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The starting point, of course, was
Chris Ryan's novel, Strike Back,
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{\an8}which I saw racked up
in Stansted airport, actually,
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{\an8}on the way out to see a friend
and I bought it.
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And I read the jacket
and dived into the book.
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And I thought it was exactly
the sort of thing I was looking to do.
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When I read it,
I straight away thought, you know,
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{\an8}most people do get excited
with actions, helicopters, guns
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{\an8}and yes it is, you know,
that's exciting to play with,
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but it's just a backdrop and in front
of that and in the middle of that
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are these kind of relationships
and these human beings
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that try to exist in
extraordinary circumstances.
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And I think that's what
makes it interesting dramatically.
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Five, four, three, two, one.
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Go! Go! Go!
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{\an8}The series begins with a firefight
set in Basra in 2003.
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{\an8}And I go alongside four Special Forces,
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of which Richard is one of them.
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He is a killing machine.
He's SAS.
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He came through the military
from about the age of 19.
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His father was in the military.
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He has all the siblings
who were also in the military.
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He's got to a point in his career
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where he's probably the best
he's ever going to be.
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Shoot him.
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Go! Shoot him!
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What's the hold-up?
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This catastrophic thing happens
when he's in an operation in Basra.
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And he fails to kill a child
who has a bomb strapped to him,
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which one would perceive
to be a heroic act.
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In terms of military,
because that child then went on to
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effectively kill three members
of his team,
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it was deemed a failure
so he had to retire.
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Basically his career fell apart.
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And that's the beginning
of the story of Porter.
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The interesting thing with John Porter,
Richard's character,
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is that he has to be calm
within the midst of these war zones.
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So he has this...
That's why he's so proficient.
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Because he doesn't get
emotionally involved.
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He's an automaton.
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He's not a cold-blooded killer
but he operates very calmly
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under great duress,
which is why he is so good.
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With John Porter,
we have a really good hero.
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You know. He's played by Richard,
it's quite silent,
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it's quite quiet, quite determined.
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You know, it's six episodes but
each episode is a double episode,
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so you've got three movies.
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And you've got a collection
of characters that you can relate to
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and follow on this
sort of incredible journey.
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{\an8}The logistics for this show
are on an enormous scale.
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{\an8}I mean, it's helicopters
landing on rooftops,
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{\an8}it's huge explosions,
it's large battle sequences.
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We have action on a huge scale,
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but sometimes I think television
and film can be over-conscious
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of trying to show them on the onscreen.
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It's all there, the cameras are rolling,
everything's happening,
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but very often the focus will be
on the character in the foreground,
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not on the explosion behind.
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And what that does is it draws you into
a much more intimate human experience.
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Steve. Steve!
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Porter!
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Where are the other men?
Collinson, where's Mike and Keith?
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- Fuck.
- They're dead.
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Porter! Porter!
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The interaction between
Porter and Collinson
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is being very much affected by
that kind of relationship.
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It's cowboys and Indians
in the playground,
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but without detracting from the
seriousness of what we're trying to do.
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They keep each other as close
as they can, and you know,
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you keep your friends close
and your enemies even closer.
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- John, it wasn't your fault.
- What did he say to me?
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- What did...
- The kid.
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The boy that I hit.
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What exactly did he say to me?
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It's an Arabic saying.
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"I lay my life for your sake."
It's a debt of honour.
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Both these men are locked
in one single event
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that happened in the stairwell
in the first 10 minutes of the film.
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And it will last for
the entire six hours,
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the resolution of what
really happened in the stairwell,
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as Layla says to Porter
at the end of episode four.
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I need to know what happened
during the Bratton extraction in 2003.
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Porter!
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Where's Mike and Keith?
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Where's Mike and Keith?
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Why do you want to know?
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Because I need to trust the people
my life depends on.
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There's history between
you and Collinson.
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Well, Layla works for Section 20
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{\an8}and is sort of the second-in-command
from Collinson.
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{\an8}She's a very kind of ambitious,
very driven woman
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in a, obviously, a kind of predominantly
male-dominated kind of environment.
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She is kind of very sharp
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and someone who's quite tough
and doesn't take any nonsense.
