“An Island of Stability”, the first tranche of this panoramic nine-part drama (30 January–27 March), began on New Year’s Eve 1977, with the ominous words “Something is coming”.

Fall of the Shah
BBC World Service

“An Island of Stability”, the first tranche of this panoramic nine-part drama (30 January–27 March), began on New Year’s Eve 1977, with the ominous words “Something is coming”. Here, half-asleep on Airforce One, his wife Rosalynn exclaiming at the view, we found the recently elected President Carter hastening to Tehran for a brief sit-down with the Shah, America’s ally in the region, over an agenda that included world peace and an uninterrupted oil supply.

Humble, God-fearing and suspicious of the cinematic glamour of his welcome (“What is the reality, Rosie?”), Carter – voiced by Nathan Osgood – was already proving a worry to his team. A “holy roller” explained the ambassador to an Iranian official. “The president has a tendency to take people as he finds them,” remarked a more worldly aide. The Shah, too (Bijan Daneshmand), had his doubts, remarking that “those cold blue eyes look straight through you”, and that he preferred Republicans.

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