Marbella Signs RTÉ To Co-Produce History Documentary

An independent production company has announced that Irish broadcaster RTÉ has signed a deal to become co-producers for new history documentary, 'Brendan Bracken - Churchill's Secret Son..?'
The production, headed by Marbella Productions, is due to be broadcast on RTÉ One in November 2010. The 60 minute HD documentary currently in post production, explores the life of Irish man Brendan Bracken, how he became Winston Churchill’s right hand man, his controversial character traits and will also investigate whether their relationship was biological, rather than just professional.
Produced and Presented by Adrian Bracken (possibly a distant relation), the documentary is a personal journey to uncover the story of a man who went to great lengths to hide his tracks, including having all of his personal papers incinerated when he died. It traces Brendan Bracken’s life from being born in Ireland in 1901, via Australia where his mother exiled him at the age of 14, to his life in England from 1920 onwards where he reinvented himself as an Australian and began his journey to become a pillar of the English establishment – MP, Privy Councillor, First Lord of the Admiralty and ultimately Lord Bracken, to his lonely death from cancer at the age of 57.
Julian Vignoles, Executive Producer for RTÉ said:"Bracken was a fascinating Irish man when alive, but what is perhaps even more interesting is how he has slipped off the pages of the history books since. He was arguably one of the most powerful Irishmen of the 20th century, yet his story has never been told on television. It's great that Adrian and Marbella Productions have instigated this production; we are excited about the content and to see the response when it hits TV screens later this year in Ireland and around the world."
Adrian Bracken, Head of Marbella Productions, commented: "We are thrilled that RTÉ are on board to co-produce ‘Brendan Bracken – Churchill’s Secret Son..?’ We are also currently in discussions with other broadcasters around the world and look forward to bringing Brendan's story to the fore. On meeting Winston Churchill for the first time, Bracken and he became such close companions, that tongues wagged in 1920's London that Bracken was Churchill’s illegitimate son, a rumour that never really went away, and one which neither Bracken nor Churchill ever denied.
"Once part of the UK's national psyche and recognised around the world - the first spin doctor, a shrewd businessman and someone who never knowingly told the same story twice - his story is now largely forgotten. A fact we intend to change."
The documentary features reconstructions, photographs and archive material from around the world, some of which has never previously been seen as well as interviews with, amongst others Lord William Rees-Mogg, a trainee on the Financial Times in 1952 and past Editor of The Times; Lord Asa Briggs, Historian of the BBC, Charles Edward Lysaght, Biographer 'Brendan Bracken' 1978 and Michael Thornley, Headmaster at Sedbergh 1952 – 1975.
The documentary also evidences Bracken as an established media mogul, creating The Banker, History Today and purchasing The Investor’s Chronicle and The Practitioner magazines. Bracken is also widely seen to be the father of modern financial journalism, instrumental in changing The Financial Times and The Economist into the publications we know them as today.
(BMcN/CD)