BBC Post Production Wins BAFTA Craft Award for
Blast! Films’ The Year London Blew Up
22 May 2006: BBC Post Production Editor Paul Binns, has won a BAFTA Craft Award for Factual Editing on The Year London Blew Up, made for Channel 4 by Blast! Films. The two-hour drama documentary, retells the story of the 1974 IRA bombing campaign in London and uses a combination of drama recreation, documentary and archive footage.
The Year London Blew Up follows the IRA’s active service unit’s operations in London over a 12 month period, when fifty explosions rocked the capital at a rate of one per week, leaving 35 people dead and scores more maimed for life. The programme runs chronologically, beginning with the arrival of the main character - gang leader Joseph O’Connell - from Ireland and the Guildford Pub bombing and ending with the Balcombe Street Siege, where the perpetrators were caught.
Paul Binns edited the entire programme entirely on Avid. A key challenge was blending the three elements of drama, documentary and archive to tell a satisfying story. There was a mixture of formats to deal with, with the drama and documentary material on Digibeta whilst the archive footage was mainly on film.
Paul says: “I’m thrilled to have had my work recognised and to have won in such a tough category full of high-class competition. BBC Post Production is increasingly partnering with independent production companies and it is great to win a BAFTA for the work we do in this area.”
In addition to The Year London Blew Up for Blast! Films, other recent Indie credits include IWC’s Ten Days That Made The Queen for Channel Four and Who Do you Think You Are for Wall to Wall for BBC Two. Paul is currently working on three-part documentary series for Silver River, called Reader I Married Him, which will go out on BBC Four.
The Year London Blew Up was directed by Edmund Coulthard . Mark Hayhurst, producer and writer, ensured that the programme was painstakingly researched, detail by detail. It is based on unique accounts from the IRA bombers and includes interviews with eye-witnesses and victims - from the bus conductor who was kidnapped in the boot of a car to Rosemary McWhirter who answered the doorbell to see her husband shot dead in front of her. Sir Peter Imbert, the chief police negotiator with the IRA, also gives his first interview on how the police trapped the gang and how he talked them out of Balcombe Street at the hair-raising climax.
The Year London Blew Up went out on Channel 4 on 1 September 2005.
The BAFTA Craft Awards recognise behind-the-scenes talent. BBC Post Production Bristol was also nominated for a British Academy Television Craft Award for Sound for Life in the Undergrowth.
About BBC Post Production
BBC Post Production, a division of BBC Resources Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BBC, offers award-winning creative solutions using the latest technology. BBC Post Production facilities are the largest of their kind in the UK. Located in London, Bristol and Birmingham its extensive range of services include editing, audio and telecine. Using the most up-to-date technology in comfortable and inspiring surroundings, the team bring talent and experience to a range of productions, trails and promos. Further information can be found at: www.bbcresources.com/postproduction
BBC Post Production
Tel: +44 (0) 208 225 7702
Email: postproduction@bbc.co.uk
For further information, please contact:
Georgie Hollett, PR and Communications Manager, BBC Resources
Tel: +44 (0)20 8576 2250
Mobile : +44 (0) 783484 5612
Email : georgie.hollett@bbc.co.uk
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