Back in 1978 Bill Hayes’ story about his time in a Turkish prison that was adapted from his book into the Oscar winning movie Midnight Express starring the late great Brad David. Now almost 40 years later he is telling the real story of what happened to the National Geographic channel tonight at 10p in Locked Up Abroad: The Real Midnight Express. Something he was not able to do until now and what an captivating story it is. I can still remember seeing Midnight Express for the first time and sitting there being held hostage by how engrossing the story was. Recently when I sat down to watch Hayes tell his story in this documentary I was even more engrossed. I couldn’t tear myself away from the screen. What he went through and how he survived his time in the Turkish prison just kept my interest from the beginning of the hour until the end. Even 4 decades later his unfortunate journey brought tears to his eyes and to mine. What he went through should have left a bitter shriveled up man, but he has a strength that just left me in awe of him. He was just 23 years old and made the stupid mistake of smuggling hashish from Turkey to the US, but was is it worth all he went through in those 4 years in prison. His story opened to the world what was going on in Turkish prisons back in the late 1970’s and now in the new millennium telling it again will give a new generation a story of strength during and after an unimaginable experience and how to survive it.
Locked Up Abroad: The Real Midnight Express is something that I think should be watched because not only can the real story be better than the fictionalized one, but it can also beone of the best hours of television you will watch in a really long time. Then after you watch it, re-watch the 1978 movie again because you will have a completely new appreciation for it. I know I did.
Bill Hayes’ story of being Locked Up Abroad is the first in the series of documentaries that will be airing on the National Geographic Channel on Tuesday for the next few weeks and they will be showing the stories of people who were locked up in Barbados, Cuzco, Saddam’s Iraq, Tokyo and Bangkok.
