Jackie Mann was a British war hero who fought as a spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain. Suffering severe burns when his plane was shot down he underwent a number of plastic surgery procedures due to his injuries. It was while he was recuperating in hospital that he met his future wife, Sunnie, who was working as an ambulance driver during the war. 

When the war ended, they moved to the Lebanon where Jackie worked as the chief pilot of the newly formed Middle East Airlines and Sunnie opened a successful riding school. Their idyllic life in Beirut began to crumble when the Israelis invaded in 1982 but they carried on with their daily lives despite the heavy fighting in west Beirut. 

On the 12th of May 1989, Jackie was kidnapped while leaving his bank in Beirut by Khalaya al-Kifah al-Musallah or "Armed Struggle Cells", a previously unknown terrorist group linked to the pro-Iranian Shi'ite Muslim militant organisation, Hezbollah. Sunnie made an emotional television appeal calling for the immediate release of her husband, she told reporters: "We are just a couple who have lived in Lebanon for over 40 years because we loved the place and its people." This was the beginning of a relentless campaign that garnered international attention and brought fame to Sunnie, who was a colourful character with her bright blond hair and over-sized glasses. 

Sunnie spent two years searching for her husband and hearing conflicting stories about his fate, some saying that Jackie had been killed or died, others that he was about to be released. Jackie was eventually freed after spending 865 days in captivity, most of it spent in solitary confinement. 

Presented by Fiona Guilfoyle and produced by Bernadette O'Sullivan

(First broadcast on the 28th of September 1992)