0:00:06 > 0:00:09In your mind, what does a great documentary do?
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I think a good documentary opens eyes,
0:00:18 > 0:00:24often takes people into a physical place or an emotional
0:00:24 > 0:00:31journey that they could not possibly witness or see for themselves.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36So that is the great, great satisfaction for a film maker,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39is taking an audience in to meet people.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46These wonderful, and we're always lost for that word,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51ordinary people, but they're not ordinary because these are remarkable
0:00:51 > 0:00:58people who have just great tales to tell and so to take a camera in
0:00:58 > 0:01:04and record that and tell it back and show people I think is just fabulous.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08Here we go.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13For the past 40 years I've been earning my living as a cameraman
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and documentary maker,
0:01:15 > 0:01:20from behind the camera observing the world anonymously.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Now I've been tempted in front of the camera
0:01:22 > 0:01:28and given the chance to wander back through those four decades
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and revisit some of the films and people I was privileged to record.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36The reason?
0:01:36 > 0:01:40I've reached a certain age, 65, but also I've been
0:01:40 > 0:01:45diagnosed with an incurable cancer so my time left is unknown.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55Yes, I won't make another film so, I do miss it, I love film making.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03People have never stopped loving documentaries
0:02:03 > 0:02:09because they educate, they illustrate, they illuminate life.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20Hey!
0:02:20 > 0:02:24My wee friend, a wee tweak at the viewfinder, eye to the viewfinder.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27And of course your eye had to be completely sealed to the
0:02:27 > 0:02:31viewfinder so that no light could leak in and fog your film.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37There was one very emotional shoot in Northern Ireland where a woman
0:02:37 > 0:02:40was crying about her murdered child and I had to have my eye to
0:02:40 > 0:02:43the camera and it slowly filled up with tears.
0:02:43 > 0:02:49So that by the end of the ten minute roll I couldn't see a thing because... Anyway.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54That's the down side sometimes, not the down side but that's...
0:02:54 > 0:02:58I'm being light hearted but sometimes the things we filmed were anything but.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28My big break from assistant cameraman to cameraman
0:03:28 > 0:03:33was in 1971 Upper Clyde Shipbuilders which was the most extraordinary
0:03:33 > 0:03:37moment because here were all these Clyde shipyards in danger
0:03:37 > 0:03:40of failing against the Japanese who were building ships cheaply.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45The Tory government was just basically wanting to waste
0:03:45 > 0:03:49the Clyde and close them all down and the workers said no.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57'8,000 men from all four UCS yards voted to back the shop stewards.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59'12 men voted against.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01'The men said "no" to redundancies,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03'"no" to negotiating with the government
0:04:03 > 0:04:07'or anyone unless the labour force and all four yards
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'were kept intact.'
0:04:11 > 0:04:14And they didn't say, "We're going to go on strike."
0:04:14 > 0:04:18They said, "We are going to take over the yards and we're going to
0:04:18 > 0:04:22"work in and continue to build the ships and deliver them."
0:04:22 > 0:04:25And that was revolutionary.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30The joint shop stewards are utterly unanimous,
0:04:30 > 0:04:34we're going to fight this and we're going to fight it with
0:04:34 > 0:04:38a determination that Britain hasn't seen from any section
0:04:38 > 0:04:40of the working class this century
0:04:40 > 0:04:43let alone since 1945, and we'll do it.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45CHEERING
0:04:47 > 0:04:50I as a young 24-year-old filled with zest and energy
0:04:50 > 0:04:53had dropped into this extraordinary chemistry.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02One minute you'd be up in Govan, then you'd be down in Clydebank,
0:05:02 > 0:05:04then you'd be in Scotstoun.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09It was just so exciting. Every day was a buzz of meetings.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I remember driving up pavements in my little Renault 4L just to get
0:05:16 > 0:05:18past a queue of cars to get into a yard in time.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26When we dashed into those yards we were behind them,
0:05:26 > 0:05:31we believed in the spirit of what was happening on the Clyde then
0:05:31 > 0:05:33that lets all of us join together
0:05:33 > 0:05:35and if we in our funny wee daft telly way
0:05:35 > 0:05:39are helping to contribute to the saving of that,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41there was so much spirit around
0:05:41 > 0:05:43that you absorbed that, and said,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45"Yeah come on we're here to help."
0:05:45 > 0:05:50- ALL:- Heath out! Heath out! Heath out! Heath out!
0:05:55 > 0:06:00£100, Scottish National Party, Glasgow Clydebank Branch.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04'This money will pay the wages of redundant workers.'
0:06:18 > 0:06:21We're not strikers, we're responsible people
0:06:21 > 0:06:25and we'll conduct ourselves with the dignity and discipline that we
0:06:25 > 0:06:29have all the time expressed over this the last few weeks
0:06:29 > 0:06:31and there will be no hooliganism,
0:06:31 > 0:06:36there will be no vandalism, there will be no bevvying
0:06:36 > 0:06:42because the world is watching us and it's our responsibility to
0:06:42 > 0:06:47conduct ourselves responsibly and with dignity and with maturity.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52To be there when Jimmy made his "nae bevvying" speech,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55fabulous to be there to witness that.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01You're recording history and that's very special.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13This is extraordinary,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16I'm about to meet a man I haven't seen in 35 years.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21He was around at the time supporting the shipbuilders
0:07:21 > 0:07:25when I was filming him, so a tricky man to pin down.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27He's only in the country for a short while
0:07:27 > 0:07:29so we've come here to Blackpool where he's performing.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- Here's the first time we can be connected.- Brilliant.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Do you remember in 1971?
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Oh that's Glasgow Green. This is you?
0:07:45 > 0:07:48This is me. Right beneath you. Weird.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53And then look, spot me there.
