Security services 'kept files on Royle Family star'

Security services kept files on Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson describing him as a “political thug”, a groundbreaking documentary will show.

The comic actor is “shocked and outraged” when he is told of the dossier during the BBC2 programme which was previously unknown to him.

The series, True Spies, speaks to serving Special Branch officers and MI5 agents to expose the shadowy world of surveillance on anyone thought to be a political threat.

It also discloses that security services infiltrated organisations such as the BBC to keep an eye on what was going on.

Investigative reporter Peter Taylor said today: “We couldn’t afford not to turn over our own stones.”

Superior officers gave their blessing for staff to speak to the production team to avoid breaching the Official Secrets Act.

Tomlinson earned political notoriety when, as one of the “Shrewsbury two”, he was jailed for his part in the 1972 builders’ strike.

It led to him being treated as a subversive, but he was amazed when Taylor broke the news to him that Special Branch files had been kept on him.

He told the film-maker that he was “definitely not a thug”.

Taylor said: “Ricky Tomlinson was gobsmacked when I told him. It is the first time he has heard when I tell him on camera.

“The file described him as a political thug. Ricky was shocked and outraged this had happened.”

Taylor said that many people have dismissed stories of files being kept on political figures, or the tapping of their phones, as “exaggerated paranoias”.

“But they were not - the files were vast,” he said.

The figures who have been interviewed talk about sources at the BBC “who told them about militancy, political activities, that sort of thing,” said Taylor.

“There’s no doubt Special Branch had their sources within the BBC.”

Often there was no real reason for people to be kept under surveillance. “In many cases there was no justification whatsoever,” award-winning Taylor said.

Other prominent figures who had their own files included the late Labour left-wing MP Eric Heffer and Liverpool councillor turned broadcaster Derek Hatton.

Radical and writer Tariq Ali is informed during True Spies that a colleague from one of his political groups was a mole who actually took impressions of the keys to their offices during a meeting. He had been unaware until then.

Since the end of the Cold War, many of the files have been shredded but many more still exist and are being compiled.

The focus has shifted now from those who would have campaigned for CND in the past to those who support anti-globalisation causes or animal rights groups.

Taylor was surprised about the level of help his team were given by the services during the making of the series.

“I think they felt they had a story that people didn’t know about that could and should be told and should be told responsibly. After much heart-searching they agreed to do it.”

The series will be shown this autumn.