Everyman

Ten weeks ago the Old Bailey saw the start of the first trial for blasphemy in this country for over half a century. Begun by Mary Whitehouse against the homosexual newspaper Gay News, it ended in a conviction, heavy fines and a suspended prison sentence for the editor. An appeal is pending. Was this prosecution an attack on free speech? Or was it a necessary defence of the principle that, even in a permissive society, some things must remain sacred? This dramatised documentary reconstructs the crucial moments of this historic trial, and explores the issues it raises. Peter France questions the people on both sides, including Mary Whitehouse and Denis Lemon, Editor, Gay News, about their actions and reactions during the case.

Sport has always been a competition for physical supremacy, but many leading athletes today are discovering that it can play a radically deeper part in their lives: that sport can be their path to enlightenment. Ian Thompson: "I get out of running what a lot of people get out of going to church." Arthur Ashe: "It's like having a nervous breakdown but you don't care." David Hemery: "Sport can be a Western form of zen." The inner game is both a technique and a philosophy of sport. Tim Gallwey, author of "The Inner Game of Tennis", teaches Peter France the technique by means of a tennis lesson: "You learn control only when you lose control." Racing driver Jackie Stewart, tennis players Arthur Ashe and Mark Cox, cricketer Mike Brearley, marathon-runner Ian Thompson, hurdler David Hemery, report on their personal experiences of the wider philosophy: that sport is the ideal means of fusing body, mind and spirit; and can generate ecstatic states surprisingly similar to those described by religious mystics.