BBC 2 9pm 15th November 2008
The Fallen is BBC Two’s most ambitious single documentary ever… contains music by Oren Ambarchi, Biosphere, Fennesz, Ryoji Ikeda, Jacob Kirkegaard, BJNilsen, Rosy Parlane and others
This autumn BBC Two remembers every single serviceman and woman who has died while serving with the British Armed Forces in the current conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan, in an epic three-hour documentary.
The Fallen, from acclaimed filmmaker Morgan Matthews, spans the last seven years of conflict and will chronicle all those who have died, focusing in detail on the stories of a significant number of these.
With intimate testimonies from families and loved ones, combined with compelling archive, the film acknowledges these individuals’ sacrifices and the effects of grief on those who loved them.
Says Roly Keating, Controller BBC Two: “The Fallen remembers all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and we hope will go some way towards creating a televisual memorial.
“It’s a hugely moving and dignified account of what it means to lose someone you love to conflict and wholly worthy of the three hours of primetime television we will be dedicating to it.
“The Fallen reflects the scale and ambition of factual programmes on the channel this season: from a landmark series exploring the hidden world of the planet’s oceans to the painstaking piecing together of what really happened behind closed doors in WWII; from Simon Schama’s historical journey on the American election trail to Bruce Parry’s treacherous and fascinating journey down the Amazon; from Griff Rhys Jones’s startlingly honest look at anger to John Prescott’s personal exploration of Britain’s class system.
The Radio Times (Pick of the Day) writes:
“Harrowing doesn’t begin to describe Morgan Matthews’s extraordinary film. It sets itself a huge task: to commemorate every British serviceman who has died in the Afghanistan and Irag conflicts. It achieves this mostly by talking to surviving family members… The film is mostly about remembering, and the way grief can shred lives and families…”