0:07:54 > 0:08:01- My God. Is that you?- That's me. - Oh, that's fantastic.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06- But fantastic days, I mean, look at this.- Look at that.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11There, I think that's Govan, the Govan yard.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13- Wonderful, that sea of faces. - It's brilliant.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Did you take any strength from that whole UCS thing
0:08:16 > 0:08:20that's carried you through - a kind of belief in it?
0:08:20 > 0:08:22- Of course it has. - So you could always trace it?
0:08:22 > 0:08:26It's given me a strength and it's given me an unbelievably strong identity.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31- Right.- I was always really proud to be a Clydeside worker.- Right.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Most of what I did I learned on the Clyde, you know,
0:08:34 > 0:08:37how to be funny without telling a joke.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40It just... When those gates closed
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and that sort of garrison mentality came on,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47you know, it's the same as prison or factories,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49anywhere where the gate shuts,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52people become very profane and very funny.
0:08:52 > 0:08:53Yeah.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57There was that incredible shot you get on the Clyde at closing time,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00the gate opens just enough for one man to come through
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and then two, three, four, five, six and then you get this flood of men.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06And then it just vomits on to the street!
0:09:06 > 0:09:10You've got the words. You see, I'm an observer.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14We share in a way a common bond in that I'm an observer of people
0:09:14 > 0:09:15through a camera and capture that.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19You observe people and then choose the words. That's your genius.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Where did that come from?
0:09:21 > 0:09:23In there, in the Clyde.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28Which brings us to Banana Feet, which was just fabulous.
0:09:28 > 0:09:29That was extraordinary.
0:09:29 > 0:09:331975, on the road, the first road movie,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35and it was, I was pushing myself.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37People will look at the film now
0:09:37 > 0:09:40and think, what quality, but we were right at the limits of,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42of technical quality then,
0:09:42 > 0:09:44with just, totally observational documentary.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It was still loose, you know, you're just following me along
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and letting me speak to people.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55# Oh the cuckoo
0:09:55 > 0:09:57# She's a pretty bird
0:09:57 > 0:09:59# And she warbles
0:09:59 > 0:10:00# As she flies
0:10:00 > 0:10:02# She don't never
0:10:02 > 0:10:04# Holler cuckoo
0:10:04 > 0:10:07# Till the fourth day of July. #
0:10:07 > 0:10:09CHATTER
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Oh, that's good. So is that.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Because when the lights go out I don't know what shape it is,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22if I don't have a wee look first. That's fine.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26That was a 74 minute film and we shot it in something
0:10:26 > 0:10:30like 36 hours, 40 hours, cos land at Dublin, do a gig.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Aye, there was no time cos the gig was on.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35You either get it or you don't.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- Yeah, it was totally on the move. - Aye, we did Belfast as well.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Oh, that was the key. What's extraordinary is you had
0:10:41 > 0:10:46the courage to do that because just four months before you went to
0:10:46 > 0:10:50- Belfast the Miami Showband had been stopped.- That's right.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Five guys, three of them murdered
0:10:52 > 0:10:56and every other performer said, "No way Belfast".
0:10:56 > 0:10:59You're a family man, you've a wife and two children right?
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Yes, yes that's right.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04You're over here this is sort of a frenetic scene,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06you know people enjoying themselves.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08But you're going to Belfast.
0:11:08 > 0:11:09You could be blown up tomorrow night?
0:11:09 > 0:11:12I don't think so somehow, my wife thinks like that.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14I've never really thought much about it.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16I'm frightened to think about it really.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23People have forgotten how scary Northern Ireland was.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25It was a scary place.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28And we... It was even scarier for me. The first time I toured there
0:11:28 > 0:11:31they gave me a special branch guy who was drunk
0:11:31 > 0:11:35and he had a sort of little sub machine gun and he kept tripping
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and falling and it kept falling on me, this gun in the back of the car.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40I'm sure I was going to be shot.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Well, do you...? I don't know whether you were aware of this on the night
0:11:44 > 0:11:48- but at the theatre they took over 30 weapons off people.- That's right,
0:11:48 > 0:11:49I remember.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Was that fed back to you?
0:11:51 > 0:11:55- Yes.- Because that scene when you are waiting alone...
0:11:55 > 0:12:01Magic moment for me in the dressing room. Real observation.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04You're just sitting there nervous. Clearly nervous.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06There's nothing said.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28Even going down the corridor you're alone, there's a kind of reluctance.
0:12:31 > 0:12:38Ladies and gentlemen... Billy Connolly.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:12:40 > 0:12:44'Remember I pretended the flowers exploded?'
0:12:44 > 0:12:46'You were right on the edge there. How would the audience take that?'
0:12:46 > 0:12:47'Oh they loved it.'
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- That's very nice. - MIMICS EXPLOSION
0:12:52 > 0:12:54LAUGHTER
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Have you got your banjo here?
0:13:00 > 0:13:03- No, it's upstairs. - I know, but it's in the hotel?- Aye.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Will you do me a wee tune up cos I loved that, in Banana Feet
0:13:06 > 0:13:08there's that lovely...
0:13:08 > 0:13:12There's that sound that creates, real memory triggers for me.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15- Oh aye, will I go and get it? - Yeah, that'd be lovely.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23- See just, just that sound transports me back 35 years. - Aye, it's weird.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28PLAYS BANJO
0:13:34 > 0:13:35See I'm already in on the....
0:14:07 > 0:14:10THEY LAUGH
0:14:16 > 0:14:20I'm not as agile as I was.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38I didn't wobble the camera in the same way in those days.
