2013-05-22T05:22:24-04:00 Chris Terrill http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=chris-terrill Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Chris Terrill Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1306353 2012-02-28T09:07:32-05:00 2012-04-29T05:12:01-04:00

Chris Terrill http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-terrill/
In truth I think we have suffered from a degree of "Afghan fatigue" amongst the viewing public. To date there have been some very fine series and films on the war in Afghanistan and a few rather lacklustre ones that, it seemed to me, just wanted to jump on the band wagon. So it was a brave Channel Five that commissioned me to add to the stockpile. In judging the public response so far, though, it is gratifying that the overwhelming response has been positive fed by the realisation that this series has endeavoured to bring something fresh and different to the table.

I think that if this series does have a strength it is the intimacy that the Royal Marines afforded me as a filmmaker and the consequent honesty that I like to think comes across to the viewer - but that is not for me to say (only to hope for). It is always the intent of an observational filmmaker to get as close to the reality as possible. Certainly I could not have asked for closer access to the work of the Royal Marines on the front line and neither could I have asked for a more honest and open reaction to my camera.

The public response, then, has been and continues to be overwhelmingly positive. Most of it reflects the wide respect and awe in which these men are held in the public mind. A lot of it too relates to the picture of Afghanistan that the films are affording - a portrait of a war torn country trying, possibly against the odds, to get up on its own two feet after ten years of war and begin to look after itself. I have had some letters from people who were genuinely surprised that not everyone in Afghanistan is a Taliban insurgent but that many Afghans seem really nice people. They are!

One film is left to air. For those who have been following the series I can promise an emotional finale. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1272598 2012-02-13T06:00:53-05:00 2012-04-14T05:12:01-04:00

Chris Terrill http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-terrill/ Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan has been aired. It caused quite a reaction from the viewing public which was both gratifying and humbling. Gratifying because it seems to have struck a chord but humbling because so many people were genuinely very shocked and saddened by the revelation that Cply Paul Vice - "Vicey' - was so badly injured. The Channel Five website is inundated with messages of support and concern for Vicey and his family. The degree to which the programme seems to have saddened so many is a surprise even to me and I know Vicey himself is incredibly moved by the outpouring of emotions on his behalf throughout the UK.

For those that did not see the programme it focused on Vicey and the rest of Lima Company based at a remote British checkpoint in the insurgency infested area of Nad Ali North in Helmand Province. After a savage firefight that featured towards the end of the programme Vicey was seen to say that he thought that it was now so dangerous in that area - particularly because the growing problem of IEDs - that it was only a matter of "when" not "if" anyone got killed or injured. I then froze the image of this fresh faced young man and revealed that just weeks later he was blown up and suffered serious injuries to his "torso, legs and brain". The fact is that Vicey lost so much blood from a shrapnel wound to his neck that he "died" twice on the evacuating helicopter and, even through he was saved, he suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen.

I have seen Vicey several times since he was brought back home. I can therefore report that he is getting better all the time although the devastating nature of his injuries means his recovery and convalescence will be long term rather than short term. I am following his progress on film and will report on his condition in the final episode of the series.

I return though to the spontaneous reaction of the viewing public to Vicey's injury. It is proof, if proof were needed, that the nation's TV watchers are not just mindless couch potatoes feeding on easy to watch junk reality shows, game shows and talent shows. I have been at this game for many years and have often despaired of the dumbing down of British TV - a process that has been accelerated by the proliferation of channels all vying for the viewer's attention. The response to Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan has renewed my faith in the British TV viewer.

So, if you have been watching I thank you and if you are one of the many who took the trouble to Twitter about it or post your comments on Five's website - I thank you doubly.

The next in the series is aired tonight at 9pm. ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1248973 2012-02-02T03:04:03-05:00 2012-04-02T05:12:01-04:00

Chris Terrill http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-terrill/
So, how has the first programme done? Did it reach the audience I was aiming at? Did it have the desired effect? Well, it did not reach as many as I had hoped - about 1.2 million (not including the audiences on Five plus one or the repeat last night at 23.00). I was hoping for something nearer two million but we were transmitting on a very competitive night. Whitechapel on ITV1 brought in a staggering 6.5 million. It will be interesting to see how many recorded my series to watch at a later date.

The audience the series did reach, however, does seem to be particularly responsive. Various websites show this - namely the military websites and the Channel Five one itself. I am hoping that this programme, and the ones to follow, will spark healthy debate over the Afghanistan question, our role in that country and the prospects for its future. I also hope that this series will go some way into explaining what it is really like out there for our soldiers as I have tried to adopt a much more intimate approach to the telling of that story. I hope, therefore it will appeal to a wider audience than just the military minded.

The powers that be (the Royal Marines top brass, the MoD and Government) are biding their time before revealing what they think of my portrayal of the boys on the front line. They are understandably nervous of such a personal portrait of warriors at work. I am urging them to keep the faith as I remain confident that the general public, who are not fools, will, through these films, come to appreciate even more the extraordinary work being done on our behalf in Afghanistan.

