May 31st 2009, I joined HMS Daring with a film crew of two to complete a film that had been started in 2004. A year to the day that I walked up the long gangway onto the flight deck at the stern of the new ship, the 75 minute documentary was transmitted on Channel 4. I'll be honest - I'm never sure anything we make will ever be transmitted after the strange goings-on a few years ago when a good series of mine was dumped by a new commissioning editor, but we sat down to watch Building Britain's Ultimate Warship and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Making the film took me by surprise. We had extraordinary co-operation and help from the Navy and the crew on the ship and it partly satisfied my long-held wish to make a film at sea. I hadn't expected to become quite so attached to both the ship and the crew of men and women and to be so bowled over by their attitude and commitment.
At the end of April 2010, just over a month before transmission, I was back on board for another stint to take publicity pictures for Channel 4. The atmosphere on board was very much the same - helpful, generous, committed and thoroughly professional. As I followed Capt McAlpine and his crew for two days I was reminded how much I'd enjoyed myself on the Royal Navy's latest and most expensive ship to date.
I'll be back on board on July 1st for Affiliates Day - it'll be great to catch up with everyone again. Let's hope the sun shines on HMS Daring.
Please can you advise if you or anyone you know about has talked about filming the Carrier builds. It is a wonderful project and should be made into a whole series.
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