0:14:38 > 0:14:44- I was kind of wobbly over here myself.- Lovely. Thank you.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47- Magic.- Well done.- Thank you.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51- It was nice seeing you leaping around and doing it right. Takes you back.- Instantly takes you back.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02My action man days, which I loved, I mean that was me
0:15:02 > 0:15:04as camera man etcetera and as film maker.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08But I did a lot of world class rallying, chasing cars.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24We would only film the top ten cars cos they were rally champions
0:15:24 > 0:15:28and you trusted them to come as close as they like throwing stones
0:15:28 > 0:15:31at you, but you knew that they could drive and they wouldn't kill you.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42It was a real craft, film camera work.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Exposure, focus, all of those things.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49There's the image everybody craves.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53You're in your chunky flying helmet, your oxygen mask.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Although I did six sorties in that
0:15:56 > 0:16:01and vomited in five out of the six with an oxygen mask and a beard.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Not nice, and I used to come back
0:16:03 > 0:16:05and this wee vomit bag would be handed out.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06"Sorry I've done it again."
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Cos he was doing aerobatics round another aircraft
0:16:10 > 0:16:13so I was upside down, right way up looking through a camera.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Very disorientating I assure you.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Northern Ireland. Crossmaglen.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49This was one of the hottest spots in Northern Ireland.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Out with the... Out with the troops. Yeah.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56And in fact Northern Ireland too,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00this again, look, doing my beloved aerials.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Compared to today's wonderful gyro stabilisers mine's
0:17:04 > 0:17:07a couple of bungee clips some gaffer tape, sit out.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12The tragedy is the day after flying, this pilot flew into some wires
0:17:12 > 0:17:14and was killed.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17It could have been me.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22'The Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'a teaching hospital with a war right on its doorstop.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27'Medical research was never nearer to a battlefront.'
0:17:29 > 0:17:30Fighting For Life was extraordinary,
0:17:30 > 0:17:35a BBC documentary that we made in Northern Ireland in 1978.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Simple concept, there they were experiencing high velocity,
0:17:39 > 0:17:44head wounds, small entry wound, massive exit wound
0:17:44 > 0:17:47and this brain surgeon and the dental surgeon had come up with the idea
0:17:47 > 0:17:52of constructing plates, rebuilding a skull to save people's lives.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57'No one can know what the next ambulance will bring to
0:17:57 > 0:18:00'a hospital in the frontline or whether guerrilla warfare
0:18:00 > 0:18:03'will again invade the grounds of the Royal.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06'But the Army makes its presence felt,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09'patrols every approach road as the healing goes on.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12'Constantly on guard in a war in which everything has been said
0:18:12 > 0:18:13'and no-one can win.'
0:18:15 > 0:18:18A weird, weird time to be part of the United Kingdom
0:18:18 > 0:18:21and you flew across into this place where you,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24you checked under your car in the morning, was there a bomb?
0:18:26 > 0:18:29'There were 1,000 explosions in 1973.'
0:18:39 > 0:18:44Remember over 3,000 people died in Ireland on our doorstep.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47You know.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55All we know was that there was a bomb blast just a few hundred yards
0:18:55 > 0:18:58from the hospital in which this soldier was involved.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00What's he suffered?
0:19:00 > 0:19:04He's had...lost his right leg
0:19:04 > 0:19:06and he's had very severe injuries to his left leg.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08He has lost a great deal of blood
0:19:08 > 0:19:13and Doctor Young our anaesthetist is giving him a great deal of blood.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16He's already had about eight pints.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Our key sequence was a lieutenant
0:19:19 > 0:19:21who'd been blown up by a lamp-post bomb.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26His leg blown clean off at the groin, filled with shrapnel.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29And we ran into the operating theatre and covered all of that.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32What do you think you're going to do?
0:19:32 > 0:19:36That's got to be left open, there's no question.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49I mean, for us to go in and witness that was quite extraordinary
0:19:49 > 0:19:55and very powerful to see the horror and film it and try and make
0:19:55 > 0:20:00something positive out of it because that's what these guys were doing.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08'I wasn't a news cameraman, so I wasn't running up
0:20:08 > 0:20:11'and down streets with petrol bombs and bricks flying and everything.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16'But we were trying to reflect a positive story out of horror.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22'But equally a story which reflected the horror
0:20:22 > 0:20:24'which was Northern Ireland.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44'The last time I was here was about 1977.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50'I was still working as a cameraman in those days.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54'I think we were here for two or three weeks,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56'because we were on standby
0:20:56 > 0:21:01'for a horrendous injury basically, and to watch the team at work.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05'The ward sister was Annie Murdoch.'
0:21:05 > 0:21:08- It's not, is it?- Hello, David.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10- Hello.- How are you, darling?
0:21:10 > 0:21:14- Lovely to see you.- And you too, you too.- The years fall away.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18And a young ambitious surgeon, Alan Crockard.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22- Look at this.- Look, man without glasses.- Who am I seeing here?
0:21:22 > 0:21:25- Annie, how lovely to see you. - You too.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30- Whose worn the best? You rogue!- Look at you. How wonderful to see you.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32- Lovely to see you.- Yes. Gosh!
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I was just thinking it's so unusual for you not to be behind the camera?
0:21:35 > 0:21:37I know. It's a very strange feeling,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I can assure you, being in front of the camera.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44'Crockard's been at the Royal since he qualified
0:21:44 > 0:21:46'just before the start of the Troubles
0:21:46 > 0:21:49'and he hasn't always worked under the quiet calm
0:21:49 > 0:21:51'of today's operation on Mary Smith.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53'At the height of the fighting,
0:21:53 > 0:21:56'he operated round the clock for days on end.'
