BONUS: Last Man Standing - the final battle
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Story host Manveen Rana and her Times colleague Anthony Loyd continue their search for what happened to the British photojournalist John Cantlie, after he was kidnapped by ISIS in Syria.
In this thrilling denouement to the series, Manveen and Anthony travel to a maximum security prison in Iraq to meet a man who could hold the answer. But will this ISIS prisoner reveal all? Or will Cantlie’s death remain a mystery?
Listen to the full Last Man Standing series here.
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Hosts: Manveen Rana and Anthony Loyd, special correspondent, The Times.
Producer: Harry Stott.
Executive producer: Will Roe.
Further reading: Anthony Loyd: my hunt for the forgotten Isis hostage John Cantlie
Watch: Hostage on BBC iPlayer.
Clips: BBC.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Rosie Wright. We hope you enjoyed the bonus episode of Last Man Standing, the Times |
| 0:07.9 | podcast hosted by Manvine Rana and Anthony Lloyd, that we put out last week. Well, for fans of the series |
| 0:14.1 | and the BBC TV documentary hostage, which it inspired, you are in luck. Today we are releasing the thrilling climax of that series. |
| 0:23.4 | It tells the story of Man Vien and Anthony |
| 0:25.7 | travelling to a maximum security prison in Iraq |
| 0:28.3 | to meet a man who could hold the answer |
| 0:30.9 | to what happened to John Cantley. |
| 0:32.8 | Well, if you want to go back and listen to the full series, |
| 0:35.0 | just search for Last Man Standing. |
| 0:37.2 | It's season one in |
| 0:38.1 | the Times Investigates Feed. We'll put a link to that in the show notes. |
| 0:46.7 | In a crowded room, in a dusty prison in Baghdad, the door opens and a prisoner is shown in. |
| 0:55.0 | Good morning. |
| 0:56.0 | Hello, my name is Anthony. |
| 0:57.0 | I'm a chair. |
| 0:58.0 | Man being. |
| 1:00.0 | We've waited a long time for this meeting, but we try not to stare at the man in front of us, |
| 1:08.0 | despite the enormous and quite sinister scar etched across his forehead. |
| 1:14.0 | The guy who walks in is big. He's heavy set. He's packing some timber. |
| 1:20.1 | He's got a big scar just right across his forehead. He's quite arresting to look at. |
| 1:26.3 | But his manner, it's a very interesting and dangerous mix. |
| 1:31.3 | Why did you guys come all the way from Britain? |
... |
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