A former university professor with motor neuron disease will be seen ending his life in a documentary to be broadcast tonight — the first time that an assisted suicide has been televised in Britain.

In the footage Craig Ewert travels from his home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich accompanied by Mary, his wife of 37 years. He is shown drinking a lethal dose of barbiturates before turning off his ventilator with a mouth-operated switch. The decision to broadcast Right to Die on Sky television’s Real Lives channel has been condemned by the television watchdog Mediawatch-UK.

Mr Ewert, 59, an American father of two who moved to Britain after taking early retirement, was told that he had the disease in April 2006 and was given between two and five years to live. The illness progressed far more rapidly than expected and before his death on September 26, 2006, he needed assistance to breathe.

Mr Ewart, whose death was recorded by a film crew, said: “I am tired of the disease but I am not tired of living. I still enjoy life enough that I would like to continue, but the thing is that I really cannot. If I opt for life then that is choosing to be tortured rather than end this journey and start the next one. I cannot take the risk. Let’s face it, when you’re completely paralysed and cannot talk, how do you let somebody know you are suffering? This could be a complete and utter hell.

“You can watch only so much of yourself drain away before you look at what is left and say, ‘This is an empty shell’. Once I become completely paralysed, then I am nothing more than a living tomb that takes in nutrients through a tube in the stomach. It’s painful.”

Mr Ewert paid £3,000 for the assisted suicide, his cremation and his ashes to be sent back to England. As his wife told him that she loved him, he bit down on a timer to switch off his ventilator and then drank a lethal dose of sodium phenobarbital through a straw. He died 45 minutes later.

Before taking his life Mr Ewert told the film crew: “By this point I have two choices, either go through with it or say, ‘You know what, I am too scared right now and I do not want to do it.’ If I do not go through with it then my choice is to suffer and to en- force suffering on my family and then die in a way that is considerably more stressful and painful. I have death or I have suffering and death. This way makes a whole lot of sense to me.”

The Ewerts’ children — Katrina, 33, and Ivan, 35 — were banned from being at his deathbed. Katrina said: “I really did not want to have to make the decision of whether I was going to be there or not. Part of me would have liked to have been there and part of me thought it was going to be really hard. My Dad was a great guy and I love him very much.”

John Beyer, of Mediawatch-UK, said: “This subject is quite an important political issue at the moment and my anxieties are that the programme will influence public opinion. Broadcasters must always remain impartial, otherwise they could influence the public or other sufferers into making a similar action. That’s my anxiety.”

The documentary was made by John Zaritsky, the Oscar-winning Canadian director. He was granted unprecedented access to the right-to-die organisation Dignitas, which has helped more than 700 people from 25 countries to die since 1999. Switzerland is the only country where assisted suicide is legal for non-residents.

Mrs Ewert, 59, said the programme was a “wonderful tribute” to her husband’s life. “I have absolutely no regrets about agreeing to leave the camera rolling as Craig died,” she said. “It’s what we both wanted. The only time I asked the crew to leave was around 30 minutes after Craig had died. I needed to cry and I wanted to do that alone.” She said that her husband hoped that the film would dispel a taboo about death. “Craig had been a teacher, and you could say he made this film with his educative hat on.”

Barbara Gibbon, head of Sky Real Lives, said: “By any standards, the decision to take your own life takes a great deal of courage. To share this moment with a TV audience, as Craig Ewert did, and manage to remain articulate right up until the end, takes exceptional courage. The result is a powerful piece of television.”

She said that it was important for broadcasters to stimulate debate on the subject.

Right to Die will be broadcast at 9pm. Real Lives is operated by BSkyB, in which News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has a 39.1 per cent stake.

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