Ross Kemp Afghanistan
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (2008) and Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan (2009) are two 5 part Sky One British documentary series fronted by actor Ross Kemp about the British soldiers fighting in the War in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission against the Taliban. The two series involved Kemp and a small embedded film crew following troops fighting in Helmand Province, documenting their part in the ongoing Operation Herrick.
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, first broadcast in January 2008, followed the 2007 deployment of the 1st Battalion (1 R ANGLIAN, "The Vikings") of the Royal Anglian Regiment. As a follow up to the first series, Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan, first broadcast from 1 February 2009, followed the 2008 deployment of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (5th SCOTS), the 5th battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
In the first series Kemp and his crew participate in the Vikings' (Royal Anglians) initial training in Britain for the deployment. They then visit the unit during their six month tour, filming both life at rest and on fighting patrols in Helmand. The series finally covers their return to the UK. In the follow up series Kemp returns to Afghanistan to assess how the conflict has changed since his first visit in 2007.
Unlike a "traditional" war documentary, the first series was firmly positioned by Kemp as being the "soldiers' story", focusing on the experiences of the soldiers at home and abroad, and also features the views of their families. With a personal connection with the Vikings, Kemp is an ardent supporter of the men and the mission, and his film makes many criticisms of the situation the soldiers find themselves in.
During the filming of the first series, in one engagement the crew were pinned down by fire from the Taliban, with Kemp "nearly dying" with bullets passing "within inches". In filming the second series, Kemp runs into a possible minefield. The show was praised for the closeness and realism of the battle footage, and is believed to be the first documentary of its kind filmed in high definition.
Motivation
Kemp expressed that the a main motivation for the series was to hear from the soldiers who generally don't have a voice compared to other public workers. Kemp stated: "I've got many friends who are in the services, but you never really hear a squaddie giving his point of view. I'd never heard one talk publicly and I wanted to hear that voice." This would be the view of the young men being sent to the foreign climes of Afghanistan from a situation such as being 18 years old and still living at home with mum and dad, as opposed to hearing from officers trained in media relations. The series would examine the experiences of soldiers at home, injured soldiers and the families of serving soldiers Kemp wanted to ascertain the motivation of the troops, their level of political knowledge about the situation, their views on Muslims
Kemp stated his opinion that the public gaining an understanding of what it's like for the soldiers is a good thing whatever anyone's political views on the war., informing the public what was happening out there and what the soldiers are doing for the people back home who are "fortunate to live in a [free] country"
Kemp's personal link to Anglians
The Anglians were chosen as Kemp has a two-fold personal interest in the Vikings. His father saw active service as part of the Anglians in the 1950s, had served in one of the Royal Anglians predecessor units, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, for four years in Cyprus. Kemp also claimed to have an affinity with the soldiers in the Royal Anglians, as having grown up in Essex/East Anglia, he had the same background and possessed shared life experiencesas the troops who fall in the Anglians recruiting area, albeit with the age difference whereby Kemp at 43 is significantly older than the current generation of front line troops, invariably very young, several just 18 years old.
