The Jackman Affair: Watch our two-part show On Demand and Sky Go
Robin Jackman, Mikey Holding and Ronnie Biggs made headlines.
Saturday 23 July 2016 16:27, UK
In January 1981, England's cricketers were about to embark on one of the most explosive tours in living memory...
Their destination was the West Indies and ahead of them was a four-month trip that included political intrigue, tragic death, sporting brilliance and a surprise appearance of a Great Train robber...
Robin Jackman - who played four Tests for England between 1974 and 1983 - was the starting point for the commotion, after the Guyanese government revoked his visa for the West Indies tour because of his links with the then apartheid South Africa.
Although the England party travelled to Guyana, they never made it out of their hotel in Georgetown and the second Test of the series was ultimately cancelled, leaving the whole tour hanging in the balance.
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The press pack received a welcome diversion from the political fallout when Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs, was kidnapped - then rescued - in the Caribbean.
But tragedy soon struck England - and, indeed the world of cricket - with the sudden death of Ken Barrington from a heart attack at the age of 50.
Episode two also focuses on one of the most hostile overs ever bowled in cricket - that of Michael Holding to Geoffrey Boycott at Bridgetown in March 1981.
