Mugabe: Death of a Dictator

This programme is the first in a series entitled Great Dictators, brought to you by Espresso Productions in partnership with archive giants ITN Source. A privileged relationship with ITN has allowed us access into rare and previously unseen footage. Combined with contributions from established academics per episode, this instalment provides two broad experts on dictatorial regimes and authoritarianism, plus one in-depth specialist – a journalist exiled from Zimbabwe by Mugabe himself.

When Robert Mugabe lost his power as President of Zimbabwe in 2017, his legacy remained one of the most brutal modern-day dictatorships. His path of destruction encountered economic devastation, famine, corruption and massacres.

This one hour documentary uses stunning exclusive archive and expert interviews to chart Mugabe’s rise to terror, from his humble beginnings as a young freedom fighter inspired by Ghandi, who set out to free his people from white European oppression. This film invites you inside the mind of one of the most destructive modern villains and into the heart of his long and controversial reign.

We follow his journey to absolute rule, exploring how a greed for power, dependence on violence and growing paranoia poison the mind and create a dictator. In his own words, “Britain has no right at all to try and suggest to the rest of the world that we are a failure, nor have they a right to try and suggest to us what we should do.”

Within the programme, insights and expertise come from leading academics, such as Brian Klaas, Assistant Professor of Global Politics at University College, London, and Dr. Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor of Government, Expert on Authoritarian regimes: University of Essex. Natasha states that: “These far-right movements are so dangerous because they don’t like democracy – it’s too messy for them.”

Additional commentary comes from Violet Gonda, a Zimbabwean journalist, exiled by Mugabe for 20 years. Her exclusive interview offers a new way of looking at his legacy from a unique perspective of both inside and outside the regime.

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Great Dictators: Series information

This series offers a customisable approach to history. Formed of up to 10 episodes, the one-hour long parts focus around one dictator each, with options for broadcasters to select their desired length of the series, and in turn, the dictators featured.