In the four-and-a-half years of the build-up and aftermath of the Iranian revolution, an Iranian cameraman, Ahsan Adib , filmed what was happening on the streets of Tehran.
After a year of demonstrations against the repressive regime of the Shah, the government finally collapsed. The exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returned in triumph, and a bloody two-day street battle was fought and won by the revolutionaries. Revenge against the Shah's supporters was swift. But within months of victory, the Iranians began to split up into mutually hostile camps. Today repression, execution and torture exist on a scale the Shah's regime had never contemplated.
This programme incorporates AHSAN ADIB'S film material smuggled out of Iran and tells for the first time the tragic and bloody history of a revolution betrayed. Written and narrated by EDWARD MORTIMER
Videotape editor CHRIS boots
Film editors NORMAN CARR , NOEL CHANAN Executive producer ANTHONY ISAACS Producer jenny CROPPER
Filmed and directed by AHSAN ADIB