Mayday - Ep 6. The One With Sean Penn
Intrigue
BBC
4.6 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I went to meet with Assad to see what kind of access we might get.” James is accused of a horrific crime.
When James Le Mesurier fell to his death in Turkey in 2019 he left behind a tangle of truths and lies. Mayday tells the extraordinary real story of the man who organised the White Helmets – rescuers who film themselves pulling survivors from bombed out buildings in rebel-held areas of Syria – and investigates claims that, far from being heroes, they are part of a very elaborate hoax. James Le Mesurier – his detractors say – was a British secret agent, pulling the strings. So when his body was found by worshippers on their way to morning prayers, there were a lot questions.
AMENDMENT: Sean Penn has confirmed that it was Eva Bartlett not Vanessa Beeley he met in Los Angeles. This does not change the story materially. Produced, written and presented by: Chloe Hadjimatheou Editor: Emma Rippon Researcher: Tom Wright Mixed by: Neil Churchill Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles, Abdul Kader Habak Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur Narrative Consultant: John Yorke Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum Production Coordinator - Gemma Ashman
REFERENCES
“’The White Helmets” wins Best Documentary Short.” Oscars YouTube Channel, 03 April 2017
“President Bashar al-Assad's opinion on White Helmet's Oscar” from Egy Ember YouTube channel, 11 Mar 2017, source listed as Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
“KEEP TALKING - Vanessa Beeley on The White Helmets & the billionaires funding Regime Change” Ian Fantom YouTube channel, 17 July 2019
“Vanessa Beeley -The tale of the White Helmets in the Western media, on the ground in Syria and beyond” Mot Dag TV, 13 February 2019
“Panel Discussion on White Helmets Organization in Syria” UN Audiovisual Library video, 20 December 2018
“UK Column News” Brian Gerrish, Mike Robinson are joined by Alex Thomson and Vanessa Beeley for today's UK Column News. 14th October 2020
“Interview with Vanessa Beeley” HPU Al-Hawash Private University, 21 November 2018
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:41.0 | I know that sometimes are hard out in half an hour, so we just wanted to make sure that we got started right on time. |
| 0:46.0 | Okay. Chloe? Hello. Hi, you have Sean. |
| 0:50.0 | Hello. Thank you so much for finding the time for me. |
| 0:55.0 | You bet. |
| 0:56.0 | When I started looking into the death of James Lemezurer and the story of the White Helmets, |
| 1:06.0 | I was prepared to dive down lots of rabbit holes to get to the truth. |
| 1:10.0 | I honestly never imagined I'd end up on a call with the Hollywood actor Sean Penn. |
| 1:16.6 | But James had an impact on lots of people. |
| 1:19.7 | Sean was one of them. His connection to this story starts slightly tangentially, so bear with me while I get you there. |
| 1:28.2 | As well as being an actor and director, Sean also has credits as producer on several documentaries, but in 2015 he decided he wanted to direct his own documentary. |
| 1:40.0 | I had a friend who had access directly to President Assad and I thought it would be interesting to make a |
| 1:48.8 | documentary, you know, sort of setting up that period of the Arab Spring and then flash forwarding and say how come |
| 1:57.0 | this is still working for him in Syria? And so we went. This friend and I went to meet with Assad to see what kind of access we might be able to get, what kind of freedom we may have to report. |
| 2:14.3 | Did you get to meet him in person? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.