Toby Jones as Phil Shiner
Source: BBC
Danny Boy, which airs on Wednesday and is on BBC iPlayer thereafter, takes a look at the moral and legal fallout from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent pursuit of compensation claims by UK lawyers against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of Iraqi civilians.
One of the key protagonists is the former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, who accuses the army of prisoner mistreatment. Shiner is played by stellar television and film actor Toby Jones, whose previous roles include Captain Mainwaring in the Dad’s Army remake and an award-winning turn in comedy series Detectorists. There’s some serious pedigree behind the camera too, with director Sam Miller previously working on crime drama Luther and the award-winning I May Destroy You.
Stepping into the shoes of a living person is a daunting task for any actor. It s a feat made all the more intimidating when the individual s first-hand experiences involve war and they have faced events that are both traumatic and undoubtedly life-changing. A delicate balancing act between creativity and veracity, it s precisely the scenario faced by the cast of new feature-length BBC Two battlefield drama, Danny Boy. Based on real life events, the gritty 90-minute film sees Harry Potter And The Cursed Child star Anthony Boyle take on the role of Iraq War veteran Brian Wood, a soldier wrongly accused of historic war crimes.
Imagine then, the horror that ensued when, five years after the event, Brian and his fellow men received communication alerting them to the fact there would be a public inquiry into allegations of unlawful killing and ill treatment of Iraqi nationals by British troops in Iraq. This time the battleground was a courtroom, and with his mantra at the forefront of his mind, Brian and his men managed to clear their names, and the Al-Sweady inquiry was thrown out.
Brian’s book
Double Crossed: A Code of Honour, A Complete Betrayal, was a Sunday Times Bestseller which propelled him in to the public eye. Suddenly, this soldier from Hampshire was being invited to speak at events halfway across the world; and to share his story and the lessons he had learnt from his experiences. Now adding business owner to his list of accolades with his fitness clothing brand named after his ‘Keep Attacking’ mantra, Brian has never been one to sit still and is driven by a passion to help others, he