Scientology on BBC Newsnight, 1996:
In two parts, this. The first is a report by Jeremy Vine (who also introduced last year's Panorama documentary) where he meets Heber Jentzsch at the London Celebrity Centre. Jentzsch is accompanied by Rachel Ryerson of OSA. We also hear from Claudia Milne, producer of the Big Story documentaries, fair game target Bonnie Woods and (briefly) myself.
Then it goes to live studio discussion. Ian Howarth of the Cult Information Centre gives a very bold condemnation of the Co$, quoting the Latey "corrupt, sinister and dangerous" judgement and saying he represents thousands of families with grievances against the cult. John Wadham of Liberty (the National Council for Civil Liberties: UK equivalent of the ACLU) defends Scientology's right to advertise on TV but in a Freudian slip calls it "crap. er, claptrap". The most juicy moment is where David Mellor MP describes Heber as
"this deeply sinister person with a combination of soft blandishments and underlying threats to those who don't like him", leaving Heber reeling.