What happens
The Pacific Story dramatizes the life of Jose Rizal, a Filipino physician, writer and patriot. In Madrid, Rizal and a circle of Filipino students discuss how to expose the injustices of Spanish rule in the Philippines. Rizal, who is poor and writing in his small room, completes his novel about a young Filipino returning home from Europe. Copies are smuggled into Manila, where the government orders them burned. Rizal returns home to treat his mother's failing eyesight, and later faces exile and hardship for his writings. The episode follows him as his family suffers under pressure from the authorities.
Madrid, Berlin, Manila, Dapitan and the Philippines, 1880s to 1896
Characters: Jose Rizal, Maximo Viola, Paciano Rizal, Trinidad Rizal, Balintawak, Andres Bonifacio, Governor General Despujol
Listen for: Rizal's friends urging him to write a book about the Philippines, and his final farewell poem delivered to his family before his execution
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.