With Britain's first-ever political leaders' television debate imminent, award-winning reporter Michael Cockerell uncovers what it's like to take part in these contests and how leaders try to win them. He tells the inside story of why it has taken so long for such debates to arrive in the UK. The programme features candid interviews with US Presidents and their advisers on the tricks of the debate trade. Blending new film and behind-the-scenes footage, some never seen before, it's a tragicomic tale of high politics and low cunning. From John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon through to Barack Obama, candidates are seen being prepared for their debates, then in the sometimes funny, sometimes disastrous results on live television. Cockerell shows why for our would-be next Prime Ministers - Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg - the three debate stages across Britain will be what one former US President calls 'Tension City'.
Michael Cockerell
Neil Kinnock
Charles Kennedy
Michael Dobbs
Don Hewitt
Richard Nixon
John F. Kennedy
Robin Day
Nikita Khrushchev
Ted Sorensen
Ted Rogers
Bill Wilson
Pat Buchanan
Pierre Salinger
Harold Wilson
Alec Douglas-Home
Edward Heath
Lady Falkender
Jimmy Carter
David Gergen
Gerald Ford
Harry Reasoner
James Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
Ronald Reagan
Nancy Reagan
Walter Mondale
Mike Pengra
Mark Goode
Harry Trewitt
John Major
Bill Clinton
George H. W. Bush
Frank Luntz
Alan Schroeder
Tony Blair
Peter Mandelson
Lance Price
William Hague
George W. Bush
Al Gore
Jim Lehrer
Barack Obama
John McCain
David Cameron
Gordon Brown
Nick Clegg
Sue Inglish
Andy Coulson
David Davis