The IRA’s Patrick Magee has left a bomb, under a bath, in room 629 of the Brighton’s Grand Hotel. It’s timed to go off in three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes, at 2.54am on Friday 12 October. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton.

Or until 2:54am, when the bomb goes off. It's the biggest direct assault on a British Government since the Gunpowder Plot.

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Series Producer: Owen McFadden

Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper

A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing.

And what of those who, all unknowing, are travelling towards the end date you have set?

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Series Producer: Owen McFadden

Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper

A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

The bomb is set for 12 October 1984 - but the IRA have been building to this for decades

It's the night of 17 September 1984. The guest in room 629 of Brighton’s Grand Hotel has ordered a bottle of vodka and three cokes. It seems he is having a small party.

And the Prime Minister and all her cabinet, as this man who calls himself Roy Walsh knows, will be staying in the Grand Hotel.

The bomb will kill 5 people and injure 30.

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Series Producer: Owen McFadden

Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper

A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

The clock – the long-delay timer – nobody is meant to hear is counting down to 2.54am on the 12th October, 1984.

It's attached to a bomb, behind the panel of the bath of Room 629 in Brighton’s Grand Hotel, left there by a man who signed in as Roy Walsh.

Except he's not Roy Walsh.

Who is the man using his name? And how did he go from a childhood in the east of England to attempting to assassinate the Prime Minister and all her cabinet in the biggest assault on a British government since the Gunpowder Plot on 5th November 1605?

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Series Producer: Owen McFadden

Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper

A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

When you get right down to it, everything in life is a matter of timing.

The clock that propels this story went unheard for three weeks, three days, six hours and thirty-six minutes…until the bomb it was attached to went off at 2.54am on Friday 12 October, 1984. The day of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton.

Written and presented by Glenn Patterson

Series Producer: Owen McFadden

Executive Producer: Rachel Hooper

A Walk on Air production in association with Keo Films for BBC Radio 4

Glenn Patterson investigates the IRA bomb that attempted to kill Margaret Thatcher.

Helena Bonham Carter shines a light on extraordinary stories from World War Two. Join her for tales of deception, resistance and courage in History's Secret Heroes, Series 2.

Can Northern Ireland ever Escape from the Maze...?

Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.

Presenter: Carlo Gebler

The government inquiry into the escape is about to have deadly consequences...

Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.

Presenter: Carlo Gebler

As more escapees are recaptured, no amount of effort can hide the state's humiliation...

Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever to take place on British or Irish soil. As former IRA inmates reveal how they pulled off a mass breakout that creates shockwaves at the heart of government - key security personnel explain why they're unable to stop them.

Presenter: Carlo Gebler