Editing World in Action

{{short description|British investigative current affairs programme}}
{{For|the Canadian World War II propaganda film series|The World in Action}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox television
| image       = World in Action logo 1970.jpg
| caption     = 1970s version of the programme's opening title
| runtime     = 30 minutes
| creator     = [[Tim Hewat]]
| channel     = [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]
| first_aired = {{Start date|1963|01|07|df=y}}
| last_aired  = {{End date|1998|12|07|df=y}}
| num_series  = 35
| language    = English
| country     = United Kingdom
| producer    = [[ITV Granada|Granada Television]]
}}

'''''World in Action''''' was a British investigative [[current affairs (news format)|current affairs]] programme made by [[ITV Granada|Granada Television]] for [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning [[investigative journalism|journalism]] frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks, and the programme gained a solid reputation for its often-unorthodox approach. The series was sold around the world and won numerous awards. In its heyday, ''World in Action'' drew audiences of up to 23 million in Britain alone, equivalent to almost half the population.

[[Cabinet minister]]s fell to its probings. Numerous innocent victims of the British [[criminal justice]] system, including the [[Birmingham Six]], were released from jail. Honouring the programme in its 50th anniversary awards the [[Political Studies Association]] said, "''World in Action'' thrived on unveiling corruption and highlighting underhand dealings. ''World in Action'' came to be seen as hard-hitting investigative journalism at its best."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fiftieth Anniversary Award Winners|url=https://www.psa.ac.uk/about/brochure/PSA%20Brochure_18-25.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003124747/http://www.psa.ac.uk/about/brochure/PSA%20Brochure_18-25.pdf|archive-date=2008-10-03|website=[[Political Studies Association]]}}</ref> A melodramatic post-trial encounter in 1967 between [[Mick Jagger]] and senior British establishment figures, in which the rock star and his retinue were flown by helicopter onto the lawn of a [[stately home]], was engineered by then ''World in Action'' researcher and future [[Director-General of the BBC|BBC Director-General]] [[John Birt, Baron Birt|John Birt]]. Decades later, Birt himself described it as "one of the iconic moments of the Sixties."<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-08-26|title=John Birt's MacTaggart Lecture 2005|url=http://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/aug/26/broadcasting.uknews|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113162955/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/aug/26/broadcasting.uknews|archive-date=2019-11-13|access-date=2020-10-04|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> Soon after she became [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] leader, [[Margaret Thatcher]] was said to have told the BBC Director-General, Sir [[Ian Trethowan]], that she considered ''World in Action'' to consist of "just a lot of [[Trotskyist|Trots]]. ''[[Panorama (British TV programme)|Panorama]]'', however, are bastards."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2008-05-13|title=NEW – Frontline Confidential with Ray Fitzwalter: the rise and fall of ITV|url=https://www.frontlineclub.com/new_-_frontline_confidential_with_ray_fitzwalter_the_rise_and_fall_of_itv/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527055219/http://www.frontlineclub.com/new_-_frontline_confidential_with_ray_fitzwalter_the_rise_and_fall_of_itv/|archive-date=2016-05-27|access-date=2020-10-04|website=[[Frontline Club]]|language=en}}</ref>

Its removal after 35 years was seen by some as part of a general [[dumbing down]] of British television and of ITV in particular.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzwalter|first=Raymond|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/183917413|title=The Dream That Died: The Rise and Fall of ITV|date=2008|publisher=Troubador|isbn=978-1-906221-87-4|location=Leicester|oclc=183917413}}</ref> One commercial TV regulatory official privately characterised the ''[[Tonight (1999 TV programme)|Tonight]]'' programme, which replaced it, as merely "fluffy".<ref name=":0" /> Others saw ''World in Action's'' eventual disappearance as the inevitable consequence of rising commercial pressures. Announcing a £250,000 fund for an investigative journalism training scheme, [[Channel 4]] said in November 2011 that a decline in the pool of investigative journalism had occurred since "the demise of training grounds such as ''World in Action''".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Conlan|first=Tara|date=2011-11-08|title=Channel 4 to air more, shorter Dispatches episodes|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/08/channel-4-dispatches|url-status=live|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113162945/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/08/channel-4-dispatches|archive-date=2019-11-13|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Origins==
''World in Action'' was the pre-eminent current-affairs programme produced by Britain's ITV Network in its first 50 years. Along with ''[[This Week (1956 TV programme)|This Week]]'', ''[[Weekend World]]'', ''TV Eye'', ''[[First Tuesday (TV programme)|First Tuesday]]'', ''The Big Story'', and ''[[The Cook Report]]'' – and the news-gathering of [[ITN]] – ''World in Action'' gave ITV a reputation for quality broadcast journalism to rival the [[BBC]]'s output.

For the first 35 years of its existence, ITV had a near-monopoly of television advertising revenue. [[Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet|Roy Thomson]], who ran [[Scottish Television]], famously described ITV as a "licence to print money".<ref>{{cite web|date=5 July 2006|title=Kenneth Roy Thomson|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/kenneth-roy-thomson/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625093153/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/34783|archive-date=25 June 2013|access-date=29 March 2013|work=[[Press Gazette]]|df=dmy-all}}</ref> In return for this income, the broadcasting regulator insisted that the ITV companies broadcast a proportion of their programmes as [[public service broadcasting|public-service TV]]. Out of this was born the network's reputation for serious current affairs, eagerly grabbed by programme makers under Granada's founder, Lord [[Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein|Sidney Bernstein]].

