The amazing true stories of Britain’s X-Files are uncovered for the first time. In 1950, a spate of UFO (unidentified flying object) sightings by Royal Air Force pilots inspired the British Government to set up the top-secret Flying Saucer Working Party. In 1952, UFOs reappeared over southern England and, sensationally, over the White House in Washington. As panic escalated, Winston Churchill demanded to know what was going on and the Ministry of Defence set up a permanent UFO Investigation Unit. We now know that over the next 50 years, the government unit secretly investigated and dismissed hundreds of UFO sightings. Why did it take so many years for the Government to admit its activities? This film travels back in time to examine the political climate in the early 1950s.

The Government’s policy of official secrecy was in line with that of the American Government, and this strengthened the public belief in a global
cover-up of the existence of aliens. But were their intention different? Was their aim in fact to disguise the fear which gripped top politicians and military personnel both sides of the Atlantic, that the Russians had developed a powerful new fighter aircraft? And could the sudden appearance of UFOs over Britain have been a consequence of this Cold War paranoia, rather than aliens visiting Earth? If the Government had hoped that its dismissal of these objects as meteorites or weather balloons would quell the public’s interest, it was wrong. Over the next two decades, UFOs gained a cult following, inspiring rock stars, writers, artists and film-makers. Even the Royal Family had its believers.

Conspiracy theories and rumours were rife, but still the Government
kept its investigations under wraps. This came to a head in 1981 when a UFO sighting was reported at an American air base in Suffolk, East England. It did not come to light for two years and, when the news leaked, it created press hysteria. At the time, the Government maintained that it had no interest in the event. But this film reveals that an investigation was carried out. Publicly, the ‘mysterious lights’ were explained to having been coming from a nearby lighthouse. But what really happened that night, why was it kept quiet, and why was it the last major UFO sighting investigated by the Government? Timewatch examines eye-witness accounts and interviews former Investigation Unit personnel, to test whether these rational explanations stand up to scrutiny.

Producer
Mike Wadding
Executive Producer
John Farren


DURATION
1 x 50