I have been asked to make a programme about the last day of World War One for Timewatch. I’ve been interested in the Great War since I heard Lyn Macdonald’s wonderful radio documentary about Passchendaele in the mid 70s. With both my grandfathers serving in that conflict – one as a Lieutenant at Gallipoli and the other as a doctor on the Somme – I’m pretty pleased to be able to tell this story for Timewatch.

4 October 2007

I have chosen Paul Reed as my historical consultant for this programme. Paul is a writer and battlefield guide and he and I have worked together on two WW1 documentaries; The Forgotten Battlefield about the excavation of front line trenches to the north of Ypres in 2001 and then a couple of years later on Gallipoli- the First D-Day a programme about the 1915 Dardanelles campaign. This will be the fourth documentary I have now made about World War One.

16 October 2007

It’s our first recce to find filming locations in France and Belgium. Paul has taken me to a small communal cemetery to the south east of Mons as he wants to show me something. In the middle of this tiny cemetery are 9 headstones of soldiers from WW1. We see that 4 of them are men who died on 11^th November 1918, almost certainly in the taking of Mons in the last hours of WW1. What is remarkable though are the 5 headstones in front of them from August 1914. These are the graves of soldiers killed in the opening weeks of WW1; the first engagements that later became known as the ‘retreat from Mons’. It’s just extraordinary thinking that these two sets of graves represent the start and the end of the war. Paul reckons that no-one knows about this place and this will certainly be the first time it’s been featured on television.

02 November 2007

I have heard today that the broadcaster and writer Michael Palin has agreed to present our documentary. I can’t think of a better person to front the programme. He is not associated with WW1 but I know that he has narrated an internal film for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission so I guess he must have something of an interest in the subject area. What I also know is that someone of his standing will bring viewers to the programme, perhaps viewers who might not usually tune into a documentary about World War One.

17 November 2007

Recce number two. We are now down in the Argonne region which is just over 20 miles north of Verdun way over in eastern France. It’s here where the Americans fought in the last 10 weeks of the war and where they suffered dreadful casualties, particularly on that final day of that conflict. Today we met local historian Jean-Paul de Vries who has a great museum in the small village of Romagne. Jean-Paul has amassed over 40,000 artefacts which he has recovered from the ground over which the Germans and the Americans fought. Jean-Paul shows us a German trench in the woods - still clearly visible and also a German WW1 bunker which is now frequented by wild boar! In the ploughed fields around the village we find evidence of the fighting from shrapnel to cartridge cases both American and German, just lying on the surface of the fields which have been ploughed. Paul even discovers a button from an American battle tunic from the time. Apparently it’s very rare.

In Jean-Paul’s village is the massive Meuse Argonne US cemetery which contains over 14,000 graves of soldiers from WW1 including over 100 from 11^th November 1918 and what makes it worse is that the war was over by 11 in the morning. Poor fellows. The place is deserted and It seems that no-one visits this cemetery as its off the beaten track and yet it is far bigger than the US cemetery above Omaha beach in Normandy which has over a million visitors a year.

11 December 2007

I woke in the middle of the night when it suddenly came to me that I have to interview the author Joseph E Persico who wrote a book a couple of years back on the last day of the war. Joe is a writer rather than a historian and takes an interesting slant on the story claiming that there were over 10,000 casualties on the final morning of WW1 on all sides. Although people have written about the Armistice, no-one has put it into context the way he has, questioning the fact that people died unnecessarily. My only problem is that Joe lives in New York and heads south to Mexico for the winter and I have to fly there for the interview next week returning within 24 hours on the overnight flight to London. Who says making tv is glamorous!

15 December 2007

Just before midday I receive a phone call. Yes! After some weeks of searching we have found the grand-daughter of George Edwin Ellison, the last British soldier to die in World War! I knew Ellison’s family lived in Leeds when he was killed so I made an appeal on a BBC Yorkshire radio station hoping that the family were still living in the area, and following an appeal in York we eventually reached Ellison’s granddaughter. It appears that the family were aware that George was one of the last soldiers to die in WW1 but they knew very little more and have never seen a photo of George.

20 January 2008

A contact of Paul Reed has now found a photograph of George Ellison in a local Leeds paper from December 1918 the last British soldier to die in the Great War. We are trying to get a better copy from the British Newspaper Library as it’s a poor quality copy from microfilm. This is certainly a first as I have never seen a photo of Ellison before and I’m sure that next year when the programme goes out, this photo will be picked up by the newspapers which is good publicity for our documentary. We now have photos of the last British Soldier, the last Canadian, the last Frenchman, the last Belgian and the last soldier to be killed in action in WW1 - American Henry Gunther. And we have his photograph too!