Some of the most prominent figures in 20th-century British broadcasting helped to create ''World in Action'', in particular, [[Tim Hewat]], "the maverick genius of Granada's current affairs in its formative years",<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Purser|first=Philip|date=2004-12-04|title=Obituary: Tim Hewat|url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/dec/04/guardianobituaries.media|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816052440/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/dec/04/guardianobituaries.media|archive-date=2019-08-16|access-date=2020-10-04|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> and [[David Plowright]], but also [[Jeremy Isaacs]], [[Michael Parkinson]], John Birt, and [[Gus Macdonald, Baron Macdonald of Tradeston|Gus Macdonald]] and its most long-serving executive producer, Ray Fitzwalter. The series developed the skills of generations of journalists, and in particular, filmmakers. [[Michael Apted]] worked on the original ''[[Up Series|Seven Up!]]''. [[Paul Greengrass]], who spent 10 years on ''World in Action'', told the BBC: "My first dream was to work on ''World In Action'', to be honest. It was that wonderful eclectic mixture of filmmaking and reportage. That was my training ground. It showed me the world and made me see many things."<ref>{{cite web|last=Carnevale|first=Rob|year=2006|title=Getting Direct With Directors... No 40: Paul Greengrass|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/callingtheshots/paul_greengrass.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222154302/http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/callingtheshots/paul_greengrass.shtml|archive-date=2020-02-22|access-date=29 March 2013|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> He later told ''[[The Guardian]]'': "If there's a thread running through my career it's ''World in Action'' – the phrase as well as the programme."<ref name="GreengrassGuardian">{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Stephen|date=9 June 2008|title=A whirlwind in action|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/09/itv.television|url-status=live|access-date=29 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618033134/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/09/itv.television|archive-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>

Although its rivals produced many memorable programmes, ''World in Action'''s "slamming into the subject of each edition without wordy prefaces from a reassuring host-figure"<ref name=":1" /> consistently gained a reputation for the kind of original journalism and filmmaking that made headlines and won major awards. In its time, the series was honoured by all of the major broadcasting awards, including many [[BAFTA]], the [[Royal Television Society]], and [[Emmy]] awards.

''World in Action's'' style was the opposite to its urbane BBC rivals, especially to the London BBC. By repute, especially in its early days, ''World in Action'' would never employ anybody who was on first-name terms with any politician. Gus Macdonald, an executive producer of the programme, said it had been "born brash".<ref>{{cite web|title=World in Action|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/worldinacti/worldinacti.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017123908/http://www.museum.tv:80/archives/etv/W/htmlW/worldinacti/worldinacti.htm|archive-date=2008-10-17|access-date=29 March 2013|publisher=[[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]}}</ref> Steve Boulton, one of its last editors, wrote in ''[[The Independent]]'' that the programme's ethos was to "comfort the afflicted – and afflict the comfortable." Paul Greengrass told ''The Guardian'' in June 2008 that the chairman of Granada TV once told him: "Don't forget, your job's to make trouble."<ref name="GreengrassGuardian" />

The series outlasted all of its contemporaries in ITV current affairs, killed off as the commercial pressures on the network grew with the arrival of multichannel TV in the UK. Eventually, ''World In Action'', too, was removed from the schedules by its own creator, Granada TV. On 7 December 1998, ''World in Action ''ceased operations for good after 35 years on air. It was replaced in the schedules by ''[[Tonight (television programme)|Tonight]]''.

==Investigative legacy==
From the beginning, and especially from the late 1960s, ''World in Action'' broke new ground in investigative techniques. Landmark investigations included the [[John Poulson|Poulson]] affair, corruption in the [[West Midlands Serious Crime Squad]], the exposure of the shadowy and violent far-right group [[Combat 18]], investigations into [[L. Ron Hubbard]] and [[Scientology]], and most notably, a long campaign that resulted in the release from prison of the [[Birmingham Six]], six [[Ireland|Irishmen]] falsely accused of planting [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] bombs in [[Birmingham]] pubs.

''World in Action's'' appetite for controversy created tension with the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] (IBA), the official regulator during most of the series's run, which had the power to intervene before broadcast. Sir [[Denis Forman]], one of Granada's founders, wrote that "[[trench warfare]]" existed between the programme and the industry regulator, the [[Independent Television Authority]], in the years between 1966 and 1969 as ''World in Action'' sought to establish its journalistic freedoms.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Forman|first=Denis|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38301065|title=Persona Granada : some memories of Sidney Bernstein and the early days of independent television|date=1997|publisher=André Deutsch|isbn=0-233-98987-0|location=London|pages=222|oclc=38301065}}</ref>

The most celebrated dispute was in 1973, over the banning of ''The Friends and Influence of John L Poulson'', the definitive film about the Poulson affair, itself one of the defining scandals of British political life in the 1960s. Poulson was an architect, who was jailed a year later for [[political corruption|corrupting]] politicians and civil servants to advance his construction business. The regulator, which was then the IBA, banned the film without seeing it and without giving official reasons other than "broadcasting policy". As a protest, Granada broadcast a blank screen – which, bizarrely, recorded the third-highest TV audience of that week. After a public furor, which saw newspapers from the ''[[Sunday Times (UK)|Sunday Times]]'' to the ''[[Socialist Worker]]'' unite in condemnation of "censorship", the IBA held a second vote, having by then seen the film. By a single vote, the ban was lifted and the programme, by then retitled ''The Rise and Fall of John Poulson'', was transmitted on 30 April 1973, three months after it was first scheduled.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Goddard|first=Peter|date=May 2006|title=Scandal at the regulator|volume=43|work=[[Royal Television Society]]|issue=5|url=http://www.rts.org.uk/magazine_det.asp?id=4758&sec_id=826|url-status=dead|access-date=2020-10-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015602/http://www.rts.org.uk/magazine_det.asp?id=4758&sec_id=826|archive-date=2007-09-28}}</ref>

In January 1980, the programme examined the business practices of the then chairman of [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United football club]], [[Louis Edwards]]. Edwards ran a wholesale butchery business that supplied schools in [[Manchester]]; ''WIA'' exposed practices of bribery of council officials and the supply of meat that was unfit for human consumption to such institutions; Edwards' businesses were subsequently prosecuted and lost their contracts. Louis Edwards himself died of a heart attack a month after the show was broadcast.

