The Mark of Cain

Due to be screened on Channel 4 this autumn, the drama follows four young men as they experience the horrors and realitys of war for the first time, changed forever by what they see and do.

Longtime friends are both 18 year old privates serving in Basra in 2003,its their first tour of duty and they want to go home and say they did something, but they face complex situations they'd never anticipated and are forced to make instant moral judgements in a brutal, highly-charged and life-threatening situations.

At the end of their tour they return to Britain with trophy photographs of incidents in Iraq - and it's the extreme reactions to these that have dramatic consequences.

Gerard Kearns from shameless stars as Mark 'treacle' Tate

 

Look forward to it

 

Longtime friends are both 18 year old privates serving in Basra in 2003,its their first tour of duty and they want to go home and say they did something, but they face complex situations they'd never anticipated and are forced to make instant moral judgements in a brutal, highly-charged and life-threatening situations.

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I am looking forward to it
However is it an updated version of BBC's exellent Warriers?
Or will they both turn into Baby kiling drunk psycho's like all ex soldiers on TV

 

I fear the latter, going by the comment 'trophy photographs'

 

It's on this Thursday according to the ad for it I saw this evening

 

Even the normally frenziedly leftist Newsnight Review tonight voiced concerns that it was 'anti-army', so I think we know what to expect.

 

I'm a writer working on a novel in which one of the characters was in Afghanistan for months until the got his foot crushed in a car accident in Spring this year. His actual time there makes up a small part of the action, but if I write it with only what I know about the subject as the basis it'll just sound like a load of cobblers. Anyone think they can help me out with this or point me somewhere useful?
Cheers for reading

 

Why single out those on TV ?

 

good article by libby purves in Today's Times

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article1576677.ece

 

from above article:

Read all of that, by the sounds of it we have basically a film that is gonna make everyone hate the army. I though in wars were supposed to make films prasing the serving.

gah, just awful.

 

BFBS TV is showing this drama at 2205 CET on Thursday, the same evening as it airs in the UK, so that British Forces worldwide can see it and make up there own minds.

There's currently a poll running in The Telegraph which has 77% saying that Channel 4 shouldn't be showing it.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news

Helen Williams
Controller BFBS TV

 

I think Tony Blair should realize what a twat he is sending soldiers to do peace keeping but more importantly give more money to the Armed Forces so soldiers can be better trained to carry out they tasks.

 

I have a nasty feeling that "Mark of Cain" is going to do HM forces no favours - especially in the eyes of British Muslims. I hope channel 4 are prepared to take responsibility for the enevitable fallout that the film will generate.

Does anyone believe that our media will ever make a film about the day in day out hard work of our over stretched forces on Telic and Herrick. I suspect that once again we will see another Army drama that makes us all out to be sadistic nutters.

The whole Amnesty approval thing really boils my p*ss as well. I used to think that maybe Amnesty were O.K until I saw the details of some of the prisoners that they were supporting in N.I back in the 80's

 

I believe it shows how over stretched under manned the forces are and how the Chain of Command right up to TB really has no clue on what pressure the toms are under

 

Discovery - I think the chain of command understand the pressures but the politicos don't.

One of the interesting facts about Falklands 25 is if you look at the cabinet back then many of them had served and a number had seen a bit of action. Not one of TB's cabinet have had any such experience and that in my view is why we are overstretched, no understanding in Govt at all.