It is still too soon to properly evaluate the overall impact of this series as a piece of revelatory TV. The initial indications are good but there are still five weeks to go so I too must keep the faith.

All I can say is, if you have been watching please continue. If you have not - well it is not too late to start! ]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1241402 2012-01-30T09:25:17-05:00 2012-03-31T05:12:01-04:00

Chris Terrill http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-terrill/
It is then up to the viewers either to allow my film to remain the focus of their attention or to banish it with a peremptory depression of the aforementioned button on the remote control. I know only too well that none of my films, or anyone's films come to that, will ever be allowed to outstay their welcome because the moment they offend or bore they're out on their ears - courtesy of said 'zapper'. In their place any one of a number of alternative programmes, from the mass of channels now available, will become favoured. It is survival of the fittest.

Film-makers have to remember that it is a privilege and not a right to have their work viewed in the intimate surroundings of someone's home. And even if permitted to stay for any length of time it is essential that our programmes be amusing, informative, entertaining and these days, let's admit it, controversial and/or titillating. If not any of these then zap! Or click! There is always the off switch and the competing attractions of the inter-net, the fridge, bed or taking the dog for a walk round the block.

Tonight, I have a new series going out on Channel 5. For the last week or so the channel has busied itself trying to persuade as many people as possible to consider opening their homes to Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan in that most competitive of all the evening slots - the post watershed 'nine o'clocker' in which programmes can sink without trace or swim to the glory of a ratings winner. As a so-called 'veteran' film-maker I have become as hardened to the realities and the vagaries of the ratings as I have to the views of the critics whether they be good or bad. Kipling's If always springs to mind when I peruse the following day's reviews of my films:

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same...

So why is it that, more than any other of the 150 or so films I have made in my career, that I want this series to command the nation's attention or whatever goodly part of it I might reasonably lay claim to? In part it is because I think that the films I have made with my talented editors, Jamie and Julie, do warrant a wide viewership and hopefully favourable judgement - although to say that now I realise is tempting providence in a most provocative way. For what it's worth, however, I do think the stories my films tell are compelling and I also think they bring something new to the oft told but continually unfolding story of the war in Afghanistan.

Most of all though, I want people to watch the Royal Marines at work. This is a very special breed of men doing the toughest of all jobs in one of the most ferocious parts of Afghanistan. These films are not the first I have made about the Royal Marines and I have been accused before, notably by AA Gill of the Sunday Times, of making films that simply venerate the Corps. He described my last Afghanistan series, Commando: On the Front Line (2006), as a 'paean' to their greater glory. Maybe he's right. Perhaps I am guilty of eulogy or panegyric but consider this: I have a long association with the Royal Marines. I have trained with them and I have been to war with them. As a result I now enjoy unique access to the Corps because they have come to trust me. They trust me because they know I understand them, their ethos, and their raison d'etre. It is through that understanding, and because of it, that I make my films about them the way I do.

They are personal, intimate and unapologetically subjective. I am not, however, making PR films or recruitment films. I endeavour to tell it how it is. Nothing is hidden. It's warts and all TV - watch tonight and see. I do not go out of my way to exalt the Marines, to ennoble them or lionise them. What you see is what you get but I challenge anyone to immerse with the marines or 'embed' as it is described these days, and not be incredibly impressed by them and all they stand for, and moved by their determination to get the job done - whatever it takes - and sometimes that means making the ultimate sacrifice.

AA Gill might like to know that my sternest critics are not those that review TV programmes professionally but those from within the Royal Marines themselves - particularly the Top Brass who are understandably very protective of their men and their hard won reputation. There are commanders, colonels and generals who probably feel that I have got closer than a filmmaker or journalist should get to the inner sanctum of the Corps and that I might reveal too much of a world that they feel should remain private and enclosed - enshrined by the sense of brotherhood that bonds all Marines without the need for wider scrutiny. Some may well feel that exposure to the sometimes harsh and unforgiving light of TV publicity will always be damaging to reputation - especially one born of a military culture with its own rules, customs and traditions.

I feel very strongly, however, that the nation will benefit from an understanding of what makes a Marine a Marine. We are generally quick to pour scorn over our youth, sometimes with good cause, but the young men who train as Marines (the longest and hardest basic military training in the world) are working resolutely for our benefit, protection and national welfare.

In my new series I follow Lima Company of 42 Commando to the very front line of battle and beyond - deep into enemy territory. There I tell of the heroic attempts to draw enemy fire away from a village being cleared of IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) before being rebuilt after years of Taliban occupation and given back to the people. Seven Marines lost their lives in the protection of this village and many more suffered life-changing injuries, so I am making no apologies for making films that tell this story. Some of what the viewers will see is inspiring, some of it shocking - war is shocking so deal with it - some is desperately sad and some of it is gut-bustingly funny.

The following six weeks will see the series play out. I will gauge with fascination the responses from the viewing public, the critics and the Marines themselves and share it with you in this blog.

And if you have nothing better to do tonight at 9pm tune into Channel 5 and allow yourself to be transported to Nad E Ali (north) - and the most dangerous square mile in Afghanistan.

Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan is on Channel 5 tonight at 9pm ]]>