The screening on Tuesday 22 July 1975 of Yorkshire Television’s controversial documentary Johnny Go Home – a documentary about runaway children who headed for the bright lights of London – across the ITV network had a tremendous impact on viewers.
The documentary by John Willis (who produced, directed, narrated and briefly appeared on screen) is still compelling – if not shocking – viewing today, even though it was made for the moment rather than with an eye on posterity.
During production, the murder took place of 19-year-old Scottish runaway Billy McPhee (known as Billy Two-Tone because he died half his hair) from one of the local hostels.
The Yorkshire TV crew realised they had filmed many of those involved, and with police permission, they began documenting the unfolding investigation.
As a result, the proposed programme eventually doubled in length and was screened in two discrete parts.
Part one – ‘The End of the Line’ – was aired at 9 pm and followed the case histories of Annie, a 16-year-old girl hardened to her homelessness and surviving through “tapping” (begging), busking and scrounging from shopkeepers, and Tommy Wylie (pictured), a 12-year-old Scottish boy seen arriving at London’s Euston Station, as the documentary begins.
‘The Murder of Billy Two-Tone’ became the second half of Johnny Go Home, screened after the ITV 10 pm news bulletin.
It forensically uncovered the facts behind the killing, centring on the hostel’s owner, Roger Gleaves.
Despite his persuasively respectable front (he put on a religious front and wore a former RAF uniform while carrying out his allegedly philanthropic duties), Gleaves’ charity housing empire turned out to be based on sexual exploitation, religious cultishness, financial corruption (one estimate claimed he was making £300 a week from fraudulent Social Security claims for fictional residents in his network of hostels) and bureaucratic ineptitude.
Gleaves – who was neither involved in nor charged with the torture and murder of McPhee – did, however, have a criminal record of theft, assault and indecent assault on young boys and was exposed by the documentary as the bogus ‘Bishop of Medway’ picking up runaway children from London railway stations.
Three of his hostel associates – Phillip Holland, David Johnson and Michael Woodland – received life sentences for the murder of Billy McPhee.
Following the airing of the film, Gleaves was convicted of two charges of buggery and causing actual bodily harm and received a four-year sentence, during which he qualified as a lawyer.
He was jailed again in 1998 for the rape and sexual assault of young boys, this time for 15 years.
The two films have similar styles, but the second has greater urgency, cleverly recalling the themes of the first. Some footage is replayed, with scenes which had seemed innocent when first shown now appearing far more sinister.
Johnny Go Home won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Factual Programme, the Prix Jeunesse in Munich (Youth Section), and The Royal Television Society Award for outstanding achievement behind the camera (to John Willis).
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During production, the murder took place of 19-year-old Scottish runaway Billy McPhee (known as Billy Two-Tone because he died half his hair) from one of the local hostels.
Gleaves – who was neither involved in nor charged with the torture and murder of McPhee – did, however, have a criminal record of theft, assault and indecent assault on young boys and was exposed by the documentary as the bogus ‘Bishop of Medway’ picking up runaway children from London railway stations.
