In 1968, Mother Teresa visited
England and the BBC requested a TV
interview of Mother Teresa.
The interviewer was Malcom Mudderidge, of BBC TV
During the interview, Mother Teresa was very nervous in
front of the cameras and somewhat faulty in speech. The Interview was a disaster and the producers doubted for a
while if it was worth showing except for late at night.
Finally it was shown on Sunday evening. The interview had an
extraordinary effect on the viewers. Something
about the woman whose answers to a highly professional interviewer were so
perfectly simple and perfectly truthful that the interviewer felt uneasy and
had difficulty continuing the interview for the allocated half hour seemed to
have touched the nation.
Malcolm himself had been profoundly impressed by Mother
Teresa, he said "It was for me one of those special occasions when a face
given to unknown seems to stand out from all other faces as uniquely separate
and uniquely significant".
In fact the response to the interview proved to be greater
than any other comparable program.
Contributions and letters poured in from rich, poor, educated,
uneducated, young and old.
One woman wrote "this woman spoke to me as no one ever
has and I feel I must help her".
Another man wrote "The words of Mother Teresa touch my
heart like an arrow".
By public demand they had to air the interview several times.
