A series of five off-the-cuff talks in which Brian Walden reflects on why people considered to be villains are allowed to play prominent roles in human affairs.

Walden focuses on Adolf Hitler, making the case that he gained control of Germany because he managed to seduce voters with reassuring messages that caused them to ignore his real ambitions.
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The Andrew Duncan Interview with Brian Walden : page 26

[Photo caption] Brian Walden discusses Hitler's manipulation of the democratic process in Walden on Villains

[Article] Walden on Villains 7.30pm BBC2
Following the same format as his one-take talks on heroes, Walden begins his analyses of the worst tyrants with Hitler.
It is hard to listen to him talk rationally about such an irrational and emotive subject. Yet Walden is not concerned with the unspeakable villainy of Hitler's views, he is concerned with the way that Hitler was able to do what he did in the first place.
In his political analysis of Hitler's plan for power, Walden finds a warning for us today. It could happen again. He says that Hitler used democracy for his own purposes, that he understood the political apathy of people who want to belong to a community and to be led. In other words, to elect a dictator to do their political dirty work for them. "He came to power because he won the full-hearted support of the people for the programme that he put in front of them." Walden calls it the "the hole in the heart of the democratic process". We call it terrifying.