BBC to screen Reggie Kray deathbed interview

A deathbed interview with Reggie Kray is to be shown on television.

Reggie Kray - The Final Word is an hour-long documentary filmed at the Norfolk and Norwich General Hospital just a few days before he died of cancer.

Also interviewed on the BBC1 programme are Reggie's widow Roberta, his barrister, John Platts Mills QC, and a number of the Kray "firm".

Reggie was released from prison in August 2000 after spending nearly 33 years behind bars for the murder of Jack "The Hat" McVitie.

He was never paroled, but was released on compassionate grounds.

A BBC spokesman said: "On his deathbed, Reggie reflects on a happy childhood with his mother Violet and talks of the boys' first brushes with the law and their potential careers in boxing.

"He also recalls the tragic suicide of his first young wife, Frances - a marriage some say was never consummated."

The interview, his last to be filmed for television, also touches upon Reggie's feelings for McVitie.

Ronnie and Reggie dominated gangland crime in London's East End for more than a decade until the pair were arrested in 1968.

The BBC programme will be broadcast at 9pm on March 29.