By John Hyde2021-05-13T10:21:00+01:00
The BBC2 drama
Danny Boy, which aired on Wednesday evening, was an outstanding piece of drama, showcasing the bravery of those who served in Iraq and the inadequate care shown towards those same individuals when they returned to the UK.
Their return, in addition, was also greeted with serious allegations of murder and torture from human rights lawyers – most notably Phil Shiner, owner of Public Interest Lawyers and now a former solicitor.
Shiner was portrayed by Toby Jones as a committed but chaotic campaigner, working long into the night, surviving on shop-bought sandwiches and surrounded by mountains of paperwork in offices that were far too small for him (‘having the walls closing in concentrates the mind’, he responded, when asked if he should move somewhere bigger).
Danny Boy: How a Watford ditch was used to replicate an Iraq battlefield in new BBC Two drama
The crew couldn t travel abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, so they used a ditch in Watford instead
Watford stood in for Iraq during the filming of the drama (Image: BBC/Expectation TV/Robert Viglasky)
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Danny Boy, BBC Two review - when law and war collide | reviews, news & interviews Danny Boy, BBC Two review - when law and war collide
Danny Boy, BBC Two review - when law and war collide
Iraq war drama is powerful but lop-sided
by Adam SweetingThursday, 13 May 2021
Anthony Boyle as Brian Wood, with Toby Jones as Phil Shiner
The issue of public inquiries into the conduct of the military is in the headlines again, with a current focus on Northern Ireland, but at the centre of screenwriter Robert Jones’s
Danny Boy was the attempt to find British soldiers guilty of war crimes in Iraq.
“In less subtle hands, this kind of real-life courtroom battle could easily descend into a dry procession of facts. That it doesn’t is credit to Jones’s writing – which is scrupulously even-handed and gives its central characters depth – as well as strong lead performances.”
“The excellent script by Robert Jones keeps circling back to the moment of enemy engagement, adding more detail and different emphases each time, like a soldier sorting through his traumatised memories. Great sound design immerses us in the dust and confusion, when all Wood could hear was the ringing in his ears and his own heavy breathing. It’s a vivid illustration of not only the uniquely high-pressure environment in which soldiers make decisions but the ordeal of having to later justify these decisions in a civilian courtroom.”
Danny Boy
Video clips are automatically supplied by broadcasters and distributors. RadioTimes.com is not responsible for the clip s contents. Today 9pm - 10:25pm BBC Two HD SUB WIDE AD by David Butcher When Lance Corporal Brian Wood fought in a gun battle near a checkpoint called Danny Boy in Iraq in 2004, it would shape the rest of his life. He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry, but the events of the battle and its aftermath haunted him.
They also haunted a human rights lawyer called Phil Shiner, played in this dramatisation by Toby Jones. Shiner campaigned for a publ