Eureka!: Jack: A Soldier's Story (BBC Vision for BBC3)

Jack a Soldier's Story

• Increase image
• View all images

Producer Ben Anderson on a young soldier's experiences of serving in Afghanistan.

Where did the idea come from?
It came from a very quick chat I had after bumping into Karen O'Connor, then acting commissioning editor for BBC news and current affairs. She asked if there was enough unused footage to make an hour on Jack, a young soldier I'd got close to in Afghanistan while filming for Panorama in 2007. He had had a horrendous tour of Helmand province, where he showed some incredible heroism, humour and understanding.

What do you think made it stand out?
Jack's honesty and articulacy about his experiences. His convoy was hit by a
suicide bomber just after we arrived. He lost a friend; another friend lost a leg when a roadside bomb went off during a convoy. After a Taliban ambush that lasted eight hours, we were sitting against a wall talking about the Taliban. Jack said: "They are good at what they do. They're the kind of people that believe when they die they'll wake up with 27 virgins. How can you fight against someone like that who doesn't give a shit? If, as soon as I die, I'd be going back to Tottenham, I'd run at the bullets." He summed up the difference in mentality of the International Security Assistance Force and the Taliban, who almost always come off worst, but show no signs of giving up.

How did you pitch it?
Karen took it to Danny Cohen, who was immediately supportive and gave me complete freedom to crack on with it.

What challenges did you face?
As soon as we started filming, Jack got into two fights in Aldershot. He then went AWOL and fled the country and didn't return until the edit was almost finished four weeks later. We had to scrap our plans twice over as he was eventually charged with assaulting a police officer and GBH. We couldn't broadcast until those charges were resolved. By the skin of his teeth, he avoided prison, but we were there right up until the end, even as he was ironing his shirt for court.

So a film that should have taken a month, took much longer - a year if you include the two months we spent in Helmand in the first place.

What was your Eureka moment?
Contact: robin.parker@emap.com