0:21:56 > 0:21:58The only intensive care unit
0:21:58 > 0:22:02in Northern Ireland was at The Royal.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04- Here?- Here.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08So all the police, all the army,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10all the terrorists of every hue
0:22:10 > 0:22:14and the civilians were all in the same intensive care unit.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18'The wards can be trying places to nurse in.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22'It almost needs a split mind to try and heal both soldier and gun man,
0:22:22 > 0:22:23'who may then go out and kill.'
0:22:23 > 0:22:26'How did you stay neutral?'
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Well, you had your own feelings about things
0:22:29 > 0:22:33and you were brought up a certain way and obviously, yes, it's there,
0:22:33 > 0:22:37but patients are patients. You didn't think what religion,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39whether they were a soldier or a terrorist.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41You just got on with it.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Oh, you're doing very well.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49'A soldier takes his first faltering steps
0:22:49 > 0:22:51'since his Saracen car was land-mined.'
0:22:51 > 0:22:55You're doing well. You really are. I'm proud of you.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Doing very well. Is the way clear there behind me?
0:22:59 > 0:23:02I don't want to land in a bucket, Keith, sure I don't.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06'The skills of the surgeons may have saved this soldier's life,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10'but he'll owe his recovery as much to the patience and compassion
0:23:10 > 0:23:13'of the nurses and physiotherapists.'
0:23:13 > 0:23:16All right? Keith, you're nearly there.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19I think we'll get him into bed, actually.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Almost there, Keith. Just a wee bit more, Keith.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Either of you know what happened to the young lad
0:23:25 > 0:23:28- in our film with the brain injury? - Oh, yes.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Up until a couple of years ago,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Keith sent me flowers every Christmas.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Wow! What does that tell you?
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Yeah. It's really nice.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39'He was a very special young patient.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42'You know, he went through quite a lot and I suppose we got
0:23:42 > 0:23:45'very attached to him, which I know we're not supposed to do.'
0:23:45 > 0:23:48But you can't help it. You do.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52And his family were very nice. I just felt so sorry for them,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56you know, their young son, this had happened to them.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00Maybe one of my countrymen has done this to him, you know?
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Did you ever feel anger?
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Oh, yes.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10When you had lost friends and family, of course you do.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12How did you suppress that anger?
0:24:12 > 0:24:14I'm not sure, David.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18I really don't know. I like to think that it was my training,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21because we were always trained that everybody...
0:24:21 > 0:24:24You treat everybody the same, no matter what.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33The films that I was shooting for other people then
0:24:33 > 0:24:38were reflective documentaries, almost always based round problems
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and The Troubles and the after effects
0:24:41 > 0:24:43which, of course, were just as strong.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48I think somewhere in the dots and dashes of my DNA
0:24:48 > 0:24:52was a happiness to be reflecting a gentler side.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55So I think I've always been drawn towards the, er...
0:24:55 > 0:24:59In search of humanity, if you like,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and many of the films we made then,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06we were in search of humanity with a small 'h.'
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I love that and I think that's continued on into my own film-making.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13You know, observing people,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17often under stress,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20but just digging that little bit deeper.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24As a cameraman, that was the beginning of becoming immersed
0:25:24 > 0:25:26in the way people were
0:25:26 > 0:25:29and that carried on when I became a film-maker.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39I've been lucky enough to witness that same belief
0:25:39 > 0:25:43in an industry that I saw on the Clyde,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46that passion for their industry,
0:25:46 > 0:25:52when I made a film down a mine, here at Monktonhall Colliery
0:25:52 > 0:25:54just outside Edinburgh 20 years ago.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59'We're not militants. We're just ordinary working guys
0:25:59 > 0:26:02'who want their rewards and the fruits of their labour.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06'But give us some say in it, and we'll prove we can do the goods.'
0:26:08 > 0:26:12The men were faced with British Coal closing the pit.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14The end of their livelihood.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18And suddenly they themselves, led by one other man,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21said, "No, we are going to lease this pit.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25"We are going to show the world that we can run a pit."
0:26:34 > 0:26:37The way we're geared up, because everyone owns the business.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Not me or the manager. Everyone has an equal shareholding.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42We pay ourselves the same dividend at the end of the year.
0:26:44 > 0:26:46Each of these men
0:26:46 > 0:26:50was prepared to invest, borrow £10,000
0:26:50 > 0:26:53of their own money, and follow this man, Jim Parker,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55back underground,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59open up a pit and make it all work.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Extraordinary idea.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Going into the mine itself for us was a huge exercise.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I think Monktonhall was the deepest pit in Britain,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24a 3,000ft vertical lift shaft.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31You were entering a very, very strange world.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57For us with a camera, which is a delicate thing,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02going into this warm, dusty, moist environment.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05We had to prepare ourselves physically, but also prepare
0:28:05 > 0:28:10the camera, because very rarely did we change a tape below ground.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18You become like them, because you become covered in coal dust
0:28:18 > 0:28:21so you become a miner. There you are in your boiler suit
0:28:21 > 0:28:23and black face when you come out.
0:28:23 > 0:28:28That's that thing of becoming part of the people that you are observing.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35# We're in the money, we're in the money
0:28:35 > 0:28:40# We've got a lot of what it takes to get along! #
0:29:16 > 0:29:18So coming back, I mean, even for me,
0:29:18 > 0:29:20it's a strange emotion coming back
0:29:20 > 0:29:22to somewhere that was a complete
0:29:22 > 0:29:26hive of energy, that you released in men...
0:29:28 > 0:29:33..just an extraordinary zest for life, for their life.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35So for you to come back and witness
0:29:35 > 0:29:38something that failed, how does that feel?
0:29:40 > 0:29:43Well, over the...since '92 I think,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46I've been maybe here about 12, 15 times.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50It does rankle a bit, but you've got to forget that stuff.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52There was nothing special about me.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55It was that 107 that did the job.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58- That was what was extraordinary. - The men you led?