''World in Action'' tackled the British [[intelligence service]]s, as well as the Royal Navy, over their recruitment practices; senior navy personnel famously [[door-stepped]] the director of ''World in Action'''s film in question. The programme broadcast revelations by [[whistleblowers]] from both [[GCHQ]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/106622|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020015945/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/106622|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 October 2008|title=World in Action: Mr Kane's Campaign|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> the government's electronic eavesdropping and surveillance headquarters, and from the [[Joint Intelligence Committee (UK)|Joint Intelligence Committee]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/460599|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022025005/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/460599|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2008|title=World in Action: Defending the Realm|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref>

Its most audacious investigation of the intelligence community was, perhaps, an extended edition in July 1984 titled "The Spy Who Never Was", the confessions of a former [[MI5]] officer, [[Peter Wright (MI5 officer)|Peter Wright]]. ''[[Spycatcher]]'', Wright's subsequent account of the period when his colleagues and he had, as he put it, "bugged and burgled our way across London",<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Wright|first1=Peter|title=[[Spycatcher|Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer]]|last2=Greengrass|first2=Paul|publisher=[[Viking Press]]|year=1987|isbn=0-670-82055-5|location=New York, NY|pages=54|oclc=17234291}}</ref> revealed what had in effect been a planned coup against the then-Labour government of [[Harold Wilson]]. Wright appeared to have been in charge of the technical side of things. "The Wilson plot", as it became known, was corroborated to varying degrees both before and after the film's transmission in various other books by journalists and in volumes of memoirs by others involved in the conspiracy. Wright's book was the most explosive of them all. Wright, embittered by a still-unresolved pension dispute, fled to Australia, where the book was written and finally published – to the fury of Margaret Thatcher – with the assistance of the original programme's chief researcher, [[Paul Greengrass]]. Publication in Britain was initially banned outright by the government of Margaret Thatcher.

The series was rarely away from the courts and the threat of legal action. The Scientologists tried – and failed – to stop ''World in Action'''s broadcasts about them through the courts, and in 1980, members of the programme's staff and senior executives at Granada TV announced that they would be prepared to go to prison rather than submit to a [[House of Lords]] ruling<ref>{{Cite web|title=British Steel Corp. v. Granada Television Ltd.|url=http://uniset.ca/terr/css/britishsteel.html|access-date=2020-08-21|website=uniset.ca}}</ref> that the programme reveal the identity of an informant who had supplied ''WIA'' with 250 pages of secret documents from the then-state-owned [[British Steel Corporation]]<ref>[http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/articles/100.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211044820/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/tv/100/articles/100.html|date=11 February 2006}}</ref> which was at the time locked in an [[industrial dispute]] with its workforce.

In 1995, [[Susan O'Keeffe]], a ''World in Action'' journalist, was threatened with prison in Ireland for refusing to reveal her sources. She had investigated scandals within the Irish [[meat industry]] in two films in 1991, setting in motion a three-year [[Tribunal of Inquiry]] in Dublin, which found that much of her criticism of the industry was substantiated. The tribunal, though, demanded that she name her informants, and when she refused to do so, she was charged by the Irish [[Director of Public Prosecutions]].<ref>[https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9410&L=irishlaw&D=0&O=A&P=10778&F=P] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205014907/https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9410&L=irishlaw&D=0&O=A&P=10778&F=P|date=5 February 2012}}</ref> The case became a [[cause célèbre]] in the [[Republic of Ireland]], and in January 1995 she faced trial for [[contempt of court]] but was cleared of the charge.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0141/S.0141.199409010006.html|title=Parliamentary Debates: 01 September 1994|publisher=[[Seanad Éireann]]|access-date=29 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205022859/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/S/0141/S.0141.199409010006.html|archive-date=5 February 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref> O'Keeffe was honoured in the 1994 [[Campaign for Freedom of Information|Freedom of Information Awards]] for her stand.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.cfoi.org.uk/awards94pr.html#okeeffe|title=1994 Freedom of Information Awards|publisher=[[Campaign for Freedom of Information]]|date=27 February 1995|access-date=29 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603081407/http://www.cfoi.org.uk/awards94pr.html#okeeffe|archive-date=3 June 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In its last few years, the programme was involved in two high-profile [[libel]] cases. It won the first (along with ''The Guardian'') against the former [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Cabinet Minister|cabinet minister]] [[Jonathan Aitken]], and lost the second, against the [[high street]] chain [[Marks & Spencer]].<ref>[http://www.cpbf.demon.co.uk/FreePress/fp108/fp108.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061007191219/http://www.cpbf.demon.co.uk/FreePress/fp108/fp108.htm|date=7 October 2006}}</ref>

On 10 April 1995, Aitken, himself a former journalist for [[Yorkshire Television]], called a televised press conference three hours before the transmission of a ''World in Action'' film, ''Jonathan of Arabia'', demanding that allegations about his dealings with leading [[Saudis]] be withdrawn.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://century.guardian.co.uk/1990-1999/Story/0,,112789,00.html|title=Aitken sues over Saudi claims|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=11 April 1995|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> In a phrase that would come to haunt him, Aitken promised to wield "the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play&nbsp;... to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo971217/debtext/71217-03.htm|title=House of Commons Hansard Debates for 17 Dec 1997|publisher=[[House of Commons (United Kingdom)|House of Commons]]|date=17 December 1997|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Aitken was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison for [[perjure|perjuring]] himself in the resulting libel case.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/aitken|title=Special reports: the Aitken case|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> ''World in Action'' followed the collapse of Aitken's libel case with a special edition whose title reflected the MP's claim to wield the "sword of truth". It was called ''The Dagger of Deceit''.

