BBC Radio Manchester is marking the 30th anniversary of the Manchester IRA bombing with a five part series exploring the events of 15 June 1996 and their lasting impact on the city.
Presented by Joel Mitchell, Coded Warning follows a personal journey to understand what happened on the day of the bombing and how it continues to shape Manchester.
Joel was not alive when the attack took place but now lives and works in the community affected by it.
The series uses archive audio, eyewitness accounts and immersive storytelling to reconstruct the events of that Saturday morning.
More than 80,000 people were in the city centre when a coded warning triggered what became one of the largest peacetime evacuations in UK history.
At 9.20am, a van carrying 3,000lb of explosives was parked on Corporation Street. A warning was issued 23 minutes later using a recognised IRA codeword.
Police, security staff and emergency services then worked to clear the area before the bomb exploded.
Across five episodes, the series follows the timeline of the day from an ordinary weekend morning through to the explosion, its aftermath and the rebuilding of Manchester in the years that followed.
Joel speaks to people who experienced the bombing first hand, including a bride travelling to her wedding, a young family caught up in the evacuation, shop workers, first responders and other eyewitnesses.
The bombing caused damage to around a third of Manchester city centre and resulted in losses estimated at £700 million. Despite the scale of the destruction, no one was killed.
Through Joel’s perspective, the series examines how a generation with no direct memory of the bombing understands its significance today and the resilience that has become associated with the city.
Coded Warning launches on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Manchester today, 12 June.
