Featured Image Credit: Neale Haynes via Getty Images / BBC
Topics: Drugs, UK News, Documentaries, TV, BBC
Michael Slavin
Topics: Drugs, UK News, Documentaries, TV, BBC
A new BBC doc airing tonight will chronicle the hunt for Britain’s most notorious drug smuggler.
While the expected place for true crime docs for many may be Netflix, the BBC’s newest documentary is a gripping watch that will rival even the most popular docs on the streamer.
The benefit of this too is of course, that it can be watched entirely for free (if you exclude your pesky TV license, but that doesn’t fit my point).
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The show follows the years long hunt for a man who was long considered to be Britain’s most prolific drug smuggler. The smuggler in question went by the code name ‘Mr Nice’, and was actually a relatively well-known figure in the British press for a while.
Despite this, the Welsh criminal was hauling mountains of Cannabis into the country.
The two-part doc in question is called Hunting Mr Nice: The Cannabis Kingpin and focuses on the pursuit of Howard Marks, a Welsh Cannabis Kingpin.
Marks died from cancer in 2016 at the age of 70.
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The documentary focuses on his inner circle and the people who were pursuing him. This includes the pilot Roger Reaves, who became a pilot for Marks after years spent as a smuggler for the Medellin Cartel.
Pursuing Marks was DEA agent Craig Lovato, who features heavily in the documentary.
Below is a clip of Lovato discussing the various codes which incorporated Cockney Rhyming Slang which prevented Marks being caught for years:
Marks was finally arrested in 1988, and spent seven years behind bars in what was dubbed ‘America’s toughest’ prison.
Throughout the mid 1980s he was hauling tens of millions of pounds worth of Cannabis, however the release of his autobiography ‘Mr Nice’ following his release from prison helped reform his image.
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This led to a second life as a public speaker and successful author.
Until his death Marks claimed it was a ‘victimless crime’, something which his ex-wife Judy disputed in a 2009 interview.
She said: “For years I was terrified living with him. I used to beg him to stop dealing. I nagged him non-stop. We quarrelled over it. But he was unbelievably selfish. And the family was devastated, destroyed.
“I look back and think what an idiot I was. I regret that I wasn't more forceful. His own children got hurt. Patrick was only one when both of us were arrested. I was in prison for a year in Madrid away from the children.
“It was a terrible, painful time and Patrick suffered the most. A lot of people got very hurt. So no, I wouldn't call his crimes victimless.”
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You can watch both episodes of Hunting Mr Nice: The Cannabis Kingpin on BBC iPlayer now.