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Tue 14sep2010 on BBC 2: Battle of Britain "First Light" Docudrama...

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Tue 14sep2010 on BBC 2: Battle of Britain "First Light" Docudrama...

Old 15th Sep 2010, 07:49
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Out here in the colonies, we can't gain access to BBC iPlayer.

Is the programme available online from any other site?
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 08:02
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You might be interested in the production of that excellent programme which kept me entranced, saddened and proud last night.

The air-to-air sequences with multiple aircraft were taken from out-takes of the film "Battle of Britain" (yes THAT one with the Ron Goodwin march!) which were then CGIed to make the aircraft look authentic against the real aircraft (just the one!) that the BBC had to play with. Their budget only allowed for 45min of real Spitfire footage to be taken, the rest being taken from a non-flying replica.

The scenes where the pilot was actually seen flying in the cockpit were done using the backseat of a Yak 130 converted to look like a Spitfire's cockpit. (Not as I supposed using ML 407)

Full details on how they filmed the programme here

BBC - BBC TV blog: First Light: Dramatising the real Battle of Britain
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 08:24
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Really good stuff. Having read the also excellent "Fighter Boys", this also brought that book to life for me....large parts of that focussed on the men of 92 Sqn.

In terms FJH's comment:

every time they showed some poor sod's name being wiped of the blackboard, the previous poor sods' names had reappeared.
Was that not intentional, as in the case of Brian Kingcombe, who was initially thought to have perished after ditching?
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 08:31
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Think it happened a couple of times. The only name that stuck was some chap called monty although that might have been another case of missing in action and subsequently turned up....
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 08:34
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Quite - only ruined by the motormouth announcer talking over the credits at the end, just when a bit of silence was called for
Quite agree, this is a totally crass habit which has ruined the end of so many programmes quite unnecessarily. Why do they do it?
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 08:47
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Long time lurker here on Pprune but last night's proggie was so good prompted me to register....

Very very humbling - especially with the cutaways with Wellum himself in present day...

And amazing to think (from above post on making of) that from a film made 40 years ago footage is still being re-used again to portray the greatest air battle in history....

But another thought occurs - perhaps if the BBC hadn't spurged on years of Jonathan Ross's salary or sequins for yet another 'Strictly Come Dancing' series they could have afforded more real Spitfire time...

(Or even dare I suggest it - go to the special effects folk who do J Cameron/P Jackson movies and get them to recreate 15 September /BoB in full!)
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 09:18
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I think we all recognised the Battle Of Britain film footage; though that has several versions, there were still some very interesting 'new' out-take sequences I for one hadn't seen before.

Hardly surprising the First Light producers used such stuff, imagine the cost of laying that lot on ( even if it were possible ) nowadays !

I thought I did spot a lot of very good new material though, albeit CGI supplemented, it was very well done.

As others have said, it was the perfect decision to have GW' himself among the action, and as for Sam Heughan, the actor who played him when young, I should think this must springboard his career !

As said before, surely in line for awards


- or will they go to the like of 'Ant n' Dec' , Strictly Come Mincing About etc as seems usual !

Last edited by Double Zero; 15th Sep 2010 at 11:18.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 09:20
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The whole family watched it, including my two teenage boys, who were spellbound. I took them to Pegasus Bridge Cafe, the D-Day beaches and the cemeteries at Ranville and Caen earlier this year. I hope that such a vital part of their education will enable then to carry on remembering long after I am gone.

But back to last night. My boys couldn't understand how Dad seemed to have caught a cold half way through the programme. Bl00dy brilliant!
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 10:34
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Quite agree, this is a totally crass habit which has ruined the end of so many programmes quite unnecessarily. Why do they do it?
Will be the same as radio presenters talking over tracks, it is designed to stop those that would copy the show or track and then repackage it onto DVD and sell it as a genuine article, bit hard to do if the end has narration over it... Well that's what I believe is the reasoning behind it.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 10:45
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MTOW

Watching the Beeb.........check your PM's.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 11:02
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Was I the only one to spot SJT Bloggs on the board?
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 11:21
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It was a very good programme with some very clever production and meticulous attention to detail. Yes, I know that some aircraft weren't quite 'period', but what the heck.

I found the music a little too dreary and intrusive at times though. And the wretched habit of talking over the end credits is irritating in the extreme - just as it had been on the ITV programme with David Jason.

Good to see that, despite "I'm a celebrity big brother mincing about in the jungle" level of tat which is most TV these days, the occasional excellent production can still be funded.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 11:25
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Beagle,

I'm surprised you thought the music was intrusive, I thought quite the opposite, that they'd let the Merlins provide the music, and a lot of it !

Still they said it'd make me go deaf.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 12:07
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Good to see that, despite "I'm a celebrity big brother mincing about in the jungle" level of tat which is most TV these days, the occasional excellent production can still be funded
And yet in spite of that the The Times TV reviewer chose to ignore "First Light" and instead wrote about "The Young Ones", yet another reality show peopled with a bunch of old gits most of whom couldnt hold a candle to Geoffrey Wellum.

I've banged off a letter to them about it, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to be published.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 12:23
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I thought this may be of interest. A couple of signed prints from my wall. Just above Brian Kingcome is the single word signature - Dowding.




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Old 15th Sep 2010, 12:30
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I was fortunate to be on the same table as Geoffrey Wellum and Bob Foster at a Bomber Command Memorial fundraiser a while ago. I hardly knew what to ask them (meeting your hero syndrome) but both were extremely friendly and easy to talk to. The program was terrific, much better than expected and really summed up the atmosphere of the period. I hope we can get the BC Memorial financed so there will be a full house. The fighter guys fully support this and I hope everyone on PPRuNe does as well.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 12:45
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Unixman, was it really a Yak130 jet trainer? I would have thought it would be more likely to be a Yak52.

However I thought the program was brilliant. Pity the BBC cannot do more of this with a bigger budget it could have been outstanding.

Geoffrey Wellum you are a Hero, as were your fellow pilots.

Now where's my book, time to read it again.

Last edited by yakker; 15th Sep 2010 at 17:24.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 13:12
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Concur with just about every other comment on this thread. Great evening's TV - Wellington in a day followed by this little masterpiece!

BTW, BBC didn't do the production it was Lion TV. I agree though, an increased budget for what is such an important subject would have allowed a richer experience. My view was that this was a cross between 'Aces High' and 'Battle of Britain'. Maybe that's because aerial warfare hadn't necessarily changed too much over time, certainly between WW1 and 2?

How resonant though watching this in the context of the current SDR debacle! Does make you wonder why Sqn Ldr Wellum and his fellow heroes made their sacrifices when we now have to suffer at the hands of these idiot pen-pushing bean counters in Whitehall.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 14:16
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I’m surprised at how easily pleased everyone seems to be.

I greatly enjoyed Geoffrey’s book, and his brief appearances in this programme were both valuable and touching. Most of the aerial footage was well done too, but even so, this was a pretty underwhelming effort. Pantomime characters, plodding dialogue and, as per usual, too much poor music, and not enough attention to sound quality. Overall, it presented Geoffrey’s story in such a dull way that had I not read the book, would have left me feeling largely uninterested in the outcome. Frankly, I thought much of this docudrama bordered on the amateurish and tedious, particularly the lost-in-cloud sequence, which was so riveting that I got up to make a pot of tea.

Just my opinion, of course.
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Old 15th Sep 2010, 14:25
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Beware before you launch. AJatRED is apparently a TV critic. Two posts in two years. The first being.......

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...ml#post4592262
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