5 February 2008

It’s the first day of filming with our presenter Michael Palin and we are at Compiegne where the Armistice negotiations took place that November of 1918. We film in the Allied supreme commanders Marshal Foch’s carriage. It’s not original because during WW2 the Germans took the original back to Germany where it was bombed later in the war. However the table, chairs, pens and inkpots on it are original. No-one is allowed to wear shoes in the carriage so we film everything from chest height to avoid showing Michaels shoeless feet! Rain cuts the ‘outside-filming’ short and then it’s a long drive to our next location with a brief stop for a warm pizza-like-sandwich in the back of the van. Slightly embarrassed but then I expect Michael has had worse lunches on his world travels and he certainly doesn’t complain!

12 February 2008

Today we are filming in the town square of Mons in Belgium, which the Canadians took on the final day of World War One. To our horror we find a Belgian TV outside broadcast truck right in front of the town hall where we were going to film! It seems that our filming has clashed with the Belgian ‘festival of love’ and we are competing with the Belgian’s for access to the town hall. I have sympathy with the Belgian tv producer who has to light the hall for the big press conference happening later that morning, but we manage keep one step ahead of the love-team and just about finish as the ‘beautiful people’ for the festival arrive!

13 February 2008

Today is a pretty significant day as ‘the Ellison’s (as I call them) have arrived. We have given Marie and Catherine the opportunity of visiting their grandfathers grave for the first time and understandably they are quite apprehensive. We have a discussion about them seeing the grave with Michael as we film and they are concerned - I think because they are quite emotional about seeing the place where their grandfather is buried. They are well aware that their father was just six when his dad died and this is almost certainly the first time any member of the family has visited the grave.

Catherine and Marie arrive at St Symphorien cemetery. It’s bitterly cold, but they have bought a beautiful bouquet of lilies for the grave and it all goes well. Michael is very sensitive with them and yes it is a very emotional experience I think for all of us. They are very dignified particularly realising that their father never managed to make it here to see his own father’s final resting place.

18 March 2008

Michael has returned to France with us for several PTC (pieces to camera). Paul has done some research on Michael’s great uncle Harry who was killed on the Somme in 1918 and we want to make the point in the film that almost every family in Britain was affected by World War One, so we are going back to the place close to the spot where Michael’s great uncle is commemorated. Paul shows Michael the field where Harry Palin was killed and he spends some time taking in the atmosphere, if that’s the right expression.

About the author

Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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I’m waiting downstairs in the Media Centre offices at White City. I’ve been to the BBC before, to appear on various programmes, but this is different – I am meeting John Farren, the editor of Timewatch, to discuss a forthcoming programme on Young Victoria – presented by me and based on my work. I can hardly believe I am here. 

In my book, Becoming Queen, published in September 2008, I explore the passionate youth of Queen Victoria, set against the story of the life of her cousin, Princess Charlotte, the heir to the throne, whose tragic, premature death set off a wild race to father the next heir between the sons of George III. We have a vision of Victoria as dull and dreary and repressive: instead I want to explore how she was vibrant, tempestuous and determined to fight for the throne.  This was despite an overbearing mother who would do anything – even consider imprisonment and coercion – to get power, a miserable, isolated childhood, and a quite ridiculous name. No one in the country had ever been called Victoria before – she was called it to indicate that she would never be more than a minor Princess. Victoria’s battle to reach the throne is a fascinating story: painful, gripping, shocking, and ultimately redemptive. John thinks that it would work brilliantly on TV – to my delight.

April 2007

I’m back at White City, meeting Mike Wadding, the director, James Gray, the researcher and Tanya Severn, the production co-ordinator. They are so engaged and interested that it is really easy to talk. I tell the story, and we discuss. We agree that I will make a voice recording of the story so that Mike and James can listen to it on their ipods.

Throughout April, we work hard on the script, and discuss locations, stills, interviewees and props. I come back early from giving talks in Stockholm to film in Hyde Park, first with James and Mike, and then with our cameraman, really Director of Photography, Paul Lang. The initial shoots are a little shaky. Second time around is better and we all feel more confident. I am speaking about Victoria, as well as other subjects on the Queen Victoria cruise ship in May, so I take my pieces to camera with me. We’re set to film almost as soon as I return.

