Wild Pictures are making an extremely important landmark film for BBC Television, to mark the 30th anniversary of one of the darkest weeks in the history of the Troubles – namely the week in March 1988 when the Milltown Cemetery attack took place and when British Army Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes were killed.

The programme will be produced and directed by Vanessa Engle, an award winning filmmaker renowned for her sensitivity and integrity, who has been making documentaries for BBC Television for thirty years.

This film is being made for the Documentaries department of the BBC, so it is not a current affairs film, nor a political or investigative one. It will be a thoughtful film about people and the experiences they have lived through from a human perspective and will have no hidden agenda other to describe what it was like for all those involved during a remarkable and ghastly period of history.

The aim of the film is to tell the story of that week in history from all perspectives and we are hoping that, with the benefit of the passage of time, it will be possible to document the human cost of the conflict in a measured and responsible way and to describe the pain, loss and heartbreak on all sides. We would like to compile a 360 degree account of the story, which will describe the challenges faced by the security forces who had a crucial and delicate role in trying to keep the peace in such a highly charged and explosive situation, as well as describing the motivations and strength of feeling amongst loyalists and republicans within the community.

This is an ambitious project, which aims to record living history from the point of view of those most intimately involved, to show how the war in Northern Ireland has had a devastating impact on so many families and communities, including the security forces and their families. Ultimately, the ambition is to make a film that will provide precious insight into the moral and psychological complexities that inform recent history, so that the importance of the ongoing peace process is respected and understood.

We would like to speak to people who knew Corporal Wood or Howes and/or were on duty the day they were killed – March 19th 1988.

If you can help it would be great to hear from you. You are not committing to anything by getting in contact, at this stage we only hope to talk to people. All conversations would be entirely off the record.

Please contact Assistant Producer Cheryl Hockey:

Email: cheryl@wildpictures.co.uk
Mobile: +44 (0)7971629855
Office: +44 (0)20 7428 5620
Address: Cheryl Hockey, Wild Pictures, 111 Highgate Studios, 53-79 Highgate Road, London NW5 1TL