The Zircon affair was an incident in 1986 and 1987 caused by the planned broadcast on the BBC of a television programme about the ultimately cancelled Zircon signals intelligence satellite, as part of the six-part Secret Society series. It raised many important issues in the British constitution, particularly concerning parliamentary privilege and "gagging orders".
The Zircon affair
Development of programme
In November 1985 the Scottish investigative journalist Duncan Campbell was commissioned by BBC Scotland to present and research a six part, half-hour documentary series called Secret Society, produced by Brian Barr. GCHQ became aware that a BBC Scotland crew were filming at RAF Menwith Hill, and when Campbell interviewed the former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence Ronald Mason in August 1986 he mentioned the Zircon Project (regarded as "exceptionally secret").
Campbell had planned to use an episode of Secret Society to reveal the existence of Zircon, but found while researching the programme in mid-1986 that the head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Robert Sheldon, knew nothing of the project. The Public Accounts Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons, responsible for overseeing government expenditures. The concealment of Zircon, which had an estimated cost of £500 million (equivalent to £ billion in ), from the committee mirrored the parliamentary secrecy over a previous defence project, the Chevaline programme to enhance the Polaris nuclear missile. An injunction was obtained by the Attorney General on 21 January, restraining Campbell from talking or writing about the contents of the episode. On 22 January, Campbell published an article in the New Statesman against which the government issued an injunction.
Cabinet episode
The sixth episode of the Secret Society series was titled Cabinet, and focused on secret Cabinet committees. It was also held back from broadcast, and has not, , ever been shown. The broadcast of the Cabinet episode was cancelled due to the imminent 1987 general election.