First Filming – May 2007

We start with a three day trip to Sidmouth, the Isle of Wight, Dover and Ramsgate. I arrive at White City and meet the team, and Paul Miller, in charge of sound, and Helen who will do make-up, which we need for me and the interviewees as we are filming in high definition. We cram into a car full of snacks. I feel a little as if I am on a family holiday…

We arrive at the Royal Glen Hotel in Sidmouth. Victoria, her mother and father, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, came here when she was an infant, in the hope of saving money. But the winter was bitter, and the Duke died abruptly, leaving the Duchess a poverty stricken widow.

I have been to the hotel before, but now I have the ‘Princess’ room, chosen in case we need it to film. It’s huge. I feel like a Queen myself.

Mike and I go over my pieces to camera before I have to say them, and change and revise, where necessary. I discover that it is easier to revise it moments before than learn it all in advance. The day proceeds so quickly. We film in the hotel, outside, and on the beach and it’s all done. I also learn how much shots of me are needed simply walking about or looking around.

I am learning just how long filming takes. Not only does it take a long time to set up the shot, but then so many things interfere: sound, the sun changing, the focus being out, so the time to capture the actual piece is limited.  

The team are great. I think of Queen Victoria who declared ‘Great events make me calm’. She would have been impressed by Mike and Paul, who are always unflappable, patient and generous with time and advice. Very early on, Mike said to me that the shoot must be fun – and it is.

The rest of the road trip is busy. We visit Norris Castle on the Isle of Wight, in the rain, and I stand looking out over the ships in Dover, next to the coastguard control centre. Ramsgate is our final location, where the first stop is a proper fish and chip shop for lunch. Then we head to the pier, and also to the park, to talk about when Victoria was seriously ill with typhoid and the Duchess of Kent tried to force her to agree to a Regency. Victoria’s childhood was miserable, but this is one of the most shocking moments of all, and I begin to feel incensed on her behalf as I talk to the camera.

June 2007: Kensington Palace

We are clambering over the locked gate in Kensington Palace. No one stops us – perhaps because we look like the most overloaded set of burglars in London. We’re filming after hours, and failed to find anyone to let us in and we stagger in complete with cameras, scripts, and sound equipment. Finally, Paul and the camera assistant, Magic, start setting up in the Red Saloon. We move aside the cash desks and security desks, which welcome the visitors, and replace them with camera tracks.

On my last birthday, in November, I visited the same restaurant in Kensington High Street that we go to for lunch, then I went to Kensington Palace. So I feel as if I am reliving my birthday every day.

Over the next five days, we film across Kensington Palace, fighting to get as much in as possible before it goes dark, setting up camera pods, so I can be filmed through a chandelier and tracks across the picture gallery. My shoes cause endless problems with the sound. Paul Miller has to cover the soles with wedges of sponge, so I feel a little as if I’m moon walking.

June 2007: Westminster Abbey

We have various places to film – we read extracts from Queen Victoria’s diaries at Miller’s Academy in Notting Hill and carry out our interviews there. We film in Green Park, which is full of people who want to wave at the camera. We travel down to Claremont, in Surrey, home of Victoria’s uncle Leopold, later King of the Belgians, now a school. But the most thrilling place of all for me is Westminster Abbey. We essentially have the place to ourselves from about 7pm and it is amazingly atmospheric. At one point, I deliver a piece from behind the Altar. To do so I have to wait behind the altar, right by the graves of Edward the Confessor, that the public cannot see, except from afar. I feel very lucky and we all come out on a great high.

July 2007: Editing the Film

I go to see the first version of the film in the edit suite. Finally, I see what high definition TV is. The film looks so great, and I’m so impressed by all the angles. But now we have all the pieces to camera, interviews and various shots, we need to write the voice over. After John Farren has watched it, Mike sends me the tape and I start to work on the script.

August 2007: Finishing Touches

The film is due to be submitted on the 8 August. I’ve postponed staying in Paris until I’m absolutely not needed, so on the 10 August, I set off on the Eurostar. It’s been an incredible learning experience in which I’ve learnt a lot about television, but most of all about Victoria. The very experience of being alone in the places that she was has made me feel closer to her. After spending three years researching and writing the book, it has been incredible to experience it in the form of a programme – as a series of emotional, dramatic and ultimately redemptive events, in truly magnificent locations.

It has been a great experience. If I could do it all over again – I would.

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Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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20^th February 2007

I’ve just started on the project – producer/director David Stewart has already been working on it for a week or two.  Normally producers and assistant producers start work at the same time, so I feel a bit behind. But I am instantly intrigued when Dave tells me that the theory he’s been looking into suggests that Stonehenge was a place of healing – a bit like an ancient Lourdes. 

