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#1
10-01-13, 04:03 PM
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BBC Series "Privates"
I caught a brief glimpse of this today. Some work has gone into the uniforms but even as recruits they should be wearing their berets in a more military fashion. They are badged to the North Yorkshire Regiment with some nice solid looking arm titles in white on scarlet. They will turn up as a mystery item one day.
Shame the BBC's website on the programme talks of an episdoe set on Rembrance Day - even a BBC spellchecker should pick that one up Anyone else seen this programme? Jon 
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#2
10-01-13, 04:24 PM
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Yes, was forced to watch an episode by the missus (she had the TV buttons)
She won't make that mistake again after I spent every 5 minutes pointing out something wrong 'oh look, there’s a Wolf Landrover/MAN truck' or why has the Corporal got his beret cord hanging down the back of his neck?' or 'why have they got those modern maglite torches'. I think she finally got fed up when I said the uniforms worn by the NCO's looked shabby, didn't fit properly and weren’t pressed. Other than that, a great piece of afternoon viewing. (I'm lying, its absolute c**p). Ivan
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#3
10-01-13, 04:28 PM
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Hi Jon,
I have been working at home this week and have caught part of each episode so far and it seems OK, but to be honest I have not been fully focused on it and any shortcomings it might contain. As always, any media production is a product of its time and certainly will contain themes and an outlook that might not be true of the period being portrayed. Did you see the complete nut job recruit who arrived with a drawn on mustache and some strange pseudo military uniform who kept quoting movie lines? Trying to do a klinger from MASH I assume.
__________________
Regards, Jerry
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#4
10-01-13, 06:43 PM
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Quote:
I joined in 1956 and we never had a medical examination in front of the other recruits and certainly not in front of the squad instructor. However I can only speak from experience at my Depot. Who knows what they did up the road in Pirbright! It is set to go on for a number of episodes. It may get better but I am not holding my breath. If you enjoy it then watch it, to each his own. I would rather watch Lawrence of Arabia or A bridge too far! Again x 2. 
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#6
11-01-13, 12:41 AM
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"- but I expect advice often goes unheard."
Hi Paul, That is sooo true! My hysterical advice for 'Privates' consisted of going through the script and pointing out all the errors and suggesting historically accurate ways round them. However, in a mega-low budget one hour drama there always has to be a compromise and some storylines would be too complicated if they stuck to complete accuracy (hence a Sergeant pops up in the Officers Mess). Period-looking Army Camps are getting harder and harder to find. When we made 'Lad's Army' and 'Bad Lad's Army' we were lucky that Browndown and New Zealand Farm Camps still all had original windows but, since then, they have all been double-glazed. As the production received "regional funding" it had to be shot in Northern Ireland and the only suitable location the production could find was Abercorn Barracks at Ballykinler; home to 2/Rifles who were in Afghanistan at the time the series was filmed (this time last year). The production tried very hard to source period vehicles from local military vehicle preservation groups (who were all prepared to have the ficticious insignia painted on their vehicles), but, as you can imagine, there is not such a large pool of potential vehicles there as there is here on the mainland where we can usually find what we want quite easily. I think that the vehicles in the background were mostly those being used by the cadre left behind at the barracks and the production had to shoot around them as the barracks was still in daily use. We supplied all the uniforms but were only told we had got the job and given the green light around 18th December 2011. We were at our store on Boxing Day last year pulling the kit as Tracey and Foz had to drive over to deliver it all on 7th January (I flew out to Thailand on the same day to film the Camelot TV ad featuring the Cambridgeshire FEPOW veteran - it was a really tough choice; National Service in a freezing cold barracks in Ireland or WW2 in Thailand - but someone had to do it!). Foz dressed all the cast members and took them, and the costume department, through all the details of how to polish, press and dress a National Serviceman. He also took them through the basics of Foot and Rifle Drill but there is only so much you can do in one day! They took all the period props too and Foz also set up a bed space for the Art Department to replicate. Headwear is always a problem; modern people simply don't wear hats and don't now how to wear them! Every time you see a military/police or any other kind of film/theatre/TV drama which involves wearing a cap you can be sure of two things: 1) The cap will be too big and 2) The cap will be hooked onto the back of the head, just above the collar, and pulled forward so it sticks up in the air at a 45 