==Television techniques==
Although the series's lasting reputation is for its investigative work, it also led the way in introducing other techniques to mainstream TV. In 1971, years before the rise of "reality" programmes on TV schedules, ''World in Action'' challenged the [[Staffordshire]] village of [[Longnor, Staffordshire|Longnor]] to quit smoking,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/19736|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022193704/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/19736|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Village That Quit|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/19808|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024045508/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/19808|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Village That Quit, Well Not Exactly|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> a forerunner of many of the popular-challenge documentaries that enjoyed success in the 21st-century reality-television boom.

In 1984, ''World in Action'' caused a sensation by challenging a rising young Conservative Member of Parliament, [[Matthew Parris]], to live for a week on a £26 unemployment benefit payment to test the reality of his own critical views on unemployed people<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-28-2004-49935.asp |title=Gareth Mclean: Poverty as Entertainment on Tv |access-date=28 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070503104555/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-28-2004-49935.asp |archive-date=3 May 2007 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> – Parris subsequently abandoned Parliament for a career as a broadcaster and writer. The same year, ''World in Action'' revealed the tricks behind political [[Public speaking|oratory]] by coaching a complete beginner, Ann Brennan, to deliver a speech, which won a standing ovation at the annual conference of the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]], using techniques developed by Professor [[Max Atkinson]]. Eminent political commentator Sir [[Robin Day]], covering the conference for BBC television, described Mrs Brennan's performance as "[t]he most refreshing speech we've heard so far."

''World in Action'' helped to pioneer the technique of using [[secret photography|covert cameras]], not just in investigative work, but also in social documentary, including, from the earliest days, the treatment of gypsies, the old in care ("Ward F13"), and poverty in England. The arrival of high-quality miniature cameras allowed ambitious projects such as [[Donal MacIntyre]]'s award-winning programmes in October 1996 on the [[illegal drug trade]], and the future Conservative MP [[Adam Holloway]]'s disturbing reports on the reality of life among the [[homeless]] in 1991. In 1998, ''World in Action'' took advantage of the new technology to equip an entire house with secret cameras hidden in places from coke tins to fish tanks to catch out shoddy builders. The success of the two-part series called ''House of Horrors'', produced by Kate Middleton, led not only to the ITV series ''House of Horrors'' and to the BBC's ''Rogue Traders'', but also to a whole new genre of programming, around the world, based around hidden-camera footage of dodgy tradesmen.

''World in Action'' also gave rise to a number of other spin-off series, most famously the ''[[Seven Up!]]'' documentaries that have followed the lives of a group of British people who turned seven years old in 1963. The most recent, ''63 UP'', was shown in 2019. [[Michael Apted]] directed most episodes; parallel series have also started in South Africa, the US, and Russia.

More recent current-affairs series on other channels, such as the [[Donal MacIntyre|MacIntyre]] series on BBC and [[Five (channel)|Five]], and [[Channel 4]]'s ''[[Dispatches (TV series)|Dispatches]]'', commissioned by Dorothy Byrne, a former ''World in Action'' producer, may be seen as having inherited certain aspects of ''World in Action'''s hard-hitting journalistic style.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==''World in Action'' and popular culture==
One of the programme's hallmarks was its willingness to embrace popular culture, at a time when its competitors preferred a more [[highbrow]] approach. One of the earliest editions reported on overspending at the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] in the style of a contemporary gameshow, ''Beat the Clock''. The programme was so controversial, it was banned from being shown on ITV by the then-regulatory body, the Independent Television Authority; instead, 10 minutes of it were shown on the BBC as an act of journalistic solidarity.<ref>Denis Forman, ''Persona Granada'' pp. 216–17.</ref> The gameshow device re-emerged in 1989, when an academic study of the uptake of tax-funded [[social welfare provision|benefits]] by the middle class was transformed into a mock quiz show named ''Spongers'', fronted by a well-known star of game formats, [[Nicholas Parsons]].

Popular music played a significant role in ''WIA's'' history. An early edition, in 1966, carried a [[fly-on-the-wall]] account of daily life aboard one of the then-[[pirate radio]] ships, [[Radio Caroline]], at a time when the British government was determined to preserve the radio monopoly of the BBC by driving the "pirates" off the air. In 1964, the show covered the launch of the second pirate radio ship, Radio Atlanta, by putting a film crew on board the radio ship as she sailed into position.

After the offshore radio ships were outlawed, only Radio Caroline's two ships continued, so ''WIA'' visited one of the ships in September 1967. The British government were furious and banned the camera crew from sailing back into the UK at Felixstowe, just a few miles away, forcing them to sail to Holland and then fly back to the UK.

The long-running intermittent ''Seven Up!'' series of TV films, which in due course spanned decades, was first broadcast from 1964 as part of ''World in Action''. By its intimate technique of filming the everyday lives of children and interviewing them, a different picture of life in Britain was formed.

In 1967, a young researcher named John Birt established his early reputation by persuading the rock star Mick Jagger to appear on ''World in Action''<ref>{{cite news|url=http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1557297,00.html|title=John Birt's MacTaggart Lecture 2005|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=26 August 2005|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> to debate youth culture and his recent drug conviction, with establishment figures, including [[William Rees-Mogg]] of ''[[The Times]]'', who had written a famous editorial defending the singer. Jagger so enjoyed the experience that he invited the Granada team to film [[the Rolling Stones]] at the band's free 1969 concert in [[Hyde Park, London]]. The resulting film, ''[[The Stones in the Park]]'', was one of the iconic concert films of the 1960s. John Birt moved on to edit ''World in Action'', and eventually became the director-general of the BBC.

