LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- British television audiences will be shown an assisted suicide for the first time Wednesday , when a documentary is aired about a man taking his own life at a Swiss clinic . Craig Ewert , along with his wife Mary , hears final instructions from Dignitas escort Arthur Bernhard before taking a fatal dose of barbiturates . The documentary for broadcaster Sky will show the final moments in the life of 59-year-old Briton Craig Ewert , a retired university professor , as he takes a lethal dose of sedatives under medical supervision . The father-of-two had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease -- a rare condition caused by the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain that control the muscles -- five months before his death at Swiss euthanasia clinic , Dignitas . He decided that he did n't want to continue suffering as a prisoner in his own body . Ewert 's story follows a number of high-profile assisted suicide cases in the UK -- where the practice is illegal -- in recent years , with opinion divided as to whether those involved should face prosecution . What 's your view ? Click here to comment . With this in mind , we answer some of the main questions related to the practice . What is assisted suicide ? This is where the person who is going to die needs help to kill themselves and asks for it . It may be something as simple as getting drugs for the person and putting those drugs within their reach . It differs slightly from euthanasia , which involves the deliberate killing of a person for the benefit of that person . What are the laws on assisted suicide in the UK ? Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK , with the 1961 Suicide Act making it an offence to `` aid , abet , counsel or procure the suicide of another . '' Helping somebody to die carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years . Have people been prosecuted here for assisting suicide ? No . A decision by Britain 's Crown Prosecution Service on December 10 effectively ruled out the prosecution of families who assist in such `` mercy killings , '' when it decided no charges would be brought against the parents of a paralyzed rugby player . Daniel James , 23 , died with the aid of his parents in a Dignitas assisted suicide clinic last year after deciding he was no longer able to live with the injuries he sustained playing rugby at university . Watch more about the case » . In a landmark decision , Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said there was `` sufficient evidence '' to prosecute the couple , but that it would not be in the public 's interest to do so . In a statement he pointed to the fact that Daniel , `` as a fiercely independent young man , was not influenced by his parents to take his own life and the evidence indicates he did so despite their imploring him not to . '' Has there been a push to change the law in the UK ? The issue was brought to widespread attention in 2002 when Diane Purdy , a terminally ill woman , failed in a legal bid for her husband to be allowed to help her take her life without fear of prosecution . Her lawyers had argued that under the European Convention on Human Rights , which guarantees the right to respect for private life and bans inhuman and degrading treatment , she should be allowed to die with dignity , rather than face the distressing final stages of her disease . She eventually died in a hospice in Luton , England . Since then several attempts to legalize assisted suicide in the UK have been rejected . The most recent , in 2006 , was defeated in the House of Lords -- the country 's upper house in parliament -- by 148 votes to 100 . In Scotland , which has its own legal system , veteran MP Margo MacDonald has launched a campaign to legalize the practice . MacDonald , who suffers from Parkinson 's disease , said people should have the right to choose the time and place of their death . She hopes to bring legislation before Scotland 's parliament next year . Why can it be done in Switzerland ? Who does it ? Swiss charity Dignitas was founded in 1998 and has helped hundreds of people across Europe to commit suicide . Dignitas takes advantage of Switzerland 's liberal laws on assisted suicide which suggest that a person can be prosecuted only if they are acting out of self interest . Campaigners see the absence of a complete ban on assisted suicides as tacit permission to proceed - although their stance has never been tested in the Swiss courts . The charity is run by lawyer Ludwig Minelli , who believes that he is helping people `` die with dignity . ''
Final moments in the life of 59-year - old actor Peter Ewert shown on TV . Peter , a motor neurone disease sufferer , went to an assisted suicide clinic . Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and carries 14-year prison terms . No - one in the UK has been convicted under the 1961 Suicide Act .