True Stories: Wikileaks

This documentary presents the definitive account of the ‘wiki-saga', featuring the first major television interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

It unites all the major protagonists for the first time, including Assange's erstwhile partner Daniel Domscheit Berg, the editorial teams at the Guardian, Der Spiegel and New York Times newspapers, as well as the US state department spokesperson who had to deal with the leaks. At the film's core the largely overlooked story of US Private Bradley Manning, accused of the biggest leak in history. Without that leak, there would have been no story at all.

When Assange launched his whistle-blower website he was heralded as a hero, bravely publishing classified material to highlight government wrong-doings to its peoples. He won awards around the world and was credited with creating an historic moment in journalistic history. But the story soon took a dark twist, when Assange was accused of rape and sexual assault in Sweden.

Award-winning film-maker Patrick Forbes presents the story of Wikileaks, using the words of people at the heart of the story - and on both sides of the fence. This is the story of Wikieaks told by the people involved - sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making and the frontier of new technology and journalism. It's also a story of human emotions clashing with the advent of new technologies, summed up in the words of Guardian journalist Nick Davies as "a Greek tragedy...as triumph was turned into disaster through the actions of one man".

Narrator Samuel West

Executive Producers Mark Bentley/Nicolas Kent Director Patrick Forbes Prod Co Oxford Film and Television