0:29:58 > 0:30:01Aye, that's right. I was just doing what my father taught me
0:30:01 > 0:30:04and what I learned at university, you know? Nothing clever in that.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07The thing is getting the job done and these blokes did it.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12Are you proud of the fact that it survived for five years?
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Well, I'm proud it survived for five years,
0:30:15 > 0:30:20but I'm desperately sorry it's not still going yet.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22So, all the men got their £10,000 back effectively?
0:30:22 > 0:30:25They got five years wages.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27What, £150,000 over five years?
0:30:29 > 0:30:31- Fascinating. - Not a bad investment that.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Nobody else apart from the miners
0:30:37 > 0:30:40is allowed into that environment.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43You went into your own world and we were allowed into it.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Why did you let us in?
0:30:45 > 0:30:47You might not be aware of it,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50- but you weren't the only people that approached us.- Right.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52There was a couple of other groups.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57That Sky group, they sent people up.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59- So why did you choose us? - Well you were, obviously...
0:31:01 > 0:31:05You were a different stamp from these kind of people, aren't you?
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Eh, maybe that's too narrow minded but you see it looked like you
0:31:08 > 0:31:10were more sort of in tune with what we were doing.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13You were more sort of practical with nuts and bolts.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Frankie, turn your face, It's no' a horror movie!
0:31:26 > 0:31:28LAUGHTER
0:31:32 > 0:31:33Certainly.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Because Ayrshire boys are on this shift.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45Ultimately, was it good for you that we made that film?
0:31:45 > 0:31:46Oh, that was great.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49That was one of the good things about it.
0:31:49 > 0:31:50That was really...
0:31:51 > 0:31:53For the ordinary man in the street,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56and lots of people have told me this, that's the best record.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03When you saw that film, that saves hours of talking, know?
0:32:03 > 0:32:05That's, er... Well, I'll treasure that.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07I mean, I treasure that.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11Making this film, of course, I go back and look at the old films
0:32:11 > 0:32:13and I go, "That wasn't bad."
0:32:13 > 0:32:16But it was also for us
0:32:16 > 0:32:20to witness that sheer, basic...
0:32:20 > 0:32:22I mean, what height?
0:32:22 > 0:32:24As we went along that...
0:32:24 > 0:32:26Four feet?
0:32:26 > 0:32:28Duck down, what height would we have been to work in?
0:32:28 > 0:32:31- About there, maybe there. - So we had to keep running
0:32:31 > 0:32:32in and out with the kit.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35Backwards and forwards, 600ft along that face line.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37I mean, you're at... Sorry to interrupt you.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39And you know I love you, ken?
0:32:39 > 0:32:42You're asking what made us choose you.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45That's what made us choose you. It's still there yet.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48You're missing this more than anybody else.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52You're missing doing your filming more than I'm missing the pits.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56Aren't you? That's what made us choose you. It's obvious.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02- Do you no' think so? Huh?- Yes.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15I mean, at any time I lift a stills camera,
0:33:15 > 0:33:17or a film camera,
0:33:17 > 0:33:18a video camera to my eye,
0:33:18 > 0:33:20I go into that world. That is my world.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23It's a wonderful world
0:33:23 > 0:33:27where it's held by this very precise frame
0:33:27 > 0:33:30and I'm then observing the world
0:33:30 > 0:33:33within the discipline of that frame.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36And I'm completely within myself
0:33:36 > 0:33:39looking out, watching.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56These have been hidden away for 40 years.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59So I took them, I processed them, I made tiny little contact sheets
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and I thought when I'm retired or later in life,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03I'll get round to doing it.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05But then of course things have speeded up.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09When I became ill recently,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13there was a sense of, "Nobody's seen this stuff."
0:34:13 > 0:34:16But I believe that there has to be some gems in there.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25I just can't bear for these
0:34:25 > 0:34:29to be thrown out and not to be seen.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38So this is a selection of my street photography,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41which actually, like my career,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43is about 40 years. 1970 to 2010.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45And these are very, very personal.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48These are literally my eye on the world.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06There's an absolute example
0:35:06 > 0:35:09of a favourite of shooting faces.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12There's about four frames on the contact sheet.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16That can only be France, can only be Paris.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18He never knew I took that shot.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25I blend in.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30Part of my skill is just going in quietly with my camera
0:35:30 > 0:35:31which is a very silent stills.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33Small stills, click.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46Street photography is about observing.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50You hunt an image. You are in your complete zone,
0:35:50 > 0:35:51a nightmare to be with.
0:35:51 > 0:35:53So I have to do often on my own
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and you're just zoning in, looking, looking, looking,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59cos you go out and you've no idea what you're looking for.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01You're just wandering the streets,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04waiting, waiting, hunting for something.
0:36:06 > 0:36:07I'm looking all the time
0:36:07 > 0:36:12for that moment where I capture a little bit of humanity.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19So the qualities of still street photography
0:36:19 > 0:36:24transfer perfectly to my observational documentary work.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26I will make myself disappear.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29I am in the background, and I will let life go on naturally.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Do you think you have the ability to capture an emotional core?
0:36:35 > 0:36:38An emotional core of a man especially?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Yes, I do.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I certainly think I have the ability
0:36:45 > 0:36:48to capture the emotional core.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52In the same way I can totally blend in when I'm taking my stills,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55you know, people are unaware of my presence.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59In a funny way, because I'm a good listener
0:36:59 > 0:37:01and people want to tell their story,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03I sit back. I'm not coming in
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and going, "Hi, I'm the filmmaker!"
0:37:05 > 0:37:07I'm here as a listener
0:37:07 > 0:37:10and you tell me your story,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12and I nod and whatever,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and they say, "Oh, at last - somebody wants to hear my story."
