Ten years ago leading City bankers and the managers of multi-million pound investment funds held a secret all-night meeting in the Bank of England. They had to prevent a panic which would have led to the collapse of Britain's entire financial system.
The rescue mission - The Lifeboat - to stem the contagion of fear was to cost £1,500 million during a stock market crash bigger than Wall Street's in 1920.
Written and narrated by John Roberts
Producer JIM GRAY