Polonium And The Piano Player: Lives of Litvinenko and musician ‘forever intertwined’ after poisoning

The image of Alexander Litvinenko lying stricken on his hospital bed in London in 2006 is one which many people will remember vividly.

The ex-KGB agent had lost all his hair, his skin was discoloured and he looked near death.

What nobody knew at the time this image was published was that Litvinenko had been poisoned by one of the deadliest substances known to man – Polonium 210, a highly radioactive uranium enriched poison.

:: Listen to Polonium and the Piano Player on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker or wherever good podcasts are listened to

Just days after the world bore witness to this terrible image, Litvinenko died, and we learned how he succumbed to the effects of Polonium 210, after 23 agonising days in hospital.

What we know now, following the 2016 public enquiry into his death, was that in all probability, Litvinenko was poisoned by the Russian state and with the knowledge of President Vladimir Putin.

The story has since been labelled a real life spy thriller, however it was only after first meeting Derek Conlon in 2016, that I really paid attention to the fact there were other victims in this poisoning – members of the public.

And that the release of a highly unstable nuclear substance impacted the lives of many others, who continue to live with the legacy of this attack.

Conlon is of course the main focus of Polonium and the Piano Player – having been the resident pianist in the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair on the afternoon of the poisoning.

But just by doing what millions of us do every day in the UK, ordering a cup of coffee, the Dubliner would see his life change forever – after he was served a cappuccino in the same radioactive cup used to poison Litvinenko.

In previous episodes of Polonium & the Piano Player, Conlon’s journey to the hotel on the day of the attack has run in parallel with that of Litvinenko’s, a man just four months his junior and his complete opposite in so many ways.

In episode four, Conlon discovers that their lives will be forever intertwined.

Just how much, is one of the remarkable aspects of this episode, where years spent trying to outrun the fallout of the attack finally come to a head.

Conlon, the unassuming stage musician, has up to now been cast as a both a victim and a suspect in this story. Fearing for his life and caught up in an international crisis he is too is forced to consider the role of fate and destiny.

Catch up on the story so far: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

(c) Sky News 2020: Polonium And The Piano Player: Lives of Litvinenko and musician ‘forever intertwined’ after poisoning