The two men behind the new theory are Prof Tim Darvill and Prof Geoff Wainwright. As many people know, Stonehenge is made up of huge local sarsen stones, plus smaller ‘bluestones’ that come from Preseli in South Wales. The pattern in which the stones have been arranged appears to relate to positions in which the sun rises and sets on the longest and shortest days of the year. This has led many people to see Stonehenge as a kind of temple to the seasons. Geoff and Tim don’t disagree with this – but they just don’t think it explains why people would bother to drag the bluestones on a 250 mile journey from Wales to Wessex.   After all, you don’t need Welsh stones to build a temple to the sun.  They have concluded that Stonehenge must have been more than this – they believe it was a place people came to be healed.  We really want to find out more. 

2^nd March 2007

We speak to Tim Darvill in the course of several research calls – Tim is very enthusiastic and a great communicator. Dave likes the healing bluestone theory because he feels it’s practical – I think that it does offer up an explanation of why the bluestones were moved, which the alternative theories – temple to the dead, or temple to the seasons, don’t. 

But having a good idea doesn’t make a programme. We’ve got a couple of problems already. How can you bring alive a period as remote as this? What are we doing to actually see? And what will the narrative be – a journey? An investigation?  Is there anyway at all of proving something that happened this long ago?

At this stage it’s too early to be sure what form the programme will take.   The best thing is to meet lots of experts and see what sparks off ideas. Tim has mentioned that he believes a proportion of the human remains buried around Stonehenge show signs of illness or injury – this seems a logical avenue to explore.   He suggests we start off with the ‘Amesbury Archer’ – this Bronze Age man was dug up a few years ago when a school was being built, his grave was uniquely rich. But most extraordinary of all, he came not from Britain, but somewhere in the Alps.

9^th March 2007

Sadly the next step isn’t a visit to the Alps, but instead Paddington Station, where Dave and I catch up with Dr Andrew Fitzgerald of Wessex Archaeology. We want to know more about the Archer’s injuries, to see if these might tie in with the healing theory. Andy was in charge of the excavation of the Amesbury Archer, so he’s the man to ask. He’s brought with him photographs of the skeleton, and gives us some fascinating information - from the Archer’s skeleton we can tell that he had suffered an injury to his knee would have caused him severe pain. Andy suggests we come down to Wessex to meet his colleague Jackie McKinley, “who makes bones talk”. This sounds like an excellent idea – it’s clear the Archer will be important to the programme, and we need someone to bring this ancient character to life.

13^th March 2007

We go and meet Prof Geoff Wainwright, who has developed this theory with Tim. Prof Wainwright has had a long and illustrious archaeological career – he first started working on sites related to Stonehenge in the 1960s. What’s more, he’s a Welshman who has a house in Preseli near Carn Menyn – the source of the Stonehenge bluestones. Geoff tells us that locally the stones of Carn Menyn are still associated with healing – and he explains that these sort of beliefs can be passed down the generations for extraordinarily long periods.   Geoff is a great communicator and paints a vivid picture of Carn Menyn as a very atmospheric place – it’s clear it’s very close to his heart. We want to visit as soon as possible.

21^st - 22^nd March 2007

We are combining a visits to Stonehenge with a visit to Jackie McKinley and Andy Fitzpatrick at Wessex archaeology.  After that we are off to Preseli. 

First stop is Stonehenge where we meet site manager Stuart Maughan, to talk through the sort of filming we would like to do. 

We’ve had to head down the night before, as it is only possible to visit the stone circle early in the morning before the public arrive. It’s misty and extremely cold, but we feel very lucky to be able to stand in the circle. Stuart is very helpful and enthusiastic about the project, but it is becoming clear that filming at the site will be a logistical challenge. You can only film first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening – and then only on certain days when there are no pre-booked special visits – free days are few, and our Professors have busy diaries. It is great that Stonehenge is so popular with visitors, but it is going to make filming complicated! 

We are sure we can find a way to make it all work – so we head to Wessex Archaeology, where we have a meeting with Jackie McKinley and Andy Fitzpatrick. Andy is quite right when he says Jackie “makes bones talk” – she is a leading specialist in her field, but she is also a wonderful talker, which is great news for us.

We talk about the Archer and some of the other remains that have been found around the site. Apart from his injuries, the Archer is fascinating because he came from the Alps – it does seem to suggest that Stonehenge was a well known place – could this be to do with its healing powers? Jackie and Andy tell us that Wessex holds other human remains from around Stonehenge and we ask whether it’s possible to tell where they come from – apparently it is, if their teeth are examined. Immediately we think this sounds like a great idea – but we are expecting to start editing in early summer, and the testing process can be a long one. Andy passes us details for Dr Jane Evans at the British Geological survey laboratory in Nottingham, with the advice to move quickly if we want the results back in time for our edit!   

