with Michael Cockerell

July is traditionally a dangerous month for Cabinet ministers. In July 1962, Harold Macmillan sacked his Chancellor of the Exchequer and a third of his other Cabinet colleagues - some of his oldest political friends.

Did the normally unflappable Macmillan panic? Was there, as Macmillan claimed, a plot to overthrow him and, if so, who was behind it?

Using rare archive film alongside interviews with Macmillan's closest confidants and victims of his purge, Michael Cockerell considers new evidence for this unprecedented act of political butchery.

BBC Elstree