By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:28 AM on 7th June 2011
Moved to tears: Sir Terry Pratchett witnessed Peter’s last moments as part of a documentary
The BBC will next week air a controversial documentary where a motor neurone disease sufferer takes his own life.
Sitting on a sofa with his wife at his side, viewers will see Peter drink a liquid, fall into a deep sleep and then die.
The five-minute sequence, filmed at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, is part of a forthcoming BBC2 programme fronted by Sir Terry Pratchett.
The corporation has defended its decision to film Peter’s last moments as part of its exploration into the realities of assisted death.
BBC commissioning editor for
documentaries Charlotte Moore said she did not believe the ‘carefully
edited but unflinching’ scene could have been left out.
She said: ‘It is an extremely powerful and challenging scene – raw yet moving – but above all it is honest.
‘Some people may question why we included this scene in the final cut. But in my view I don’t see how we could omit it.’
Best-selling author Sir Terry is with Peter, a British man in his 70s, when he dies.
When Peter decides he is ready, he is seen drinking a liquid to prepare his stomach for what is to come, while sitting at the kitchen table.
Then, on a sofa with his wife at his side gently rubbing his hand, he drinks a second liquid, after which he falls into a deep sleep and dies.
The documentary was commissioned to follow Sir Terry on a journey to explore the realities of assisted death.
Ms Moore said: ‘The greatest attachment he (Sir Terry) formed was to Peter, and I felt it would be wrong to excise the time they spent together in Switzerland and the very process Peter went through to end his life.
‘To gloss over Peter’s final moments would be to do a disservice to Peter, to Terry and to the viewer.
Assisted suicide: The Dignitas clinic is in Pfaeffikon, near Zurich, Switzerland
‘We have a responsibility to tell the story in its entirety. How can we do this if we shy away from the crux of the story, difficult as this may be?’
The documentary is not the first time that someone has allowed their death to be filmed for TV.
Sky previously showed the death of another motor neurone sufferer, Craig Ewert, at Dignitas.
Sir Terry, who was diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer’s disease in 2008 and who describes himself as ‘a firm believer in assisted death’, told the Radio Times that he did not want to die at the clinic.
He said: ‘I have no particular interest in ending my life in Switzerland… Actually, I don’t want to die at all, to tell you the truth.’
Sir Terry, whose Discworld series of books have sold millions of copies worldwide, favours the method legalised in the US state of Oregon, where ‘if the doctors agree that you are, as it were, a candidate, they give you the magic potion and you can take it away and keep it at home.
‘Preferably, I suppose, not in a bottle marked lemonade. That is possibly close to the ideal,’ he said.
The author added: ‘I do not wish to have to prescribe to Britain what it wants.
‘I would like to see in the UK an examination of the methods of assisted dying so that we may consider what is best. You know, what suits the British.’
Televised: The death of Craig Ewert, 59, at the Dignitas clinic was broadcast on a Sky programme
Travelling to Switzerland means people with degenerative diseases who wish to die have to do so earlier than they feel necessary, to avoid it becoming too late to make the journey.
Sir Terry said: ‘That’s what makes me so angry, because I am absolutely sure that if Peter had not had to go to Dignitas, he would probably still be around now.
‘If there was somewhere in England he could have gone to, when it did become too much for him.’
Witnessing the end of Peter’s life reduced the writer to tears.
Sir Terry said that Peter turned around and said ‘I’d like to thank you all’ before drinking the liquid that would kill him.
He said: ‘Here’s the bit that blows your mind – he can’t remember the name of the sound man.
‘And that’s what puts your mind in a spin.
‘Here is a courteous man thanking the people who have come with him to be there and he’s now embarrassed, at the point of death, because he can’t remember the sound man’s name.
‘This is so English.’
He said of witnessing the final moment: ‘The word “tough” can’t cover it.’
Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die, is broadcast on Monday, June 13 on BBC2 at 9pm.
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A very courageous and courteous man. He died as he wished, when he and his wife wished, and I hope that I can manage the same.
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Why is death such a Taboo? It really shows where you religionists stand when you read words about the celebration of death yet cant face it. Fear is what drives the religionists.
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I don’t see the problem – The person who dies and his family are happy for it to be aired and we aren’t being forced to watch it………
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Having had the harrowing experience of watching my child die, cryng out until the end, despite every amount of love and care being given by the wonderful medical staf,f on my return home my husband and I immediately signed up with EXIT. No-one should ever have to experience either by watching a loved one die or suffer the pain and indignity of such a death.
The care and love with which this process is achieved is far more peaceful for all concerned and naturally it is discussed in great detail beforehand. Therefore I feel that by showing this programme it will provide more information for those who might be considering it and their loved ones. Death is part of life and by sharing these details may help to dispel some of the fear attached to it.
Finally, of course,I sincerely hope that I do not have make this choice of death and that my life may end peacefully and with dignity
It may not be everyone’s choice of viewing but we all have choice as to whether we watch it or not.
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birth is shown all the time on tv – so why not death. why all this taboo over a subject that will happen to us all. id sooner be watched leaving this world – than be watched going to the toilet! i dont care for the idea of the place in switzerland – seems far to tacky to me. but the right to chose the time, place method – should become ‘a right’ if a family member assists you (because of your infirmity) then they should not face prosecution
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Why do we, as British, always need to put up this wall when it comes to death of a person… We do not allow animals to suffer so why do allow our loved ones to.
Why should we play god when it comes to someone’s else life. If it is their decision to end their life peacefull – then allow it.
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