23^nd March 2007

Having arrived in Preseli last night we go out to Carn Menyn very early this morning. We manage to go the wrong route up and have to clamber over barbed wire – but it’s really worth it once we get to the top. Geoff had told us this is an amazingly atmospheric place and it really is, it feels utterly remote and utterly magical – a rocky outcrop surrounded by green as far as we can see, it’s quiet but has a rather intense atmosphere. Neither Dave nor I find it difficult to believe that people once believed this place had great power.  

During these long drives and meetings, we’ve had a chance to think more about what sort of form the programme should take. The programme now feels like it needs to be an investigation – we will lay out Tim and Geoff’s healing theory, and also look into the human remains to see if they offer any support.   

28^th March 2007

Back at the office, we start to sort the logistics of filming dates. But Tim and Geoff have come up with a really exciting possibility – they both feel there is a strong case for an excavation at Stonehenge to date the arrival of the original bluestone circle. These stones are key to our understanding of Stonehenge – dating them would add so much to our knowledge of the period. Tim and Geoff also believe they may find evidence on site for how the bluestones were used – which may provide further insight to their healing theory. 

But an excavation is a huge undertaking – there hasn’t been a dig at Stonehenge in half a century. We can probably stretch our schedule to include it if it can be done by the end of the summer. We are hopeful that this might happen, though Tim and Geoff don’t think the timing is very likely! If this does happen it will be beyond anything we expected, but while we wait to hear, we need to get on with filming what we’ve planned so far. 

A programme like this needs lots of layers – our primary experts Tim and Geoff will explain their theory. We’ll try and delve deeper by looking at the remains with Jackie McKinley and testing more teeth with Jane Evans. But we are still left with a problem, how do we bring some of these people to life? Dave has decided to do a small drama reconstruction – to explore the way in which the archer may have been injured and to illustrate the death of another young man whose remains were found near the circle. I’m really looking forward to this, because I’ve never done drama reconstruction before.  

18^th April 2008

We’re planning to film the drama at Black Park, just north of London – it’s a terrific Woodland location, used by both the Harry Potter and James Bond franchises. Sadly, our budget is rather smaller!

We know the Archer suffered a terrific blow to his knee, one theory is he fell from a horse, and we decide to feature this. The other character appears to have been murdered – by several shots from bows and arrows.  

25^th April 2007

Because our actors will need to have particular skills relevant to the period, we are able to use reconstruction groups rather than professional actors. We have masses of reconstruction groups in Britain, so I imagine it might be not be too difficult to find people – but actually there are few groups who cover the early Bronze Age. After a couple of days of feeling rather worried, I come across James Clift and his Bronze Age Reenactment group. When I speak to James he’s absolutely full of enthusiasm and knowledge – he has his own bows and arrows and knows lots about the period. 

2^nd May 2007

Even a small drama involves a huge amount of preparation, and it feels like researching costume, finding extra bows and arrows, talking through filming with James, stuntmen Nick, costume designer Sabine, is a full time job – but it can’t be! We have to also get on with the documentary filming. 

Alison the programme co-ordinator has found a mortuary in which to film Jackie looking at the human remains, various bronze age teeth have been extracted and sent up to Jane Evans in Nottingham – and we have managed to squeeze out filming dates that suit Stonehenge and Tim and Geoff.

16^th May 2007

First filming stop is (appropriately) Preseli, where Tim and Geoff have joined us for filming. It’s typical - when Dave and I visited, we had a beautifully clear day. When we come back for filming, the Welsh hills are shrouded in mist. Tim and Geoff find some fascinating things to show us, including Neolithic springs. As we film the two of them emerging from the white mist as they walk up the hill towards the source of the Stonehenge bluestones, we all agree the mist does rather add to the magic.

23^rd May 2007

We’re at Stonehenge today. In order to get a new perspective of the sheer size and scale of the monument, we’re using a jib. This is a metal frame with a moving arm, onto which a camera is attached. This means the camera can move up, down and around the stones. 

But time to film at Stonehenge is extremely limited, and in order to get everything done in time before the site opens to the public, we arrive in the dark. As the sun comes up Lammo and Billy, the jib operators, put it together. There’s some beautiful light and we get some great shots of Tim and Geoff walking and talking through the stones – watching them I get a great sense of how much Stonehenge means to them both personally and the depth of their knowledge and affection for it. 