degree angle. As for berets - always too big and never yanked down over the ear properly. If that was not enough, some bright spark on the production who served post-1960 will suggest shrinking them! Sadly, once we have delivered the kit, unless we are on hand to keep it all under our control, quick uniform changes, inexperienced wardrobe staff (it's not their fault, they have to be jacks of all periods), actors/extras who refuse to wear kit properly all have an effect on the end result. Apart from the ropey headgear most of the kit has not been too bad. I hear all those former NS men complaining that the kit is not pressed as well as theirs was 50 or 60 years ago. All I can say is that we pressed it all as much as we could before we delivered it but the costume department (three ladies) simply don't have the time to crease and press up to 50 uniforms each day to the standard that those who spent every evening sharpening their own creases could! Dangling beret tassles, Sergeant's greatcoat without stripes, Regimental Policemen without headgear when on duty, soldiers on Sentry Duty carrying their rifles at the 'Stalk' (almost certainly on the advice of someone who served post-1960). Yes of course I could go on but, at the end of the day, it's a piece of afternoon drama. I was able to sort out most of the really big clangers (originally it was set in 1963 with the last NS intake arriving three years late!) but, for all that, it has been popular. I doubt there will be a Series 2 but, who knows? All I would say is that for the ludicrously low budget they had I am amazed that they achieved such a lot. I agree with Oriskany, personally I would rather watch 'A Bridge Too Far' but it's hardly comparing like for like - all five episodes of 'Privates' were made for less than what it would cost to produce the final scene and credits if they shot 'ABTF' today... If nothing else, it's not a cookery/makeover/house swap/cash for old tat/ show, or a repeat (yet) and, for daytime TV, that's pretty unusual. We had all the North Yorkshire Regiment and District insignia made and, as usual, we will do our best to keep it safe from dodgy dealers. It is surprisingly difficult to create ficticious regiments and ficticious badges. Virtually everything you can think of has been used at some point in the past. At one point they wanted them to be North Yorks Rifles but I frightened them off with dark tales of the need to swap buttons for black ones and the need to learn more complicated drills. Anyway, that gives you some insight into how these things are made. It's now 12.40am and I am just working out a quote for a WW2 drama which starts filming in Eastern Europe at the end of this month. Over 200 uniforms to sort out, including some pretty obscure stuff, and, so far, they have only cast a handful of their characters so we have no sizes. This is not a job for the faint-hearted! Cheers, Taff Last edited by chief_chum; 11-01-13 at 09:33 AM.
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#8
11-01-13, 09:07 AM
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Actors are usually pretty quick to pick up drill if they are taught properly.
It's much harder to deliberately do it badly.
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#10
11-01-13, 11:44 AM
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hi chief chum,
thanks for an interesting reply and a insight into how these progs are made.thought i recognosed some of the outside locations but was not sure. the huts used,when i was in the udr,were used as part of the basic udr training center and also were part nitc (northen ireland training center). the village looks like its been upgraded from the early 80s philip
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#11
11-01-13, 12:26 PM
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Also, any costume drama set in the 20th century that isn't WWII is bit of fresh air...
__________________
'BELGIANS CAN DO TOO!' -Slogan painted on Jeep, Korea 1951
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#13
11-01-13, 06:51 PM
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The "regimental colour" not carried by a subaltern ??
P.B.
__________________
Interested in all aspects of militaria/military history but especially insignia and history of non regular units with a Liverpool connection Members welcome in my private Facebook group “The Kings Liverpool Regiment ( 1685-1958 )”
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#14
11-01-13, 07:16 PM
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"The "regimental colour" not carried by a subaltern ??"
No, of course not. I advised, they ignored, but I did fight the battle...
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#15
11-01-13, 07:27 PM
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Taff,
Like the rest of us, I found your posts most interesting as well as eye opening and I can see that you can only bang your head against a brick wall for so long. At the end of the day it is a non prime time ,low budget work of fiction and I suppose unless the viewer has a particular interest in military matters most wouldnt even think about some of the issues that have been raised here on the Forum. P.B.
__________________
Interested in all aspects of militaria/military history but especially insignia and history of non regular units with a Liverpool connection Members welcome in my private Facebook group “The Kings Liverpool Regiment ( 1685-1958 )”
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