So from September 1979 I made films for our new once a week magazine TV, hour long program, Here and Now. The same routine for me, a film every week, which morphed into longer films later. Some pieces I did were good stuff even if I say so myself. Yet, the founder of the program, deputy director Stuart W., lamented the lack of journalistic impact. The program without the set-up of Panorama or Newsnight wasn’t news.
After two years a story arrived that gave us our chance—a 1981 official report of by Justice Yang of his special Inquiry into the death of a police inspector, John MacLennan.
John Mac. had been found with five bullet wounds in his torso, and the immediate police judgment was suicide. The kill-shot went through his heart and liver, which for right-handed John meant he had to angle the gun down and across his body, a contortion that would enable him to hit his heart at the top left, the bullet travelling across to the lower right, piercing his liver. As a suicide it didn’t make sense at all.
John Mac. had been investigating ‘the gay question’ in Hong Kong and the story of Chinese rent boys. At that point in time it was a still a capital crime on the Hong Kong statutes, meaning a man could be sentenced to death for being homosexual. At that time, the Police Commissioner, Roy Henry, lived alone except for his Malay servant boy. At that time many of the Hong Kong establishment were known gays.
I was the producer of the hour. I worked with two journalists on the report, one a young Englishman (twenties like me) and a Canadian Chinese girl.
We did a good job, beginning the hour with an early morning image of MacLennan’s block where he had an apartment, in which he was found dead. Over the still early morning image of his building came the startling sound of five gunshots in more or less the manner audio witnesses said they heard them.
We had good interviewees with one of the best quotes on Justice Yang’s very detailed report, from a gay Englishman: ‘I just want to put the whole inquiry behind me.’
To put it bluntly, the whole issue by late twentieth century standards was a joke and the conservative justice, Yang, didn’t spare any establishment members with his critique. Nor did we. Though we followed the report to the letter.
Still, the backlash was swift. The establishment got its revenge. Our phones were tapped by Special Branch. The English reporter left his job. As a founding program member, I was taken off Here and Now, demoted to overseeing English translations from the Chinese service. The Canadian Chinese woman, one of the few Chinese on H&N was left alone.
Where was Stuart W. and his desire for more journalism. Nowhere. He stayed on to become Director of Broadcasting, getting for himself a red Mercedes convertible. Our program was gutted, a sycophant given the role of editor.
Swimanög 