The rise of [[Thatcherism]] and the misery of mass unemployment had ''WIA'' examining the phenomenon through the eyes of another emerging band, [[UB40]], in ''A Statistic, A Reminder'' (1981), a line taken from one of the band's songs. Six years later, a special edition of the programme was devoted to the Irish rock band [[U2]] and their charismatic front man [[Bono]]. Like the Rolling Stones before them, U2 allowed ''World in Action'' to film one of their classic concerts in 1987 in Ireland. This footage, shot by future Hollywood director Paul Greengrass, was shown only once on ITV because of [[copyright]] restrictions, although it has circulated among fans as a [[bootleg recording|bootleg]].

In 1983, [[Stevie Wonder]], at the height of his popularity, gave the programme a musical exclusive when he agreed to let a ''World in Action'' crew record him performing an unreleased song, written to help [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politician [[Jesse Jackson]]'s electioneering, for ''The Race Against Reagan''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402505|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022160510/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402505|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Race Against Reagan|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Another popular singer, [[Sting (musician)|Sting]], appeared in a more critical ''World in Action'' episode, which questioned the effectiveness of his [[Rainforest Foundation Fund|Rainforest Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sting.com/news/interview.php?uid%3D1583 |access-date=21 September 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113042041/http://www.sting.com/news/interview.php?uid=1583|title=While Sting's commercial success is undeniable, his artistic and political aspirations remain a popular subject of debate...|archive-date=13 November 2006 }}</ref> In August 1980, the series devoted an edition to the story behind chart rigging – an ongoing practice where record companies were bribing the British chart compilers to put certain artists' singles higher in the charts than they actually were. Singles mentioned on the programme included several UK number-one hits of the previous 12 months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=23632&sectioncode=1|title=Industry veteran John Fruin dies|work=Music Week|date=1 November 2006|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref>

Perhaps the most bruising encounter between ''WIA'' and popular entertainment was the 1995 film ''Black and Blue'', which featured a covert recording of a performance by comedian [[Bernard Manning]] as the star of a charity function organised by the Manchester branch of the [[Police Federation of England and Wales|Police Federation]], which represents rank-and-file officers. Manning's racist and homophobic performance, loudly applauded by those present, caused outrage when ''WIA'' broadcast excerpts, sparking an intense debate about the willingness of British police officers to embrace a [[Diversity (politics)|diverse]] culture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/uk2/|title=Racist Violence in the United Kingdom|date=April 1997|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Former ''WIA'' editor Steve Boulton revealed during a 2013 ITV documentary<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/jan/08/itv-investigative-journalism|title=Down memory lane with the much-missed World in Action|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=Roy|last=Greenslade|date=8 January 2013|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> about ''World in Action'' that the covert recording had been made by a fellow speaker at the function, former Liverpool [[Militant (Trotskyist group)|Militant]] politician [[Derek Hatton]], himself a previous target of a ''World in Action'' investigation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402597|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025202339/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/402597|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 October 2008|title=World in Action: The Trouble With Derek|work=BFI Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=29 March 2013}}</ref> Hatton used a miniature cassette recorder concealed in Boulton's own [[Filofax]].

==Leading contributors==

===Journalists===
''World in Action'' employed many leading journalists, among them [[John Pilger]]; [[Michael Parkinson]]; [[Gordon Burns (television)|Gordon Burns]]; [[Nick Davies]], [[Ed Vulliamy]] and [[David Leigh (journalist)|David Leigh]] of the ''Guardian''; Alasdair Palmer of the ''[[Sunday Telegraph]]''; John Ware, BBC ''Panorama'''s leading investigative reporter; [[Tony Wilson]], whose second career as a music impresario was immortalised in the feature film ''[[24 Hour Party People]]''; Michael Gillard, creator of the ''Slicker'' business pages in the satirical magazine ''[[Private Eye]]''; [[Donal MacIntyre]]; the writer Mark Hollingsworth; Quentin McDermott, since 1999 a leading investigative reporter for the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]; Tony Watson, editor of the ''[[Yorkshire Post]]'' for 13 years and editor-in-chief of the [[Press Association]] from December 2006; and [[Andrew Jennings]], author of ''Lords of the Rings'' and ''The Dirty Game'', who has campaigned vigorously for more than a decade against corruption in international sport.

Two former ''World in Action'' journalists uncovered one of the biggest broadcasting scandals of the 1990s. Laurie Flynn, a central figure in the British Steel papers case, and Michael Sean Gillard revealed that large parts of a 1996 [[Carlton Television]] documentary, ''The Connection'', about drug trafficking from [[Colombia]], had been fabricated.<ref>{{cite news|title=Inquiry ordered into faked TV programme|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=6 May 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/88866.stm|title=Guardian renews claims of 'faked' documentary|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=7 May 1998|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>
Flynn and Gillard's exposé in ''the Guardian'' in May 1998 led to an inquiry and a record £2 million fine for Carlton from the then-regulator, the Independent Television Commission,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/237715.stm|title=Carlton fined £2m for 'faked' documentary|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=18 December 1998|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> as well as provoking a passionate debate about truthfulness in broadcast journalism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1199/bwfr8b.htm|title=The primrose path: faking UK television documentary, "docuglitz" and docusoap|first=Brian|last=Winston|work=Screening the Past|date=12 November 1999|access-date=30 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206204451/http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1199/bwfr8b.htm|archive-date=6 February 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/23/johnarlidge.theobserver|title=TV accuracy and ethics 'at all-time low'|work=[[The Observer]]|first1=John|last1=Arlidge|first2=Michael|last2=Collins|date=23 May 1999|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

