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Witness History: The police rape interview that shocked Britain

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The police rape interview that shocked Britain

16/06/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The police rape interview that shocked Britain

The documentary that changed the way British police treated women reporting rape.

A BBC film showing police aggressively questioning a woman who'd alleged she'd been raped caused uproar in Britain in 1982. It led to changes in the way rape was treated.

When the BBC broadcast a documentary called 'A Complaint of Rape' in 1982 the public was shocked.  It was part of a fly-on-the-wall  series about the police in which officers were filmed aggressively questioning a woman about her allegation of rape. It made news around the world and inspired the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to question the procedure as well as the attitude of those involved. The woman was asked personal questions about her sex life, menstruation and about her mental health. The officers told her directly that they didn't believe her claim. It led individual police forces to reassess the way they investigated allegations of rape.  Claire Bowes has been speaking to film-maker Roger Graef about the footage. 

Photo: an image from the film 'A Complaint of Rape' by Roger Graef and the BBC (1982).

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