Dave is under a lot of pressure to get everything covered before the public arrive – fortunately the weather holds and both Tim and Geoff are great communicators.   They really bring the monument alive – and make a very persuasive case for it being a centre of healing. It’s been a very early start so I spend a lot of time plying people with coffee. 

25^th May 2007

Drama day today. Everyone meets in Black Park car park - well everyone except for the horse that our stuntman Nick will be falling from…. the horse box can’t fit through the car park gates, so Alison the co-ordinator has to run off to try and find another way for him to get in. This is not a brilliant start, and for a while it seems that things are not going to go to plan – we have been lent a room to get the actors ready in but we can’t find it. Grass has grown since we visited and the locations we were planning to use are no longer quite right. We have lost time sorting ourselves out, which really isn’t good – time is absolutely of the essence with drama – plus, all our filming is outside and I really hope the weather holds.

The first scene we are shooting is the fall from the horse – it takes longer than expected to transform Nick from a 21^st century stuntman to a Bronze Age horseman. But when he’s done he looks quite amazing. 

While Dave and the crew start the first scene I help organise getting our reconstruction group – complete with bows and arrows – ready. Once that’s underway, I go off to collect ‘flip-ups’ – these are the ends of arrows fitted into little wooden bases – once fitted under a costume they can be made to flip-up so the actors appear to have just been shot with an arrow. They really are vital to the shoot, so I do hope they work OK – the company hiring them to us have told me they haven’t been used since Braveheart but they’ve cleaned the rust off and they should be fine!

Luckily for us the weather holds, the flip-ups work and both Nick and the Bronze Age Re-enactors do a fantastic job. I can’t wait to see the results.

29^th May – 2^nd June

In Nottingham, we film with Dr Jane Evans who can tell us where the ancient bodies we’ve asked her to look at were born and brought up – will a significant number come from outside the area – and if so, what might that mean? In a London mortuary, Jackie McKinley does indeed make ancient bones talk – but does this tell us anything relevant to the healing theory?

5^th June 2007

We return to London – and Dave prepares to edit the material. But we have really got our hearts set on including an excavation in the programme. Dave edits what we’ve shot, but leaves holes to be filled by the dig.

July 2007  

We both try to stay optimistic about the excavation plans over the summer, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Tim and Geoff are right – there just isn’t enough time to organise an excavation this year. Stonehenge is our most iconic monument – it’s managed by English Heritage, who are open to the idea of an excavation, but who quite rightly have very strict criteria – it is going to take a while to get any proposal through. 

August 2007

John Farren, editor of Timewatch, has to make a difficult decision – do we finish the programme on time, but without the excavation – or do we put it on ice and hope things happen next year? Putting a programme on hold will involve a lot of re-organisation – and there is a risk that the excavation wont even happen next year - but John feels that the opportunity for Timewatch to cover the first dig at Stonehenge in half a century is just too big to miss. The project is put on hold, and Dave and I go off to work on other programmes over the winter. 

2008

18^th February 2008

The application process has continued over the winter – it has been a nail biting time! 

But things are now looking good – we head down to Stonehenge to meet Tim Darvill and the site director and manager Paul Carson and Stuart Maughan. There is just a two-week window for excavation – not a lot of time to go back more than four thousand years…. 

But before any spade hits soil, we have practical things to sort out – porta cabins in which the finds from the dig can be washed and sorted and in which we can work, cables which will take live-images of the dig to the visitor centre, camera positions, site plans and so on. This isn’t just a programme - this is a major live event. 

20^th February 2008

Dave and I go back to the office to update John Farren on how it’s going – he is delighted that the excavation is in sight. He feels that this is such an incredible event that it would be fantastic if people could follow it as it happened, rather than have to wait for the television programme. Timewatch already has a very active website – the plan is for each day of the dig to feature on the Timewatch site, with articles and short films about what’s been found and what it all means. It’s a fabulous idea, although I am a bit worried when I find myself volunteering to shoot and edit the daily update films – I have never edited before, and everything will be very fast turnover. This is a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime project - I don’t want to be the person who messes it up. It’s very exciting though!

29^th March 2008

It’s two days before the dig. Kathryn the co-ordinator and I feel that everything is ready to go….then we get a call saying the porta cabin has got into a road accident and now has a huge dent in it, so it will have to go back to the company to be fixed. The archaeologists will shortly be on site with all sorts of equipment which needs to go in the porta cabin today – so this isn’t ideal, and frantic phone calls follow……finally things get sorted out. 

