BRITAIN'S most senior naval officer fired a broadside yesterday at the
BBC TV series, HMS Brilliant.
The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jock Slater, said he was extremely
disappointed by what he had seen so far of the fly-on-the-wall
documentary about life on board a Navy frigate.
The series implied that all sailors did was get drunk ashore, he told
Radio Scotland's Eye To Eye programme.
By focusing on one or two individuals, members of the crew of
Brilliant, it gave an impression which made him extremely uncomfortable,
because it was not the Royal Navy that he knew.
Some of the production, photography and camerawork was ''absolutely
fantastic''. However, what he was getting was a distorted image of the
Navy. ''It is failing to show the deep professionalism, the high calibre
of the people.
''It's tending to concentrate, in my view, on many areas -- what I
would call peripheral areas -- how people might or might not behave
ashore.''
Sir Jock said the series clearly wanted to deal with the issue of
women at sea and he knew it had to deal with life at sea ''warts and
all''.
He added: ''I am afraid I find at the moment this programme is
unbalanced. I think there's far too much concentration on peripheral
activity. There's an inference that all sailors do is get drunk ashore,
and the reality is not that.
''The trouble is, if you focus on one or two individuals and then show
scenes around that, in my view the viewers -- and there are seven or
eight million of them -- are getting a view of the Royal Navy which
makes me extremely uncomfortable because it is not the Royal Navy I
know.
''And certainly those I have spoken to within the Royal Navy are
deeply disturbed by what has been shown.''
Sir Jock said he had received many telephone calls and letters, asking
what was going on and why had he allowed the documentary. He said it was
important that taxpayers could see what their money was spent on.
The fifth episode of HMS Brilliant can be seen on BBC1 on Wednesday
evening.
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