DOCUMENTARY
INSIDE ALTON TOWERS C4, 9pm
When the Smiler rollercoaster crashed at Alton Towers in 2015, 16 people were hurt, five of them left with lifechanging injuries. Something had gone seriously wrong and the tragedy lost the theme park around a quarter of its visitors.
“What had happened was the complete opposite of what we’re here for,” says general manager Ian Crabbe in this documentary. “It’s been absolutely terrible. Traumatic for me because, in my senior role, I was responsible for injuring people.”
Three years on and the park is now hoping to win back the trust of the public. How? By launching their scariest ride yet, a multi-million pound wooden rollercoaster based on horror movie The Wicker Man.
Of course you won’t have much sympathy for the corporation – compensation claims with victims continue – but this is an interesting behind-the-scenes look at its efforts to launch a new ride and win over a sceptical media.