Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster: Quintinshill

On 22nd May 1915, Quintinshill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, over 200 people were killed in what is still today the severest loss of life due to a rail disaster in the UK. This BBC documentary brings the tragedy back in the open and opens up a can of worms.

First off the bat the BBC are to be congratulated on what is a fascinatingly put together production. The period detail is superb, as is the staging of the crash via models, the interviews and the extensive narration about the workings of the railway at that time.

It's a documentary that comes at the disaster, and the subsequent enquiry and criminal prosecutions, on today's terms. There's much intrigue here because the makers are very much putting forward conspiracy theories, whilst simultaneously casting a savage eye over the government run railway of the time. Corner cutting, cost grabbing etc.

Were the two convicted signalmen who were culpable of the crash actually patsies? Who each only served a year in prison for the deaths of over 200 people, and who upon release then found jobs back on the railway! Was one of them suffering from an illness? It's potent and pertinent stuff that asks the viewers to in fact be a jury of sorts.

It obviously is a benefit to have some knowledge of the railway et al, but it isn't essential here. This is well worth checking out if you get the chance. 8/10