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And she has a very kind of
sceptical opinion of Porter at first,
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because he hasn't sort of
risen through the ranks,
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or come through the system
in the way that
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most people in the position
he ends up in normally would.
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You didn't think it worth mentioning
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that Porter's been off active duty
for nearly eight years,
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had borderline
post-traumatic stress disorder,
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a 10% weakness in one arm,
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and what effectively amounts
to a dishonourable discharge?
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Layla, we have nothing.
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Jodhi May has been absolutely fantastic.
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She brings something so cerebral
to that character.
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And has turned Layla into
a really interesting woman
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who can be both political
and active in the theatre of war,
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and I think that's a real achievement.
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- Alpha Team, this is Section 20...
- Lieutenant, report!
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Motherfucking...
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The entire building's just gone up, sir.
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I can't see them.
I can't see Alpha Team.
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The control room is very exciting
because, you know,
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{\an8}you have this clock
running in the background
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{\an8}of sort of countdown of
how much time they have
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{\an8}before something's going to go wrong.
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And just to have that there
and the setup, it's all live,
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all this sort of equipment
that's around us is all interactable.
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And then we were shooting something
with a live feed with Jodhi shooting
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from a helicopter which
they'd set up outside.
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So the sense of immediacy
makes it very exciting.
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And the lovely thing about this story,
particularly with Danni as well,
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because I've had to do
a lot of work with her,
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is it feels that there's so far
to go with her.
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And they're all powerful, strong,
witty and intelligent roles.
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Her secret agenda, if there is one,
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is this relationship she has
with John Porter,
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which is still a bit ambiguous,
you know.
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He's introduced to her
in an interesting way,
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in that she's posing as a nurse
whilst he's being...
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having his medical to be
reactivated into the Secret Service.
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How are you feeling
this evening, Sergeant?
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Absolutely bloody knackered, Sergeant.
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Yeah, well, getting a body into shape
in a matter of days...
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...is going to hurt.
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- You saying I'm not in shape?
- No, no.
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They call it a honey trap, you know.
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Posing as a love interest to him
in order to find out
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certain psychological things about him.
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But then, as it goes, you know,
they slightly fall for each other
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and it's possibly
an interesting relationship.
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- There's a good boy.
- Oh, I'm a very good boy.
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Well, then I think you probably
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deserve a bit of a treat, don't you?
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Hmm?
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We don't want to turn off
the female audience.
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I mean, it's important that there are
strong women in strong women roles.
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But I think the scripts reflect that
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and I think hopefully
there's a good balance.
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Orla was one of the first characters
to actually shoot anything on the show.
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You know, the first thing she did
was one of her anchor feeds from Basra.
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Richard actually said to me at the time
that he thought,
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{\an8}"Now, I know where we are.
Now, I know the country we're in."
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{\an8}And yeah, it was a good thing
to kick off with.
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I remember seeing the tape of it
and it was delivered so truthfully that
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it was the first time
I sort of sat down and went,
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"Okay, I know
what this show's going to be now."
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Because up until that point,
I had no concept.
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And the truthfulness with which she
played that first sequence, reporting...
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"Katie Dartmouth, reporting from Basra,"
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really kind of sort of
locked something into my stomach.
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...undercurrent of violence
hides just beneath the surface.
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With the US pull-out scheduled
for the end of the year,
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many Iraqis I've spoken to are worried.
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There's something about being
a correspondent that strikes me
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as something very, very courageous.
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It is very courageous,
especially in certain zones.
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Obviously in a war zone like Iraq,
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you would have to have
your wits about you.
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She's been a significant part of
Porter's evolution, really.
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Because again, it's something
to do with the nurturing.
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You know, she's playing a reporter
who is taken hostage.
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Oh, God! No! No! No!
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A British TV journalist has just
been abducted near Basra.
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Shit. You know who this is, don't you?
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Yeah. We're trying to establish
if her kidnap is incidental
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or directly related to her father.
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- Any contact?
- Not yet.
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All we know is that Katie was abducted
17 kilometres from Basra,
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near a town called Al Haritha.
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My character is in charge of Section 20,
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which is a division of
military intelligence
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that works very closely
with Special Forces.
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{\an8}The Section 20 is sort of
a clandestine group.
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00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:03,840
{\an8}We sort of sit between
politicians and MoD.
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00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,200
{\an8}We sort of try to sort things out
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in the neutral zone.
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- Major Collinson heads up the unit.
- Sir Patrick.
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With Hugh's experience
in the field
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and his specialist Arabic knowledge,
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he's uniquely placed
to resolve this situation.
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00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,240
If you find Katie, what can you do?
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00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,120
Section 20 works closely
with UK Special Forces.
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00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,640
Once we have her location,
we can start implementing a rescue.
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00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,560
The character who is kidnapped,
played by Orla Brady,
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realises something's happening when
she about to be sort of kidnapped.
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So she takes a photograph
of the character coming towards her,
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00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:42,520
and takes the image
and texts it back to England.
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00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,080
Although it's ostensibly
an action story,
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00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,080
what is at its heart and what I thought
was a beautiful premise,
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00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,560
is a man who is, you know,
he's into his life,
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00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,760
he's, you know, he's not some youngster
at the beginning of his life,
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00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,320
in his life, he's made
a terrible mistake.
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00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,720
British Intelligence
authorities have confirmed
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00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,360
that this is likely to be the face
of one of her abductors,
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00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,560
disguised in an Iraqi police uniform...
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00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,960
British security forces believe
this photograph,
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00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,360
taken on Miss Dartmouth's
mobile phone...
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00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:16,360
He wants the chance to go back.
It's eating away at his soul.
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00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:19,320
And he's living and waiting
for the day when he can do that.
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00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:20,840
And then he gets a chance.
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00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,960
He's watching for it, he's waiting
for it and he gets that chance.
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00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:25,440
It's been very interesting
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00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:27,360
watching Richard go through
this process.
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00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,240
And he's had a huge amount
of training on this.
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00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,440
And he's spent very intensive time
and he's a very hard-working actor.
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00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,800
It's okay. It's okay.
It's only me. It's John.
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00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,520
We're going to get through this.
You and me.
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00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,120
You know that, don't you?
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00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:04,600
Yes.
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00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:07,040
She's taken hostage and is seriously,
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00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,840
in a seriously sort of damaged condition
when he finds her.
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00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,560
And again, having that thread through,
224
00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:14,760
you know, that thread of
compassion in him
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00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,160
to be able to deal with her in
that state has been very interesting.
226
00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:20,240
The scenes between Orla and Richard
227
00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:23,560
in a prison cell
in a terrorist safe house
228
00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:27,080
are some of the most
powerful things we could film.
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00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,680
Just going to loosen these ropes.
Make you more comfortable.
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00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,280
- Is that better?
- Yeah.
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00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:39,560
How does that arm feel?
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00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,760
There are scenes in the cell,
where he comes to rescue Katie,
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00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:46,240
that are, they're kind of,
they're almost like love scenes.
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00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:48,560
There's an intimacy to them.
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00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,360
You know, there's that bond
that would form
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00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,080
between somebody who is in grave danger
237
00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,120
and somebody who comes
and says, "I'm going to help you."
238
00:13:57,880 --> 00:13:59,400
Now listen.
239
00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,120
They're going to come for me first.
240
00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,560
That's our chance. I'll overpower them.
241
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,360
Then I'll come back for you.
242
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:11,720
Going to get you home, Katie.
243
00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,280
I'll need to put this hood back on.
I'm sorry.
244
00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:22,080
I understand.
245
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:25,160
You're, you know,
on a precipice together
246
00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:29,360
and so you telescope 20 years
of knowing somebody into
247
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:31,320
a few short hours.
248
00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,600
And you know them on a level that
you'll possibly never know anybody else.
249
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:39,520
Stay low.
250
00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,200
Come on. Head down.
251
00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:31,760
I think it's good to have
a context which is real, so you...
252
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,240
It just makes it more believable.
and also, in a sense, more interesting.
253
00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:40,720
So, it's good, strong entertainment,
but with a reality.
254
00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:45,680
It's a real rollercoaster.
255
00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:50,240
There are explosions and helicopters.
256
00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,080
It's ambitious.
257
00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:00,320
And really exciting.
258
00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:25,560
There's a lot of boys
playing bang-bang.
259
00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:27,320
Go. Go. We've got this.
260
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,520
We've been using AK Kalashnikovs...
261
00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:37,720
sniper rifle...
262
00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:40,240
had an RPG fired at us...
263
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:42,320
Get down! Get down!
264
00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:44,760
...some hand grenades...
265
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:46,360
- Grenade!
- Down!
266
00:16:56,680 --> 00:17:00,680
{\an8}Chris Ryan was
a real serving SAS soldier,
267
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:02,240
{\an8}and he's still very, very involved
268
00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,120
{\an8}in the intelligence
and security industry to this day.
269
00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:10,880
{\an8}So his books have a veracity about them
that we're able to mine and tap into.
270
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,600
{\an8}So I started training
with an ex-army fitness instructor.
271
00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,360
{\an8}So we kind of worked on
not just the shape of my body
272
00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,600
but my fitness level
and trying to get into a point
273
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,880
where I had a shape
that looked like it had been...
274
00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:30,280
It had evolved through work rather than
being in a gym, if you see what I mean.
275
00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:35,440
So I did a lot of cross-training
and running with weights
276
00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,520
that kind of replicate weaponry
277
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:41,760
and, sort of, trying to get movement
that would, you know,
278
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,480
replicate the kind of thing
you have to do in action.
279
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:49,480
{\an8}It's always slightly challenging
to make it just look normal.
280
00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,320
{\an8}You know, we're running
through the bush with guns,
281
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:58,040
letting off AK-47s,
and it would be very easy to...
282
00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:00,880
to just play-act.
283
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,160
But most actors I know want
to make sure that it looks authentic.
284
00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,240
So we want to know how the gun works,
we want to know how we hold it,
285
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:12,520
where we hold it, what the kickback is,
how far the target is away,
286
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:13,960
how we reload.
287
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,640
So it's very exciting for us, as actors.
288
00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,880
{\an8}I'm the armourer on this production,
Strike Back.
289
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:26,160
{\an8}My job, basically,
is to train the actors.
290
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,000
Don't drop your head down to it.
Don't worry.
291
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,000
You just...
You're looking straight in the door.
292
00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:31,600
- The gun is there. Okay?
- Okay. Yeah.
293
00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,960
With firearms, primarily it's actually
to make sure that the weapons work,
294
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:38,560
load them, unload them,
295
00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,160
make sure the safety distances
are kept to,
296
00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:44,080
nobody gets hurt
with the cases flying out.
297
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,320
We worked with weapons
and tactical training
298
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,640
with three SAS, ex-SAS guys,
299
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,760
who stayed with us the whole time on set
and picked us up on every single move,
300
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,680
and anything, any detail,
that wasn't truthful and wasn't real,
301
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:01,800
they'd be jumping on it straight away.
302
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,280
Well, we started off with the SAS
in Iraq,
303
00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:10,240
where Porter walks around
with this rifle, called an M4,
304
00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,440
on which we put torches,
it had a different sight on.
305
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,600
You can take this handle off and you
put different sighting systems onto it.
306
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:25,160
Shit.
307
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:30,920
Collinson, he had a MT-51,
which is specifically used by the SAS,
308
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,200
which is a.762 calibre.
309
00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:39,080
{\an8}We learnt how to strip the guns,
to reassemble, to fire, to...
310
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,840
{\an8}Basically, to feel comfortable
in and around a gun, yeah,
311
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,920
and it took a few days, but we became...
312
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,760
We wanted to get to the stage
where during a take,
313
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:50,520
if something malfunctioned with a gun,
314
00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:53,840
we would be able
to deal with it ourselves.
315
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,880
And so, as you would
in a firefight or a war,
316
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:03,160
be able to reload
and sort of be self-sufficient, really.
317
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,960
Andrew, when Andrew came here,
first of all, from the UK...
318
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,280
Be nice, Lance, come on.
319
00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:12,080
...he didn't even know which end
was the right way to hold it.
320
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,280
But after a little bit of training
and whatever, he's a natural.
321
00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:18,840
Look at that.
Natural-born, steely-eyed killer.
322
00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,200
We've got all the gear and no idea.
323
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,200
The guys, the Iraqis, all ran around
with AK-47s.
324
00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:30,960
Here's an example of a dummy one.
325
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,720
These are rubber, just for background,
and the guys running around,
326
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,600
um, you can't get too close to
the camera, as you can probably see.
327
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:49,160
It's just what
we call "ballistic masturbation".
328
00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:54,040
Working on film sets, we've got sort of
extenuating circumstances, per se,
329
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:57,920
that we work with because
they're not live firing weapons.
330
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,160
And also, given the different scenes,
331
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,240
there's different requirements
that the director might ask for
332
00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:07,320
that we've got to modify certain things
to make it look good for camera.
333
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,920
The mindset and the mentality
and the operational planning
334
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:12,920
of the kind of things
we're trying to do,
335
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,280
we're trying to be as authentic
about it as we can.
336
00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:17,640
And that's essential to me,
and I think essential to the audience
337
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:19,320
and to the whole production,
338
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,680
that everything we do
feels real and authentic.
339
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:26,920
{\an8}The armourer, the special effects guys,
the stunt guys, the safety officer,
340
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,680
{\an8}we all work very, very closely together
because we've got to...
341
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,160
{\an8}I mean, we've all got a common interest
in their safety and security on the set.
342
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,400
Just past this rock over here,
he's going to call ceasefire.
343
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,520
When he calls ceasefire,
what I want you to do is
344
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,720
you stand up and you're still looking,
you're scanning the bush,
345
00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,040
and down here, and looking
where the dead bodies,
346
00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:46,200
'cause there's dead guys lying there,
so you've got an eye on them, okay?
347
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:48,760
Come across. Come across.
348
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,120
Guys, not too far.
349
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,480
Okay, you see at the top,
there's S, R and A.
350
00:21:55,560 --> 00:22:00,360
S is for safe, R is for repeat
or repetition, and A is for automatic.
351
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,240
What does R stand for? Rat-a-tat-tat.
352
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:13,880
Whenever a helicopter lands,
everybody wants to go to it,
353
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,320
so the challenge with the helicopter
mainly is
354
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,800
number one, no one must go
to the wrong side of the helicopter,
355
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,000
and number two,
no one must fall out of it.
356
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,000
From the back door backwards
is an absolute no-go area.
357
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,080
{\an8}If you do want to try and get photos
with the chopper, you know,
358
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,840
{\an8}somebody taking a nice photo of you,
don't touch the helicopter
359
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:38,200
because it's got all this sticky paint
on it, it's removable, okay?
360
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:39,720
You're going to walk away
with green hands
361
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,400
and you're going to stop us
from actually flying.
362
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,640
Things like caps, stuff like that,
363
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,760
absolutely no-no while
these rotors are going.
364
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:49,360
There's another good point here.
365
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,720
Because we've got a little bit
of high and low ground here,
366
00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,040
the blades will go down,
depending on where the skids are.
367
00:22:56,120 --> 00:22:58,680
So all the guys who are
in the chopper now
368
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:00,800
have already practised
going out nice and low.
369
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:04,800
If you do approach at any time,
please just check with me on the ground,
370
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,280
and keep down low.
371
00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,240
Do not walk in there
because I have actually seen it before,
372
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,520
where somebody's decided
to go away without a head.
373
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:15,880
And it's not funny.
So I'm going to be super-serious.
374
00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:17,840
From that door backwards,
if I see anybody,
375
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:18,960
I'm going to give them one warning,
376
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,480
after that, I'm going to take
my helicopter away.
377
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,640
When you're directing action,
it's, you know,
378
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,360
the action part of it is kind of,
you know,
379
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:28,480
I want it to feel almost incidental.
380
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,120
What's always important is
the character, the story,
381
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,800
the moments, the emotional beats,
of all of those action sequences.
382
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:38,800
{\an8}Yeah, today, we've got a chopper
flying in an arc,
383
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,840
{\an8}we've got a guy being rescued,
as far as the scene goes.
384
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,000
{\an8}And, um, yeah, we've just got to watch
385
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:46,720
that the crew doesn't get
too close to the chopper,
386
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,600
stays away from the tail rotors,
that the pilots are happy at all times.
387
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:56,000
You get Richard and all
are safely on board, run round.
388
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,600
As soon as they're back on board,
the moment they're back on board,
389
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,480
well, it takes off,
leaving As'ad behind.
390
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:07,320
And so this camera will hopefully see
that as it rises, see As'ad is...
391
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:22,400
Stay low.
392
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,440
Come on. Head down.
393
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,000
Not you. On your knees.
394
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,360
Katie, sit here.
395
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,720
Zero, this is two-eight
Alpha. Hostage secure. Moving now.
396
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:43,680
- What?
- Don't move.
397
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,640
What are you doing? Wait! As'ad!
398
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,040
John! They're leaving him!
399
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:55,560
Layla, we need to go back now!
400
00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,240
Orders from Collinson!
401
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,080
We all want to make something fantastic,
402
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:04,520
and certainly Dan has wanted to push
it out as much as possible, you know.
403
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:06,280
{\an8}We want as many explosions as possible.
404
00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:10,840
{\an8}We want great scenes with the actors
jumping over cliffs, right,
405
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,080
dropping into the river, you know,
all that kind of stuff.
406
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,960
A lot of it we've achieved, actually.
I'm really pleased.
407
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,200
We've got some great production value.
408
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,560
Um, we shot it on 35mm, so it has
a real feature-film look about it.
409
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:27,440
And, you know, plenty of extras
and plenty of fun, basically.
410
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,120
And this is something
that's very unusual on television.
411
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:35,160
It takes an awful lot of planning
and an awful lot of people
412
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:39,920
to be involved in the design,
the storyboarding, the special effects,
413
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,360
the stunts,
to coordinate very, very clearly,
414
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,120
to make those achievable,
but also to make them believable.
415
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:34,560
{\an8}I had been to South Africa
several times before.
416
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,360
{\an8}I love South Africa, actually.
I love the climate,
417
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,360
{\an8}I love the people, I love the locations.
418
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,360
{\an8}And the most extraordinary thing
about South Africa is that
419
00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:42,960
{\an8}you can duplicate
almost anywhere in the world.
420
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,880
{\an8}I think South Africa has got the
most incredible locations.
421
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:47,120
{\an8}It's got great crews.
422
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:52,200
- Sound and speed. 661, take one.
- Mark.
423
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,560
You feel like the industry's building,
you know,
424
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,040
and that's, I think, quite exciting.
425
00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,160
You know, I think the crews remind me
a lot of British crews.
426
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:02,520
Just get it done.
427
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,560
{\an8}The locations for episode one and two
require us to recreate southern Iraq.
428
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,840
And we're able to do that
in South Africa
429
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:11,760
in an area called Upington
near the Namibian border
430
00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:13,240
where they had flat deserts.
431
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,840
But also the Orange River creates
a fertile flood plain
432
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,440
very like the Euphrates delta,
which is somewhere I'd been, actually,
433
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,560
so when I saw it, I thought,
"Oh, my God."
434
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,960
You know, the opening of episode one,
435
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,720
is all about a hostage extraction
by an SAS team
436
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:28,960
that land on the roof of a safe house
in the centre of Basra
437
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,640
just before the beginning of
Operation Shock and Awe.
438
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,600
And we were filming it over a week
439
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,880
of nights here in Yeoville
in Johannesburg,
440
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:43,400
which has some fantastic '30s buildings
very like parts of Basra are today.
441
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:48,600
Five, four, three, two, one.
442
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:50,560
Go! Go! Go!
443
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:55,840
{\an8}Johannesburg is clearly
a very vibrant city
444
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,640
{\an8}and there's, you know,
lots going on here.
445
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,480
{\an8}And then you don't have to go too far
before you're in Africa, you know.
446
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:09,000
{\an8}And that's very exciting for me
and it's a huge privilege.
447
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,320
{\an8}I couldn't quite work out why
we were coming to Africa to film.
448
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:16,560
But apart from the work ethic
from the crew,
449
00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,320
which has been absolutely astonishing,
450
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:23,760
having the variety of landscapes
so accessible
451
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,600
and a consistent climate
is one of the reasons why we're here.
452
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:31,520
We've been, you know...
Joburg's been Basra,
453
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,600
Upington is obviously the desert.
454
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,520
I've never been to this country before
455
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:51,000
and to have Joburg and this,
you know, so close...
456
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,560
I mean, it's great. It think that's
probably why we're filming here as well,
457
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,320
because you get this
incredible landscape
458
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,200
within an hour's drive.
So, yeah, very lucky.