===Presenters===
Unusually for a current-affairs programme, ''WIA's'' standard format was as a [[voice-over]] documentary without a regular reporter, although a handful of ''WIA'' journalists did appear in front of camera, including [[Chris Kelly (TV presenter)|Chris Kelly]], [[Gordon Burns (television)|Gordon Burns]], John Pilger, Gus Macdonald, Nick Davies, [[Adam Holloway]], [[Stuart Prebble]] (who later became the programme's editor), Mike Walsh, David Taylor, [[Donal MacIntyre]], and [[Granada Reports]] journalist and [[Factory Records]] supremo [[Tony Wilson]], who became the show's first in-vision anchor in the early 1980s. Guest presenters were used on rare occasions, among them [[Jonathan Dimbleby]], [[Sandy Gall]], Martyn Gregory, [[Sue Lawley]], and [[Lynn Faulds Wood]]. Perhaps its most celebrated guest presenter was distinguished American [[anchorman]] [[Walter Cronkite]], who came out of retirement to cover the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 UK general election]] for the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=105092|title=TV Interview for Granada ''World in Action''|publisher=[[Margaret Thatcher Foundation]]|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

A small group of narrators delivered the vast majority of ''WIA's'' voice-overs. The two original narrators were [[Derek Cooper (journalist)|Derek Cooper]], later to become well known as a broadcaster and writer about food, and Wilfrid Thomas. The science presenter. [[James Burke (science historian)|James Burke]], did a number of commentaries on early editions of the programme. Other major contributors included [[David Plowright]], [[Chris Kelly (TV presenter)|Chris Kelly]], [[Jim Pope]], Philip Tibenham, and Andrew Brittain. Among the guest narrators who contributed occasional commentaries were popular actors [[Robert Lindsay (actor)|Robert Lindsay]] and [[Jean Boht]].

===Producer-directors===
The series was known for its gritty visual style, almost always shot on location, and a number of its producer-directors went on to work on major film projects. Those working on the series in its early years included [[Michael Apted]], later to direct ''[[Coal Miner's Daughter (film)|Coal Miner's Daughter]]'', ''[[Gorillas in the Mist]]'', and the [[James Bond]] film ''[[The World Is Not Enough]]'', as well as the ''[[Up Series]]'' documentaries (the earliest programmes were part of the ''WIA'' series), and [[Mike Hodges]], who went on to direct ''[[Get Carter]]'' and ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]''. Director John Goldschmidt made several films for the series in the early 1970s. Later, [[Paul Greengrass]], director of the feature films ''[[United 93 (film)|United 93]]'', ''[[The Bourne Supremacy]]'', and ''[[The Bourne Ultimatum (film)|The Bourne Ultimatum]]'' and of the drama-documentaries ''[[Bloody Sunday (TV drama)|Bloody Sunday]]'' and ''The Murder of [[Stephen Lawrence]]'', cut his directing teeth on ''World in Action''. [[Leslie Woodhead]], director of ''The Stones in the Park'', the award-winning ''[[A Cry From The Grave]]'', many ''[[Disappearing World (TV series)|Disappearing World]]'' films and also regarded by many as a founder of the [[docudrama|drama-documentary]] movement,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1103146/index.html|title=Drama Documentary|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> worked on ''World in Action'' for many years as a producer-director and executive. Long-time ''World in Action'' alumni who went on to direct and produce Granada's international award-winning ''Disappearing World'' films include Brian Moser, its instigator and original producer, and Charlie Nairn.

Among the more recent generation of filmmakers to emerge from ''World in Action'' were [[Alex Holmes]], who became editor of the [[BBC2]] documentary strand ''Modern Times'' and went on to write and direct the [[BAFTA]]-winning dramatised documentary series ''Dunkirk'' for the BBC and ''[[House of Saddam]]'' for the BBC and [[HBO]]; and Katy Jones, a former ''WIA'' producer who became a key collaborator with the screenwriter [[Jimmy McGovern]] as a producer on the drama-documentaries ''[[Hillsborough disaster|Hillsborough]]'' (1996) and ''[[Sunday (2002 film)|Sunday]]'' (2002).

===Broadcasters===
''WIA'' was a starting point for several key programme-makers who went on to major roles in British broadcasting. John Birt became director-general of the BBC, having been programme controller of the ITV station [[London Weekend Television]], where he created the current-affairs flagship, ''[[Weekend World]]''.

Several ''WIA'' staffers were promoted to significant roles in Granada Television, among them [[David Plowright]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/obituaries/story/0,,1859671,00.html|title=Obituary: David Plowright|first=Philip|last=Purser|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=28 August 2006|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> who became its chairman and later went on to become deputy chairman of [[Channel 4]]. Steve Morrison became chief executive at Granada. Gus Macdonald held the same role at another ITV franchise, [[Scottish Television]].

Stuart Prebble, a former editor, became chief executive of ITV, and Steve Anderson became head of news and current affairs for that channel. Both have since moved on to the independent production industry. Ian McBride, who led the team that made the Birmingham Six programmes, became managing editor of Granada TV, and was director of compliance for ITV until 2008.

Dianne Nelmes, who worked as a researcher and executive producer of ''WIA'', was the founding editor of Granada TV's hugely successful ''[[This Morning with Richard and Judy]]'' and went on to head daytime and factual programmes at ITV.

Dorothy Byrne, a former ''WIA'' producer, went on to become head of news and current affairs at Channel 4. Julian Bellamy, who worked as a young researcher on one of ''WIA's'' last big foreign investigations – about [[weapon|arms]] deals between Britain and [[Indonesia]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/572434|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112045332/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/572434|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 November 2007|title=World in Action: Making a Killing|work=Film & TV Database|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> – later headed Channel 4's entertainment channel [[E4 (channel)|E4]] and was programme controller of the BBC digital channel [[BBC Three]] before rejoining Channel 4 as its head of programming from 2007 to 2011.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6420005.stm|title=Channel 4 poaches BBC Three boss|publisher=[[BBC News]]|date=5 March 2007|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> In 2012, Bellamy was appointed creative director of Discovery International.

