweight in the digital age and argues for editors guided by public purpose rather than profit.
Tactics, people and institutions involved
Investigative methods
- Use of whistleblower documents and translation of foreign (German) files
- Forensic lab and patent analysis
- Survivor and family interviews
- Legal strategies to publish moral (not legally prejudicial) material
- Parliamentary lobbying, shareholder activism, consumer boycott and international publicity
Key institutions
- Sunday Times (Insight team)
- Northern Echo
- Distillers Company
- Chemie Grünenthal
- Thalidomide Trust
- Various government ministries and courts, including the European Court of Human Rights
Results and impact
- Major increases in compensation and establishment of a trust for victims
- Formal government expressions of regret/apology
- Strengthened legal protections for investigative reporting in the UK
- A public re‑framing of blame from parents to pharmaceutical companies and regulators
- The documentary credits Harold Evans and his team with sustaining a campaign that changed public policy, corporate behaviour and press freedoms
Presenters and contributors
(Names appear as given in the subtitles; spellings may reflect the auto‑generated transcript.)
- Harold (Harry) Evans
- David Mason
- Philip Knightley (Phil Knightley)
- Marjorie (reporter; surname not given)
- Bruce Page
- Elaine Potter
- Dennis Hamilton
- Lord (Roy) Thomson (proprietor)
- Enoch Powell
- Anthony Barber
- Roy Jenkins
- Herbert Wolfe
- Ludovic Kennedy
- James Evans (lawyer)
- Godfrey Heisman (name as in subtitles)
- Jack Ashley (MP)
- Alf Morris (MP)
- Ralph Nader
- Ron (Pete/Pett — head of Legal & General; appears as Ron Pete in subtitles)
- Alexander McDonald (chairman of Distillers Company)
- Otto Ambrose/Ambros (referred to as “The Devil’s chemist”)
- Mike O’Brien (Health Minister)
(Also referenced: the Sunday Times “Insight” team, Thalidomide Trust, Chemie Grünenthal / Kemi grunental, Distillers Company, and unnamed doctors, scientists and legal figures.)
Category
News and Commentary
Share this summary
Is the summary off?
If you think the summary is inaccurate, you can reprocess it with the latest model.
Preparing reprocess...