Over the past few weeks I have become engrossed by the reportage of that ex-'East Enders" actor, Ross Kemp, who spent last Summer with the 'Vikings', otherwise known as the Royal Anglian Regiment, during their tour in Afghanistan. Put simply it was superb reportage of the very highest quality. Wisely, Kemp eschewed the sort of lofty strategic second-guessing that BBC reporters indulge in when they pay a fleeting visit to the troops, usually on the basis of a 2:2 in modern history from Hull 'Yooni' in their 'youf'. Kemp's dispatches were strictly 'tactical', that is, he confined himself to reporting on the 'Toms' at the lowest level of the army hierarchy, the rifle sections and platoons. Nor were his reports sent in from the roof of the nearest Hilton Hotel; he, and his excellent and courageous cameraman, were down on the ground (literally when the muck and bullets started flying) and went in with the assault sections as they mounted their attacks on Taliban positions. Naturally there were casualties, including one 'friendly fire' accident in which a bomb hit a forward position of the Anglians killing three men. Later he interviewed the survivors who had lost their mates, and the Anglians being a County regiment some of them had known each other since school, in order to get their re-action - and what a breath of fresh, commonsensical air he received in return. There was no bitterness, no anger - except against the tabloids for their blaring headlines about 'Yanks bombing our boys'. These young and very ordinary men, boys, really, were entirely phlegmatic. They praised the pilots who they absolutely relied on to deliver a knock-out punch against their enemies, they admired the way in which the pilots often hung around, at risk to themselves, in case further strikes were needed, and they accepted calmly the obvious fact that in a war zone "shit happens" even more often than in normal life. In addition, Kemp also interviewed the bereaved families and did so with exemplary tact, letting them, for the most part, do the talking. All the footage concerning their dead sons was only shown with the permission of the families concerned. Unlike his BBC counterparts, Kemp avoided any opinion on the rights or wrongs of the war and confined himself to the rights and wrongs of the way in which the 'Toms' were equipped and treated. One last thing impressed me tremendously - Afghanistan is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
The series was shown on Sky TV but my guess is that it will now be syndicated further and possibly a DVD will be released. I urge you all to try and see it. And I hope Kemp and his crew win all the prizes at whatever is the next TV awards 'do' - they deserve it.
hi, Just stumbled across this blog..
Must say I agree with your comments on Ross Kemp, I never watched him on east enders but have seen him in his " gangs of the world " series.
This series, I think ,has been magnificent and is in complete contrast to the drivel handed out by EL BEEB.
Posted by: Raymond mcCarthy | Tuesday, 19 February 2008 at 16:36
Greetings, Raymond, and welcome to Duff & Nonsense. I saw bits and pieces of him in 'East Enders' simply because the little 'Memsahib' is addicted to it and it's more than my life is worth to attemtp to switch over - or even make a noise! I haven't watched any of his other reporting programmes because the subject matter did not interest me, but being an ex-'Tom' of more years ago than I care to count, I watched his efforts in Afghanistan with interest and I thought it was outstanding. The courage of both him and his cameraman should not be forgotten, either. The 'Vikings' were well served.
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 19 February 2008 at 18:41