30^th March 2008

The day before the dig: Dave, Kathryn and I head down to the site. Peter tells us that a group of druids will be arriving to bless the site prior to the excavation. People are always really interested by the druids and Stonehenge, so we are pleased when Peter says they would be happy to be included in filming.  The druids themselves are delighted that Tim and Geoff are happy to take part in their ceremony – Geoff even has his own blessing prepared. 

Afterwards, Tim and Geoff continue to measure out the small area which will become the trench. They give us an interview for the website – their excitement is palpable and infectious – neither of them can stop grinning. This is, literally, a dream come through for both of them. I think Dave and I are very nearly as pleased – the sky is a brilliant blue, and none of us standing in the circle can believe that this excavation is really about to happen. 

31^st March 2008

Start of week one of the dig. We all knew today would be utterly frantic and it really is – while Dave and the crew are in the circle filming the first trowels going in for the television programme – online producer Simon Mackie and I try and snatch quiet moments in the porta cabin to start getting our material up onto the Timewatch website. Simon retreats to the hotel to sort out some technical problems, I find myself on site helping a world-wide assortment of press crews find out where they are meant to be. I am not sure much archaeological progress is made today, but everyone is very pleased by the interest the excavation is generating – it shows just how important Stonehenge is to people all over the world. 

4^th April 2008

The first week has been going really well – the weather is holding (miracle!) and Tim, Geoff and all the archaeologists are being really generous with their time – we get great material for both website and the programme. The archaeologists have an awful lot to get through – and every bit of soil has to be collected, sieved and examined. As the week progresses they work their way through the remains of 19^th century picnics, moving amazingly quickly onto bluestone chips and a piece of beaker pottery. The pottery is really exciting as it dates from the same period as the first bluestone circle – ie it was used by the people who actually put in these stones. It’s just an extraordinary thing to have found in the first week. 

While some of archaeologists work at sorting and logging the soil and finds on one side of the porta cabin, Simon and I occupy the other – it’s pretty cramped and since we have a spare desk in our room we quickly find ourselves joined by flint expert Phil Harding. It’s a really funny combination – while Simon and I work with the very modern new technology that allows us to update the Timewatch website every few hours, Phil is painstakingly examining flint – which I suppose is the first technology invented by Man. Phil is a great office mate – full of enthusiasm for his subject.

6^th April 2008

The inevitable happens – the heavens open and it rains – archaeologists are used to this but Stonehenge can be really cold – the wind whistles through it. Never mind, progress is being made – Tim and Geoff explain that it is already becoming clear from the bluestone sockets that the sequence in which Stonehenge was built is much more complex than thought. The finds are still coming through – more remarkable Beaker pottery and a Roman coin too. Intriguingly the archaeologists are also uncovering evidence of use of bluestone chippings, which they believe adds weight to the healing theory.   

11^th April 2008

Along with Phil Harding, Environmental Archaeologist Dr Mike Allen is a regular on site. While Tim and Geoff concentrate on the bluestone circle, Mike looks at the wider picture – what is going on around the site? He is also supervising the sieving and examining of the soil that comes out – and it’s this sieving process which everyone hopes will reveal the pieces of organic material which will enable the circle to be dated. Everyone knew that this key material wouldn’t emerge until close to the end of the excavation, but my goodness it’s tense waiting for it! Finally a tiny seed appears – this should help unlock the origins of this extraordinary monument. I can’t wait to see what it reveals. 

Emma Parkins, Assistant Producer, Stonehenge.

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Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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24 September

Bloody Omaha is finally finished after a six week edit. Richard is brought in to voice over the commentary and then the programme is dubbed and graded ready for broadcast. The programme didn’t quite end up where we expected. The newly found battery at Maisy did not take the central role we thought it might. In the end the programme turned into an examination of the recent and ongoing research about Omaha and why so many died there. But in documentary making, stories often don’t quite turn out the way you think they will – and I think that’s exactly what makes our job so exciting. Above all, I am proud of our re-telling of the incredible story of the Rangers on D-Day. What touched me most was hearing firsthand the very moving testimony of the veterans like Ray Tollefson – they are an inspiration to us all.