0:37:15 > 0:37:19And so I think through that osmosis,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22I extract their emotional core, definitely.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38I think you always put a little bit of yourself into your boat.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42This boat tells a story, it tells a story about us.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44And now it's away to be scrapped.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Really this boat has become a part of me, in a sense.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57Not so much the end of a dream,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59it's the end of a part of my life.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04- VOICE BREAKS: - The end of a big part of my life.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13But you've just got to get over it.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29Fraserburgh Harbour. Last here eight years ago,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31when I came up to make a film
0:38:31 > 0:38:35on the plight of the Scottish fishing industry.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39And at the heart of that film was a father and son,
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Sandy and Zander West.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44They've fished here for generations.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48There was a lot happening in the fishing industry at that time.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Brussels was slashing fish quotas,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53the UK government was saying, "OK, we'll destroy boats
0:38:53 > 0:38:56"in order to bring down the quotas."
0:38:56 > 0:39:00And Sandy and Zander were confronted with having their boat destroyed.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08Emotionally a very, very difficult journey for them.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25It's just a graveyard.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27It's just a dump, isn't it?
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Looks very eerie.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49Very strange. Strange feeling.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52The time of morning as well.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01That's what Mr Fischler and European Commission
0:40:01 > 0:40:06and our own Fisheries Ministers think of Fraserburgh,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Peterhead and Aberdeen, that pile of rubbish,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10that's what they think of us.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14Well, that's what we think of them.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22'Even as the boat ties up there are bargain hunters waiting to pounce,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24'first aboard, an Icelandic fisherman.'
0:40:26 > 0:40:31- I'm looking for an engine. - You're looking for an engine?
0:40:31 > 0:40:39- Will this engine be good for that boat?- It's a similar size.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45It's a good engine.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50- I'm just glad I won't be here to see it cut up.- What?
0:40:50 > 0:40:53I'm glad I'm not going to be here to see it cut in pieces.
0:40:53 > 0:40:54I can understand.
0:40:56 > 0:41:03Vultures flying above you waiting to peck at the scraps.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07I might be interested in that radar.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11I hope he does take the radar cos it's buggered!
0:41:17 > 0:41:19Hey, the smell of the sea again,
0:41:19 > 0:41:22it's fantastic to be back in the harbour.
0:41:22 > 0:41:23Look at all these boats.
0:41:23 > 0:41:28Brilliant. Where are they?
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Fantastic.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Great to see you, long time since I've seen you.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Look, he's grown up, he's got a beard.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51- This isn't Danny!- That's him. - Is it? You were just that high
0:41:51 > 0:41:55- when I last saw you. What age are you now?- Nine.- Nine. Fantastic.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Lovely to see you. Magic.
0:41:58 > 0:41:59A lot going on since I last saw you.
0:41:59 > 0:42:02- Really?- Yeah, a lot.- Well, I want to... Cos I have no idea
0:42:02 > 0:42:05- what you've been doing. - Oh, well, we'll let you know.
0:42:05 > 0:42:06I'm a wee bit suspicious
0:42:06 > 0:42:10that you have been unable to break that time in the sea.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13- Yup, yup.- Come on.- I've never left it. Never left it.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16- You've never left it?- No. - Are you still hogging cod? - Not really, no.- No?
0:42:16 > 0:42:20- Prawns now.- Prawns.- Aye, we're on a different fishing now.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22- We're mainly on prawn now. - Fantastic.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24Where we was on fish before.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29Is that reality biting or is that you just going ducking and diving?
0:42:29 > 0:42:31Just going in another direction.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34- Right, but successfully?- Yup. - You've survived. Hurray!
0:42:34 > 0:42:36Come on, where? Show me the boat.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39So what's she called?
0:42:39 > 0:42:42- She's called Mia Jane.- Mia Jane.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46- Yeah.- From? - She's named after my daughter.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51Really? So you've had a another bambino since... Magic.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57If you look at the film now, how do you look back on that time?
0:42:59 > 0:43:01Well, I only look on it back with...
0:43:01 > 0:43:05When I think about it for me, I was younger so I was angry,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08I wanted to kick somebody's arse.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11So at the time we filmed you, there was anger,
0:43:11 > 0:43:15there was emotion at the loss of the Steadfast.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18How do you feel now about that?
0:43:18 > 0:43:21- I wasn't angry really at all about that.- Really?
0:43:21 > 0:43:24No, not really, no. I was just caught up on it.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28Do you think then, Sandy, that the EU were right
0:43:28 > 0:43:31to force you to decommission the boats?
0:43:31 > 0:43:33- Yep. I've never gone back on saying that.- Really?
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Many a fishermen does, but I've never.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38- So even though you were angry...? - I saw it before it happened.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40So why did you feel so passionate and angry
0:43:40 > 0:43:43about what was happening at that time we made the film?
0:43:43 > 0:43:48Well, mainly because, I lost my business because of it,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51I was caught up in this at a bad time.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55If we had built the Steadfast probably two years beforehand
0:43:55 > 0:43:58we would have ridden the storm.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01So did I make the wrong kind of film?
0:44:01 > 0:44:08- No, no.- No.- You captured what the feeling was at the time.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Hindsight's a great thing, isn't it?
