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The \u2018broadcasting ban\u2019 on 11 Northern Irish organizations including Sinn Fein was finally lifted by Prime Minister John Major on 16th September, 1994, one fortnight after an IRA ceasefire had been achieved.\nThe regulations, implemented six years earlier by Margaret Thatcher and her Home Secretary Douglas Hurd, prevented British TV networks from broadcasting interviews with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, lest they drum up sympathy for Republicanist terrorism. So the broadcasters found a workaround: they employed voice actors to dub over the interviews.\nIn this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly re-examine some of the absurd circumstances in which the ban was implemented and avoided; consider the pushback to the policy from the Labour party and miffed BBC staffers; and explain how the ban played into Cuba\u2019s hands\u2026\xa0\nFurther Reading:\n\u2022 \u2018Northern Ireland, the BBC, and Censorship in Thatcher's Britain By Robert J. Savage\u2019 (Oxford University Press, 2022): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Northern_Ireland_the_BBC_and_Censorship/UJtjEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%27sinn+fein%27+and+%27broadcast+ban%27&printsec=frontcover\n\u2022 \u2018The 'broadcast ban' on Sinn Fein\u2019 (BBC News, 2005): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4409447.stm\n\u2022 \u2018Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams Voiced By An Actor\u2019 (BBC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdf4xOdas1g\nFor bonus material and to support the show, visit\xa0Patreon.com/Retrospectors\nWe'll be back on Monday! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:\xa0podfollow.com/Retrospectors\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.\xa0\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices