In the mid 1980s the BBC commissioned two writers for a potential drama about the Falklands war.
They decided to opt for a script by Charles Wood who was a soldier before he became a writer. Wood had adapted a book recounting the experiences of Lieutenant Robert Lawrence who was seriously injured at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. The film was Tumbledown a docudrama which attracted a lot of controversy, some of it regarding its accuracy. It also won lots of awards.
The writer Ian Curteis wrote a script dealing with the political events leading to the Falklands war after the Argentines invaded. Curteis had done a similar type of play regarding the Suez crisis for ITV in the late 1970s.
However his script was turned down by BBC Director of Programmes Michael Grade. Curteis did not go away quietly. He went to the press and complained that the lefty BBC were not happy that his script showed Margaret Thatcher in a sympathetic as well as a jingoistic light. There was a scene where she sheds a tear when a British naval boat is sunk by the Argentines. The Tory press were salivating as Curteis was a man with Conservative leanings.
In reality in the mid 1980s. The Tories were softening up the BBC in advance of a General Election likely to be held in 1987 and its funding review.
The Falklands Play was eventually commissioned in 2002 and broadcast on BBC4.
Patricia Hodge plays Margaret Thatcher. A mixture of the strident as well as her softer side. The crying scene was retained although I believe that was fictional but the Tory press did not seemed to be too bothered about that.
There are scenes in the House of Commons before and during the conflict. The furore regarding the sinking of the Belgrano.
It does play down another controversy which Labour had brought up during the time. Why were the Falklands invaded in the first place?
It was because of naval cuts so there were no boat patrols in the South Atlantic. In the late 1970s when Labour's James Callaghan was Prime Minister. He had ordered a deterrent to be sent as a show of force when there were rumours of Argentina planning a possible invasion.
The play concentrates on the behind the scenes diplomatic efforts orchestrated by the US Secretary of State Alexander Haig to broker a save facing deal for both Britain and Argentina.
Frankly The Falklands Play was a dry and unenergetic affair. It consisted of talking heads and some of them looked nothing like the people they portrayed. The actor playing Denis Healey had almost no eyebrows. Their Enoch Powell looked like someone else and surely there could had been an actor who had some resemblance to Ronald Reagan.
If you watch the Netflix series The Crown where fact really does meet fiction. This just does not hold a candle to something like that. This was a play written in the mid 1980s and drama had moved on by the time it was eventually produced. The BBC were absolutely right to go ahead with Tumbledown. It was the better film.
Regarding the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation. Michael Grade who turned this down back in the mid 80s because it was not good enough. He has been a Tory Peer since 2011.
They decided to opt for a script by Charles Wood who was a soldier before he became a writer. Wood had adapted a book recounting the experiences of Lieutenant Robert Lawrence who was seriously injured at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown. The film was Tumbledown a docudrama which attracted a lot of controversy, some of it regarding its accuracy. It also won lots of awards.
The writer Ian Curteis wrote a script dealing with the political events leading to the Falklands war after the Argentines invaded. Curteis had done a similar type of play regarding the Suez crisis for ITV in the late 1970s.
However his script was turned down by BBC Director of Programmes Michael Grade. Curteis did not go away quietly. He went to the press and complained that the lefty BBC were not happy that his script showed Margaret Thatcher in a sympathetic as well as a jingoistic light. There was a scene where she sheds a tear when a British naval boat is sunk by the Argentines. The Tory press were salivating as Curteis was a man with Conservative leanings.
In reality in the mid 1980s. The Tories were softening up the BBC in advance of a General Election likely to be held in 1987 and its funding review.
The Falklands Play was eventually commissioned in 2002 and broadcast on BBC4.
Patricia Hodge plays Margaret Thatcher. A mixture of the strident as well as her softer side. The crying scene was retained although I believe that was fictional but the Tory press did not seemed to be too bothered about that.
There are scenes in the House of Commons before and during the conflict. The furore regarding the sinking of the Belgrano.
It does play down another controversy which Labour had brought up during the time. Why were the Falklands invaded in the first place?
It was because of naval cuts so there were no boat patrols in the South Atlantic. In the late 1970s when Labour's James Callaghan was Prime Minister. He had ordered a deterrent to be sent as a show of force when there were rumours of Argentina planning a possible invasion.
The play concentrates on the behind the scenes diplomatic efforts orchestrated by the US Secretary of State Alexander Haig to broker a save facing deal for both Britain and Argentina.
Frankly The Falklands Play was a dry and unenergetic affair. It consisted of talking heads and some of them looked nothing like the people they portrayed. The actor playing Denis Healey had almost no eyebrows. Their Enoch Powell looked like someone else and surely there could had been an actor who had some resemblance to Ronald Reagan.
If you watch the Netflix series The Crown where fact really does meet fiction. This just does not hold a candle to something like that. This was a play written in the mid 1980s and drama had moved on by the time it was eventually produced. The BBC were absolutely right to go ahead with Tumbledown. It was the better film.
Regarding the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation. Michael Grade who turned this down back in the mid 80s because it was not good enough. He has been a Tory Peer since 2011.