Still seen as one of the most bitter and divisive industrial disputes in the UK, the year long miners' strike, that began in March 1984, dominated the news for 12 months. It’s been described as “a site of contested memories,” and it continues to evoke strong feelings in those who lived through the strike and had direct experience of it.

Chris Jackson, in his very first job as a young radio reporter in South Wales, found himself covering the dispute that scarred a generation and more. Now, 40 years after the start of the strike, he’s meeting people from different sides of the difficult and controversial industrial dispute, and together they return to a place that holds some very personal memories.

In this episode, Chris is in Edinburgh to meet Malcolm Dickson, now retired, who was a young sergeant tasked with policing the picket lines during the strike. Together they visit the site where so many confrontations took place and consider whether, looking back, things should have been done differently. Many years after the strike, Malcolm Dickson gave evidence to the Scottish government’s independent review into how it was policed. This led to the pardoning, in 2022, of more than 500 people who had been given strike-related convictions by Scottish courts.

Producer: Jo Dwyer
Presenter: Chris Jackson
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 Show less