0:44:13 > 0:44:17It reflected a moment in time and nothing more.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20It reflected a moment, a period in time when that was the feeling.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22But you move on.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34Since I've been home, I mean, every night nearly I go to my bed
0:44:34 > 0:44:35I'm thinking about fish.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39I remember my father saying something about fish fever
0:44:39 > 0:44:42so I think that's maybe what it's like.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48Go away now do my monthly stand-by to the best of my ability.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Get paid for it and then come back to this guy.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55And someday I'll be able to pass on the story to him.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05The decommissioning scheme especially locally and nationally
0:45:05 > 0:45:06was really well documented,
0:45:06 > 0:45:13but you never really understand people's plights.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15Just reading a paper about it.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18It doesn't come through but I think when folk
0:45:18 > 0:45:20get the opportunity of seeing it in film
0:45:20 > 0:45:23they may be understood a little bit better,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26the harshness of the reality.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29There was a lot of sympathy from people in that film.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33Yeah. And at the end of the film there's a lovely wee sequence
0:45:33 > 0:45:36when I'm wrapping up the film
0:45:36 > 0:45:38and you're sitting with Danny on your knee
0:45:38 > 0:45:41and you say I hope to be able to tell him tales of the sea.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Well, now he's got a chance to see
0:45:44 > 0:45:46his own tales of the sea. Yeah. Possibly.
0:45:47 > 0:45:52Yeah, well, aye, I think there's... he maybe will.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Come to sea with Dad? Nae free rides.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Magic. Well, it's been fantastic coming back.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05- Extraordinary.- It's been great having you back.- Yeah.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Yeah, it's nice, nice to see you again.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Terrific, I'm going to stop.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15Bringing back old times it does, it does. Bringing back old times.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32Gutted. And they're still here.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35Magic. Yoo-hoo! Well done, guys! Keep fishing!
0:46:37 > 0:46:43Great. It's great to be back. Lovely.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46What is it with these macho industries that you like?
0:46:49 > 0:46:53I don't know whether it's the macho industries which I'm drawn to.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58I think I'm certainly drawn to taking a camera into places
0:46:58 > 0:47:03that people can't see, the public can't go underground.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05The people cannot ring up and say to a fisherman I want you
0:47:05 > 0:47:08to take me out in the wildest conditions and show me what you risk
0:47:08 > 0:47:11your life in order to feed me
0:47:11 > 0:47:15and so the great... it's a word I use quite a lot,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19but the great privilege I've had is to be able to take that camera
0:47:19 > 0:47:25on behalf of the audience into places that they can't reach. And in so
0:47:25 > 0:47:30doing I get that personal pleasure of actually experiencing
0:47:30 > 0:47:33A - through the camera's eye which is my great love
0:47:33 > 0:47:35but also for myself to go in
0:47:35 > 0:47:39and come out, have that ability to tell that tale.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44And if I'm being very selfish to tell the tale to my children,
0:47:44 > 0:47:46to pass on, I went down there,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48I went out there. That's great.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Great fun, great memories. No, terrific.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17'Hey, Donald. You know it's not only Flora you love
0:48:17 > 0:48:19'but all this homeland of ours.
0:48:19 > 0:48:25'Oh, I know well enough what's on your mind. The big city.'
0:48:25 > 0:48:27The younger ones started going away to jobs
0:48:27 > 0:48:30but then what else could they do there was nothing, there was
0:48:30 > 0:48:32no way of making money.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36And I mean everybody wasn't like me - penniless
0:48:36 > 0:48:38and happy but that was the way I looked at it!
0:48:41 > 0:48:46Scotland On Film. There was a kind of a complete change of tack for me
0:48:46 > 0:48:51was away from observational documentaries, so, but the idea
0:48:51 > 0:48:55intrigued me. Quite simple interview people between 60,
0:48:55 > 0:49:0165 and 100 and whatever we got to, about life in Scotland.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06and television allows us to put it down in a different way from
0:49:06 > 0:49:10books and all sorts of other things, it's one thing to read an anecdote,
0:49:10 > 0:49:14but to see that face, give you that anecdote is something else too.
0:49:14 > 0:49:21It's simple but it's there forever as a piece of history.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Out of all these people and all their wonderful tales
0:49:25 > 0:49:29the one who left the most indelible mark
0:49:29 > 0:49:33was a lady called Madge McQueen
0:49:33 > 0:49:38who lives in a croft up near Aviemore.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42And she was the most content person I have ever met.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46There was something about her that was at peace with the world,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48with her world.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56How many years have you lived here in the glen, what age are you now?
0:49:56 > 0:50:01Well, I'm 88 now. And I've been here, as I say I was born upstairs, moved downstairs
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- and that's as far as I got.- A long way to travel?- A long way to go.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07I must have been carried, unless they threw me down I don't know, but...
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Are you looking forward to spring and getting a bit more colour in the cheeks?
0:50:11 > 0:50:15Oh, yes, yes, looking forward to the spring. I love the spring time.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19I like when the birch leaves come out, the smell of the birch.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22- Oh, super, yeah. - And what are the wee secrets of life?
0:50:22 > 0:50:26I don't know what it... I've always been contented.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30- I'm never angry about anything really.- Really?
0:50:30 > 0:50:33No, no, no. There's no point in being angry.
0:50:33 > 0:50:39You use a lovely word there you say you've always been contented and that's why I wanted to come back
0:50:39 > 0:50:44because I'm looking back over my life and all the people
0:50:44 > 0:50:47I've met, you were the most contented person I've ever met.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52- Really?- Uh-huh. And so I just wanted to come back and I wanted
0:50:52 > 0:50:58to tell you that. Maybe you didn't... that you have something very special.
0:50:58 > 0:51:04Yes, always contented. It doesn't matter what it is I do I don't get into a fluster over anything.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08- Right.- Because it always sorts itself out, it doesn't matter what it is.
0:51:08 > 0:51:14- Do you, do you fear death? - No, no, no.- Why not?
0:51:14 > 0:51:18No, no, I don't fear death at all.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23When the time comes, well, I know we'll all have to go and that's it.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27So I've got a serious illness now, what should my attitude be?
