Press Releases

20 years ago, on 15 April 1989, the worst spectator disaster in the history of British sport took place at the Hillsborough football ground. Ninety-six people lost their lives following a crush in the overcrowded Leppings Lane end of the ground.

The BBC will mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy with coverage across its networks.

Broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside and BBC Radio 5 Live, Hillsborough Stories (Sunday 12 April, 7.00pm) hears the accounts of those who were at the ground that day.

Narrated by Kelly Cates (née Dalglish), who was also at the ground that day, contributors include former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, giving his first broadcast interview about the disaster since 1989; supporters caught in the tragic crush; former Liverpool players including John Aldridge and Steve McMahon; and those who lost loved ones in the tragedy.

Also on Easter Sunday, BBC Radio 4 recalls the tragedy through the accounts of five people who were involved in the disaster in The Reunion (Sunday 12 April, 11.15am).

Sue MacGregor is joined by Jenni Hicks and Margaret Aspinall, who both lost children in the disaster; Colin Moneypenny, who survived the crush; paramedic Tony Edwards; and Dr Rogan Taylor, former Chairman of the Football Supporters Association.

On the anniversary itself, Radio Merseyside will broadcast Six Minutes Past Three (Wednesday 15 April, 11.30am) in which two survivors of the disaster retrace their journeys that day.

At midday, Roger Phillips will host a phone-in live from Anfield on the 20th anniversary, and in the afternoon Radio Merseyside will broadcast the Hillsborough Memorial Service, also live from Anfield.

Radio 5 Live's Shelagh Fogarty will broadcast from Liverpool during the breakfast programme on 15 April and she will also report from the memorial service (during Simon Mayo, 1.00-4.00pm).

At 7.00pm, Merseyside Sport on Radio Merseyside looks at the legacy of Hillsborough, the Taylor Report and the changing face of football 20 years on.

BBC Manchester Press Office