Defence of the Realm

Nick Mullen is a reporter on a London paper. A story lands in his lap: a prominent Member of Parliament is connected to a Soviet agent. It runs, the MP resigns, and Mullen thinks he has won. Then Vernon Bayliss, an old reporter, tells him to ask who put the story in his hands. Underneath it is a nuclear accident at an American air base that was covered up. Mullen realises he was used, and this time it is the state that comes after him. David Drury directs the British film; ninety-six minutes, with Gabriel Byrne as Mullen, Denholm Elliott as Bayliss and Greta Scacchi in the cast. Elliott took the BAFTA for best supporting actor for the part. It was made in the mid-eighties, while American nuclear bases in Britain were being argued over.