Anne Turner(1939-2006)

Having been diagnosed with incurable progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in 2004 and having watched her husband 'Jack Turner' die from a closely related illness, Dr Anne Turner chose to end her life using assisted suicide, illegal in the UK, travelling to Switzerland to do so in January 2006. Turner chose to make her case known to the press and in particular to the BBC, whose journalists accompanied her on her trip. The story was later turned into a TV film A Short Stay in Switzerland (2009) broadcast in 2009 by the BBC and released on DVD. Turner was played by Julie Walters, her son Edward by Stephen Campbell Moore, the film also starred Harriet Walter as well as the BBC journalist Fergus Walsh who played himself.