===TV production companies===
A number of ''WIA'' veterans went on to set up and run their own independent television production companies. [[John Smithson]] and [[David Darlow (film producer)|David Darlow]], who set up the production company Darlow Smithson, responsible for the feature films ''[[Touching the Void (film)|Touching the Void]]'' and ''Deep Water'' and many factual TV programmes including ''[[Survival in the Sky|Black Box]]'' and ''[[The Falling Man]]'', worked together on ''WIA''. Claudia Milne founded twentytwenty TV, which made a successful current-affairs strand for ITV, ''The Big Story'', as well as popular factual series such as ''Bad Boys' Army''' on ITV and ''[[That'll Teach 'Em]]'' on Channel 4. Brian Lapping set up the much-garlanded Brook Lapping company, which made ''[[The Death of Yugoslavia]]'' and many other landmark contemporary history programmes. Stuart Prebble, a former editor of ''World in Action'', runs Liberty Bell, best known for the popular ''[[Grumpy Old Men (TV series)|Grumpy Old Men]]'' series on the BBC. Another former editor, Steve Boulton, started an [[eponymous]] company, which made ''Young, Nazi & Proud'', a [[Bafta]]-winning profile of the young [[British National Party]] activist [[Mark Collett]]. Simon Albury went on to lead the Campaign for Quality Television and was a founder director of the ITV company [[ITV Meridian|Meridian Broadcasting]].

One of the biggest British independent production companies is All 3 Media, which controls several other leading companies, including [[Lime Pictures]], formerly [[Mersey Television]], makers of ''[[Hollyoaks]]''. It is run by Steve Morrison, a former ''WIA'' producer.

===Political connections===
Although in its early days, ''World in Action'' was reputed never to employ anyone who was on first-name terms with any politician, a number of subsequent British [[Member of Parliament|parliamentarians]] have ''World in Action'' on their [[curriculum vitae|''curricula vitae'']]. The most recent is the Conservative MP [[Adam Holloway]], elected to the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] in 2005. Former British [[Cabinet Minister|cabinet minister]] [[Jack Straw]] worked on ''World in Action'' as a researcher, as did [[Margaret Beckett]], who served as [[Tony Blair]]'s last [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]]. [[Chris Mullin (politician)|Chris Mullin]], Labour MP for [[Sunderland South (UK Parliament constituency)|Sunderland South]] from 1987 to 2010, played a major role in the programme's campaign on behalf of the Birmingham Six. Gus Macdonald, now Baron Macdonald of Tradeston, and from 1998 to 2003 a government minister, was formerly an executive on the programme. John Birt (by then ennobled as Baron Birt), was personal adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair between 2001 and 2005.

===Editors===
Editors of the programme (sometimes with the title of executive producer) were, successively, [[Tim Hewat]], [[Derek Granger]], Alex Valentine, David Plowright, Jeremy Wallington, [[Leslie Woodhead]], John Birt, Gus Macdonald, David Boulton, [[Brian Lapping]], Ray Fitzwalter, [[Allan Segal]], David Cresswell, [[Stuart Prebble]], Nick Hayes, Dianne Nelmes, [[Charles Tremayne]], Steve Boulton, and Jeff Anderson. Anderson also became editor of ''World in Action's'' replacement, ''Tonight'', before becoming head of current affairs at ITV in 2006. Mike Lewis, a former ''WIA'' producer, was appointed editor of ''Tonight'' in October 2006.

===Academic connections===
[[Brian Winston]], Pro-Vice Chancellor (External Relations) at the [[University of Lincoln]], who has also held leading posts at the Universities of [[University of Westminster|Westminster]], [[Cardiff University|Cardiff]], [[Pennsylvania State University|Pennsylvania State]] and [[New York University|New York]], was a researcher and producer in the early series of ''World in Action''.

Ray Fitzwalter, ''WIA's'' longest-serving editor and the man behind the ground-breaking Poulson investigations, became a visiting fellow at the [[University of Salford]] School of Media, Music, and Performance.

The late Gavin MacFadyen, who worked on early series of ''World in Action'' as a producer-director, best known for his undercover human-rights films, became a visiting professor at [[City University London|City University]] in 2005. He was also director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

[[David Leigh (journalist)|David Leigh]], who made ''Jonathan of Arabia'', the film which provoked [[Jonathan Aitken]]'s self-destructive libel action,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,288254,00.html|title=Corruption unbecoming|work=[[The Guardian]]|first=David|last=Leigh|author-link=David Leigh (journalist)|date=9 June 1999|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref> was made Britain's first professor of reporting at City University, London, in September 2006.

===Camerawork===
Although a great many director/producers, journalists, and editors passed through the programme, one [[camera operator|cameraman]] played an overwhelming role in shaping the appeal of the series. George Jesse Turner served on the programme from 1966 until its end. By his own count, he shot the principal footage for some 600 of its 1,400 editions, and filmed all of Michael Apted's documentaries in the ''Seven Up!'' series.<ref>George Jesse Turner & Jeff Anderson, ''Trouble Shooter'', p. viii.</ref> Turner was shot himself – in the backside – by an Israeli bullet while filming a clash between [[Fatah]] guerrillas and the [[Israeli Army]] in 1969.<ref>George Jesse Turner & Jeff Anderson, ''Trouble Shooter'', pp. 7–13.</ref> Shortly before he retired from Granada, Turner was honoured by BAFTA in 1999 for his work as a documentary cameraman.

