Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die
| Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Charlie Russell |
| Theme music composer | Tim Goalen |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Charlie Russell |
| Running time | 59 minutes |
| Production company(s) | KEO North |
| Release | |
| Original release |
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Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die is a 2011 one-off television documentary produced by KEO North for BBC Scotland on the subject of assisted suicide, directed and produced by Charlie Russell. It is presented by Terry Pratchett and features Peter Smedley, a 71-year-old motor neurone disease sufferer, dying by suicide at the Swiss assisted dying organisation, Dignitas.
The film sparked strong controversy and was criticised by Christian and pro-life organisations as "biased"; the accusations were denied by the BBC, the pro-assisted death organisation Dignity in Dying, and Terry Pratchett himself.
The film focuses on the story of Peter Smedley, an English millionaire hotelier who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2008. At the beginning of the film, Pratchett meets with the Smedleys to talk about dying; then he visits the widow of a Belgian writer Hugo Claus who decided to commit suicide in 2008 after developing Alzheimer's disease.
Pratchett talks to Mick Gordelier, a retired London taxi driver with motor neurone disease who has no desire to commit suicide, preferring to be cared for in a hospice. After that, the novelist visits Andrew Colgan, a 42-year-old multiple sclerosis sufferer; Colgan, like Peter Smedley, decided to go to Dignitas to take his life. Pratchett then travels to Switzerland to accompany the Smedleys and meets with Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas; during the final scene of the film, he witnesses the death of Smedley who takes a lethal dose of the barbiturate Nembutal, being kept company by his wife Christine and two Dignitas staff.
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