James Nesbitt: Disasters That Changed Britain

In the '80s, channel-hopping was fast and fun, but with the pressure of competition mounting, the countdown to tragedy began. Putting speed over safety turned an exciting day trip into one of Britain’s worst maritime disasters since the War.

In 1970, British Petroleum struck oil beneath the North Sea. On the back of industrial unrest, the promise of lucrative work was too good to be true, but by 1988, with poor management within the company, a gas leak saw the untimely death of 167 men.

1948 - Manchester United lifted the FA Cup - and the countdown to tragedy began. An ignored warning about taking off in slush and a third take-off attempt cost 23 people their lives on a snowy February night, the day British football changed forever.

A tube system starved of investment, a lacking fire policy and an inadequate smoking ban were to have tragic consequences. In 1985, a series of disastrous decisions about safety procedures at King’s Cross station led to the death of 31 people.

In the 1950s, the tower block was born. But by the 1970s, these cities in the sky became slums. In 2017, missed warnings, vague regulations and corners cut in favour of financial return resulted in the deadliest tower block fire in British history.