21 September 2011

ITV Exposure: The World's Deadliest Arms Race

From Alan Turnbull, http://www.secret-bases.co.uk

20 September 2011

"ITV Exposure: The World's Deadliest Arms Race"

The US military's battle against the Taliban

In September 2011, the UK independent television production company Brook Lapping approached me, very interested in using my Pilot's Eye aerial shots of Fort Halstead for a very "hush hush" hourly documentary series for ITV called Exposure. Fort Halstead is one of the UK government's principle scientific research stations. Significantly, it also includes the MoD's Forensic Explosives Laboratory where debris from the 7/7/2005 Tavistock Square London bus bomb was inspected.

http://www.secret-bases.co.uk/secret5.htm#fort-halstead

The first out of a total of six episodes called "Exposure: Gaddafi and the IRA" goes out on Monday 26th September on ITV1 at 10.35pm. Colonel Gaddafi gave the IRA enough weapons to turn a militia into an army. Exposure's first film examines his support for the Republican terrorists and investigates the continuing danger of his legacy.

The second in the series is called "Exposure: The Factory": it focuses on a city in Europe where the pollution is so bad, children struggle to breathe, DNA is damaged, and the vulnerable are forced indoors. "The Factory" investigates the role played by a global multi-national. It is due for broadcast Monday 3rd October at the same time.

Sadly, Brook Lapping's researcher told me there was "no budget" for his episode and so didn't want to cough-up a serious fee for photo usage rights, which was to include Europe and US syndication across multiple media platforms. So the deal didn't go ahead. But with such a stingy budget, what can we expect from this much trumpeted "jewel in the crown" of ITV's Autumn 2011 schedule?