Among the many cameramen who also contributed to ''WIA'' was [[Chris Menges]], who went on to become a distinguished cinematographer – ''[[Kes (film)|Kes]]'', ''[[The Killing Fields (film)|The Killing Fields]]'', and ''[[The Mission (1986 film)|The Mission]]'' are among his credits – and a film director for ''[[A World Apart (1988 film)|A World Apart]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theasc.com/ac_magazine/February2010/ChrisMenges/page1.php|title=Artistry and Conscience|work=The ASC – American Cinematographer|first=Mark|last=Hope-Jones|date=February 2010|access-date=30 March 2013}}</ref>

==Title sequence==
Early series were introduced by composer [[Laurie Johnson]]'s track "Private Eye", but the series is perhaps best remembered for the distinctive [[title sequence]] created by John Sheppard in the late 1960s, combining the image of [[Leonardo da Vinci|da Vinci's]] ''[[Vitruvian Man]]'' with a musical score of a modern [[classical music]] structure (inspired by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Johann Sebastian Bach's]] [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565|Toccata and Fugues]]), in a descending series of [[organ (music)|organ]] and [[acoustic guitar]] [[chord (music)|chords]] combined with a [[jazz]] rhythm. The score was given the working title of "Jam for World in Action", and has been credited variously to Jonathon Weston or [[Shawn Phillips]]. English musician [[Mick Weaver]] also claims to have jointly authored the score with Phillips.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thisismyjam.com/song/shawn-phillips/world-in-action-theme|title=World in Action Theme by Shawn Phillips and Mick Weaver (Not Jonathan Weston)|date=21 August 2021 }}</ref> The track was covered by [[Matt Berry]] in 2018 on his album ''[[Television Themes]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.acidjazz.co.uk/out-now-world-in-action-the-fourth-single-by-matt-berry/|title=Acid Jazz Records OUT NOW 'World in Action', the fourth single by Matt Berry|publisher=Acid Jazz|access-date=6 October 2018}}</ref>

==Books and articles==
*Jonathan Aitken (2003), ''Pride and Perjury'', London: Continuum International Publishing Group – Academi.
*Ray Fitzwalter (2008), ''The Dream That Died: The Rise And Fall Of ITV'', London: Matador.
*Ray Fitzwalter, David Taylor (1981), ''Web of Corruption: The Story of J. G. L. Poulson and T. Dan Smith'', London: Granada.
*Denis Forman (1997), ''Persona Granada'', London: Andre Deutsch
*Peter Goddard (2004), 'World in Action', in Glen Creeber (ed.), ''Fifty Key Television Programmes'', London: Arnold.
*Peter Goddard (2006), '"Improper liberties": Regulating undercover journalism on ITV, 1967–1980', ''Journalism'', 7(1): 45–63.
*Peter Goddard, John Corner and Kay Richardson (2001), 'The formation of World in Action: A case study in the history of current affairs journalism', ''Journalism'', 2(1): 73–90.
*Peter Goddard, John Corner and Kay Richardson (2007), ''Public Issue Television: World in Action 1963–98'', Manchester: Manchester University Press.
*Luke Harding, David Leigh and David Pallister (1997), ''The Liar: The Fall of Jonathan Aitken'', London: Penguin Books Ltd.
*Jonathan Margolis (1996), ''Bernard Manning'', London: Orion Books
*Chris Mullin (1990), ''Error of Judgement: Birmingham Bombings'', Dublin: Poolbeg Press.
*George Jesse Turner, Jeff Anderson (2000), ''Trouble Shooter: Life Through The Lens of World in Action's Top Cameraman'', London: Granada Media.

==See also==
* ''[[Unreported World]]'', another current affairs program, broadcast on Channel 4.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112064327/http://www.tcij.org/training-material/audio-and-video/ray-fitzwalter-on-world-in-action Ray Fitzwalter on ''World in Action'', Centre for Investigative Journalism, London, March 2011]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070211023248/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/27 British Film Institute database of ''World In Action'' programmes]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061013002019/http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/itvnorthwest/itvnorthwestprogrammes.html TV Ark archive of ''World In Action'' title sequences]}}
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/worldinacti/worldinacti.htm ''Encyclopedia of Television''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017123908/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/worldinacti/worldinacti.htm |date=17 October 2008 }}
* [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/stevehackett/itvnorthwestprogrammes.html ITV North West England – ''World in Action'' titles for 1963 and 1995]
* [http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?products_id=551 Network DVD – ''World in Action Vol. 1'']
* [http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/television/news&sport/worldinaction.htm Nostalgia Central – The ''World in Action'' 1963 to 1998]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051211080136/http://www.paulalmond.com/7up.html Paul Almond – 7 Up]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080605131107/http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/mar1998/brit-m14.shtml World Socialist Website – 14 March 1998]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231921/http://users.aber.ac.uk/jfs/televertite.htm 'Televérité' hits Britain: Documentary, Drama and the growth of 16mm Filmmaking in British Television]
* [http://www.rts.org.uk/Info_page_two_pic_2_det.asp?art_id=7152&sec_id=3292  'Scandal at the regulator' (''World in Action'' and the Poulson affair)]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* {{IMDb title|id=0181269|title=World in Action}}

[[Category:1963 British television series debuts]]
[[Category:1998 British television series endings]]
[[Category:1960s British documentary television series]]
[[Category:1970s British documentary television series]]
[[Category:1980s British documentary television series]]
[[Category:1990s British documentary television series]]
[[Category:ITV documentaries]]
[[Category:Television series by ITV Studios]]
[[Category:British television news shows]]
[[Category:Current affairs shows]]
[[Category:Television shows produced by Granada Television]]
[[Category:British English-language television shows]]
[[Category:BAFTA winners (television series)]]