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Well, just keep pegging on, pretend you haven't got a serious illness,
0:51:33 > 0:51:36pretend you haven't illness at all.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38Just do what you do normally every day
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and you'll find it'll work out all right.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44- Great advice.- Yes, yes, yes.- Put it out at the back of your mind.
0:51:44 > 0:51:46Out the way, the back of your mind altogether.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51- Pretend you haven't got it at all.- Keep laughing.- Keep laughing, keep happy.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54- Can I keep coming back?- You can keep coming back if you like.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57THEY LAUGH
0:52:06 > 0:52:10The illness that I'm living with at the moment is an incurable cancer,
0:52:10 > 0:52:16it's myeloma which is one of the blood cancers so, yeah,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19there are days when you put it to the back of your mind
0:52:19 > 0:52:21and you have to and get on with it.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24And yeah, the joy of waking up to every fresh day is good
0:52:24 > 0:52:26and you get on.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31And there's lots to motivate. You live your live life at a higher level
0:52:31 > 0:52:34when you have a life threatening illness, no question,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36and there's an intensity to what you do
0:52:36 > 0:52:39and the pleasures that you draw from things.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Simple sights, sounds, smells.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46You're going "Oh, look, oh that's just lovely." Yeah.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49We're all going to fall off our perch at some point
0:52:49 > 0:52:53it's just when it's closer than you think then you,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56then you get more from life in a very strange way.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10so, your film Life's Too Short,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13does that have much more resonance for you now?
0:53:17 > 0:53:25Yes, yes, I mean, there's an irony now of course in that,
0:53:25 > 0:53:30having made a film at a cancer hospice
0:53:30 > 0:53:37that I'm aware of cancer and its effects on people etc, so, yes,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41I'm living with the irony of having made that film.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43It's enlightened me, but, hey...
0:53:43 > 0:53:46That's life.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55- You getting back to your old self, pal?- Aye.- That's good.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Back to the Evelyn I knew.
0:53:58 > 0:54:05Maybe tomorrow you'll be up out your bed. You're looking better.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09- Eh?- And your eyes are more wider and a lot brighter.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Aye, you're looking, you're talking and all that now
0:54:12 > 0:54:16whereas you couldnae talk. You wouldnae talk.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20- I tell you, I feel a lot better.- You feel it now, you feel a lot better.
0:54:20 > 0:54:21You feel a lot better.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26- I feel like myself. - You feel like yourself now?
0:54:26 > 0:54:27If that doesnae sound a bit stupid.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31No, it doesnae sound stupid because you were in a state
0:54:31 > 0:54:33when you got brought in.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48And we were touching on taboos, you know, very, sailing,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51not close to the wind,
0:54:51 > 0:54:55but we were looking at an area of life which is difficult
0:54:55 > 0:55:01for people to watch and listen to.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05So we were aware of that and trying to make that,
0:55:05 > 0:55:08accessible to an audience.
0:55:08 > 0:55:09What taboos?
0:55:09 > 0:55:14The taboo of death. You know, it's not something that
0:55:14 > 0:55:20should be done lightly. but it's not often done on television.
0:55:27 > 0:55:29Surely it must be depressing working here?
0:55:29 > 0:55:33It can be, aye, because you can get attached to a patient
0:55:33 > 0:55:36if you know them and that, cos Sharon used to work
0:55:36 > 0:55:39in the wards as well. So you get used to the families,
0:55:39 > 0:55:41you get used to the patients but everybody's nice,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44it's actually quite a happy place to work in,
0:55:44 > 0:55:45it's no' depressing.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49You don't want to make it depressing, do you know what I mean?
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Patients, maybe the relatives come down for a cup of tea. They're looking for someone,
0:55:52 > 0:55:53like a smile and, "How are you?"
0:55:53 > 0:55:56And the lassies, the chefs they go up when it's
0:55:56 > 0:55:59special diets they talk to the patients their self.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01We felt very proud of that film
0:56:01 > 0:56:06because we achieved levels of access and intimacy which I'm
0:56:06 > 0:56:07intensely proud of today.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12For me it was a fundamentally very deep and it was a difficult film
0:56:12 > 0:56:19to make, no question of that, it drew on all our emotions to open
0:56:19 > 0:56:22ourselves up to people and for people to open up to us at a time,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24at a very difficult time of life.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37It's been fabulous making this film.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40I've thoroughly enjoyed it, the trip back, the discoveries,
0:56:40 > 0:56:42the relationships.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46And in making this film, I've realised that a lot of the films
0:56:46 > 0:56:53I've made have a value, that's very rewarding, very rewarding.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06So maybe my films and my stills are my legacy if you like,
0:57:06 > 0:57:08my gift to the world
0:57:08 > 0:57:11and because they reflect the way I look at the world
0:57:11 > 0:57:14and the way I look at the human spirit
0:57:14 > 0:57:17so I can't ask for more than that.
0:57:17 > 0:57:22Other than possibly the chance to live a little longer
0:57:22 > 0:57:26because I feel I've still got so much more to give.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28But the characters, the tales,
0:57:28 > 0:57:31the experiences, what a privilege!
0:57:31 > 0:57:34There's nothing more to be said really.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36End of story.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53I think a good documentary opens eyes,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57often takes people into a physical place
0:57:57 > 0:58:03or an emotional journey that they could not possibly witness.
0:58:05 > 0:58:12So that is the great satisfaction for a film maker, is taking an audience
0:58:12 > 0:58:15into meet people
0:58:15 > 0:58:19who have just great tales to tell.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28And so to take a camera in and record that and tell it back
0:58:28 > 0:58:31and show people, I think, is just fabulous.
0:58:34 > 0:58:40People have never stopped loving documentaries because they educate,
0:58:40 > 0:58:46they illustrate, they illuminate...life.
0:58:56 > 0:59:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd