Sandhurst: The Making of an Officer
2011 · BBC Two / BBC Four · Series Producer / Director / Camera
I filmed single-handedly over a year inside the Royal Military Academy with exceptional MOD access, shooting hundreds of hours as one intake moved from civilian life towards command during the war in Afghanistan. Staying close to cadets and directing staff allowed Sandhurst to reveal itself through behaviour rather than explanation — its rituals, humour, hierarchy, ambition, class, failure and contradictions.
As training progressed, the questions became harder: resilience, responsibility, the morality of killing and what it means to order others into danger. The series asks what leadership means when young officers are being prepared to make decisions whose consequences may soon be measured in lives.
THE TELEGRAPH
“This week’s episode was particularly thoughtful, with a frank discussion of the ‘morality of killing’ - Josephine Moulds
THE GUARDIAN
“It’s a fabulous documentary, though – purely observational, nonjudgmental, refreshingly lacking a comedy narration from someone who was once in Green Wing. The viewer decides what to think.” — Sam Wollaston
THE TIMES
—Melanie Reid wrote that the fascination was whether the cadets were “tungsten or toffee”, concluding that “resilience dictates survival”