About the author

Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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James has been in the edit for a couple of weeks with John Wilkinson [Editor] putting together a rough assembly of the material we have shot thus far. But yesterday the crew returned to Normandy for an extra day of filming with Top Gear’s Richard Hammond, our presenter. Today we were at the observation post at Pointe du Hoc, from which you get an incredible 180 degree view out to sea to where the massive landing fleet would have been waiting on D-Day. Pointe du Hoc itself is rather extraordinary, like the face of the moon pock marked with huge bomb craters. James has written the PTCs [‘Pieces to Camera’] for Richard prior to filming, but we spend time rewriting some of these with Richard so he feels comfortable with the wording and delivery. This afternoon we do a ‘two-way’ between Richard and Simon, and James is particularly pleased with how this goes. Simon has bought with him a giant blow up aerial reconnaissance photograph taken at midday on D-Day of a section of Omaha beach. He shows this to Richard, pointing out hundreds of small black specks on the beach which he explains are individual American soldiers. He explains that those lying perpendicular, near the top-end of the beach are the wounded – like Ray – who have been dragged up the beach, but those lying horizontal are the dead, washed in on the tide. It is very sobering.

About the author

Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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23 July 

One of the most fun parts of filming is for the computer graphics (CGI) sequences. Timewatch has its own team dedicated to CGI (Neil Wilson, Steve Flynn and Colin Thornton) who have come out to Normandy with a car laden with Rangers’ uniforms and fake plastic guns. They are here for two days to film some basic drama reconstruction sequences that will form the basis of their D-Day landing scene. In order to catch low tide when the beach is at its widest, we head for the beach at dawn whereupon the three boys spent several exhausting hours dress up in the uniforms and run up and down the sand, as I operate the Z1 camera. They carefully plan it so that each run is in a different part of the frame. That way, when they are back in the office, they can layer these frames up in the computer until it looks like there are hundreds of men landing on the beach – rather than just three. Later they will drop in beach obstacles and landing crafts, based on images they have gathered from books – and also small explosions, filmed separately again. As well as the beach landing scene, they have to film a sequence of cliff climbing at Pointe du Hoc – to illustrate what Ike and his fellow Rangers had to do on D-Day. We find a small 10ft sand dune which the boys clamber up head-on into the camera. I help hold up the green screen making sure it fills the frame behind the boys. The green screen means that when it comes to the edit, they can drop in a different background – in this case, the sea and Pointe du Hoc cliff-line.

About the author

Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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19 July

Having finished off our filming in the States with historians Joe and Adrian, we have now come to Normandy – and to Omaha beach itself – to film. Having heard the Rangers’ stories first hand, it is particularly chilling to stand on this beach and think what happened here. But it is very difficult to equate this beautiful stretch of golden sand, today bathed in glorious sunshine, with the horror of what happened here 63 years ago. We spend an afternoon filming at the American cemetery, the white crosses go on and on, as far as the eye can see – 9,387 Americans are buried here with another 1,557 names commemorated on a wall of remembrance. Again it’s really hard to get your head around; these sorts of numbers, how young so many of these men were. The cemetery’s position perched right on the bluffs above Omaha beach itself also makes it particularly poignant. We find the crosses for Ray’s friends – Joe Biddle, Ed Sowa and Joe Rafferty.

20 July

Today we take Simon to Maisy to meet Gary and see around the site for the first time. We film a new part of the site being dug up and it is a nice moment when we uncover a German ammunition store that has lain buried for more than 60 years. Simon is impressed by the site, it is large – complete with four concrete gun emplacements and two gun pits, an array of underground tunnels and rooms, and two miles of trenches which Gary has redug along their original lines. The site is very well preserved so it gives you a good sense of what it would have been like to be a German soldier here waiting for the invasion. Simon is yet to be convinced however that this battery has a direct bearing on the Omaha story in terms of contributing to the slaughter there, partly because the actual landing area of Omaha beach is too far away for the range of these guns. But we all find it exciting to see a genuine piece of forgotten history coming out the ground and it certainly serves to drive home how strong the defences were along this stretch of the Normandy coast and what a hard task the allies faced.

About the author

Timewatch is the world's longest-running history series, having started in 1981, and is the BBC's flagship history series. Here, members of the production team share the highs, and lows, during the production process as they make some of the next series of programmes.

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9 July

We are in Washington to interviews our veterans. Frank Kennard and Jack Burke are lively story tellers – and when it comes to Ray, he gives a very frank, candid and emotional interview indeed. He talks about the men from his platoon that were killed and it is incredibly moving especially as afterwards we sit down together to look through a line-up photo of A company from 1942, and he picks out each of these men for me. Perhaps the most moving part of the interview is when he tells us about the moment he was wounded. He says that all he could think was he felt bad just lying there, that he was letting let his mates down – “I hadn’t done anything” – he is close to tears. I feel deeply privileged to be here in this room with this man, hearing his story first hand.