Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3617 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 183 minutes

Amazon.co.uk review
The hugely acclaimed series from Sky makes its way to DVD, and if you haven’t checked in with it already, then this is the ideal opportunity to see what the fuss surrounding Ross Kemp in Afghanistan is all about.

Kemp, of course, is still primarily known for playing Grant Mitchell in EastEnders. But here there’s no fiction: Ross Kemp in Afghanistan sees him joining his father’s old regiment - 1 Royal Anglian - to get first hand experience of the work of the British Army in the fight against the Taliban.

What differentiates Ross Kemp in Aghanistan from the news reports and documentaries that have also tackled similar subject matter is the sheer candidness of it. There’s no hiding the brutality of war, or the intensity of the fighting here. Some of the footage is quite extraordinary and frequently shocking. And you can hardly accuse Kemp of shirking the action: he’s often slap-bang in the midst of it.

A superb piece of work, and a very enlightening one, Ross Kemp in Afghanistan was richly rewarded with plaudits when it was first broadcast, and rightly so. It’s a towering piece of television, whatever your position on the war itself, and one that simply must piece be seen. Superb. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
In this critically acclaimed series Ross Kemp joins his father's old regiment, 1 Royal Anglian, and travels to Britain's frontline in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to experience for himself the British Army's fight against the Taliban.

Filmed during the summer of 2007, Ross dodges the bullets to witness and endure the worst fighting British troops have suffered for over fifty years.

Candid and brutally honest, this series is the first on UK television to show in detail what our soldiers are doing to win peace in this war torn land. Extraordinary battle scenes show us in close up the brutality of war. Off the battlefield we find out what a soldier's life is like and why they continue to fight this fanatical enemy. And with exclusive footage, we tell the stories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, along with powerful and moving interviews from relatives bereaving the loss of their sons.

This hard hitting and thought provoking series of 5 programmes is Ross' most difficult assignment to date.

Customer Reviews

Heartbreaking eyeopener
This has to be the best programme i have ever watched on TV in my life, It was a true account of what really goes on.
Not many people can actually say they know why our boys are there or what it is they do, this dvd will show you really what life is like for them.......
Hat off to Ross and his crew for getting out there and risking their lives too.
My Brother Cpl Darren Bonner died out in Afghan last year A true hero like all the others,
I have copies of the programmes yet have still placed an order for my official copy
.*.*.*.*.*.* an absolute must buy .*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Not great commentary, but very watchable
Ross Kemp is primarily an actor just edging into journalism, rather than being a long-in-the-tooth journalist. As I don't subscribe to Sky I hadn't seen this series on television, nor seen his other series about gangs. However, given the complete absence of anything about the experience of troops on the ground on terrestrial television I felt compelled to buy this DVD set.

Needless to say, Ross doesn't do clever commentary or great depth. But I suspect that, other than war correspondents who have been in the field for years, there are very few people who could do clever and in-depth when a fire-fight is going on around them in an inhospitable environment far from home. Even then, if they stopped to do in-depth in that environment, they'd be an easy target, putting themselves and those around them at risk. So it's a bit superficial in some respects, but it also gets into danger and emotion enough that I suspect many viewers will shed a tear watching.

What Ross does do is to convey the dangers that the troops on the ground face, the hardships they face daily, the gamut of emotions faced surviving the day and surviving a tour, what effect it has on the families back home etc. What he also conveys is the huge admiration he has for the troops. He can be heard saying how humbled he feels being with them and it's absolutely believable. This is a man who has put himself at risk to show the public what risks the troops are taking on behalf of Queen and country (although, as they say, on a daily basis they are fighting for the friends around them rather than fighting for their government etc). With the caveat about the commentary, I'd say he has done a very fine job.

He doesn't delve deeply into why our troops are in Afghanistan in the first place, nor question whether their presence is going to improve things, either locally or in the wider world. Other people can ask those questions, the foreign correspondents and the war correspondents of this world. He certainly doesn't question the government minister who said that he hoped (expected?) that the troops would enter and leave Afghanistan without a shot being fired, nor question the sense of sending a small force into a country where the Soviets were forced out and where Britain has had previous bad experience. What Ross does is to see what life is like for the guys on the ground and he probably brings this to an audience who wouldn't normally watch John Simpson and co. One or two other reviews have mentioned (complained about?) Ross being intoxicated by the adrenalin of war. And that is probably true, but adrenalin affects everybody in different ways at different times - people get excited, giggle, laugh, go stony silent, you name it, when adrenalin kicks in. If he'd been a war correspondent for years he'd probably manage it a bit better and probably attempt to show both sides of the conflict, but he isn't. He's seems a fairly normal guy, in an abnormal situation, trying to show the rest of us in the safety of our homes what things are like at the front for UK forces. That's what he has done. Hats off to him.

You don't have to agree with UK forces being in Afghanistan to find this compelling viewing. On the other hand, if you will find difficult the thought of an explosion that you see in the distance being the cause of multiple people being killed, then this might not be for you. At least you know what to expect.

BRILLIANT!
Ross Kemp, an actor who played a hard-man in a long-running British TV soap. Can he really be serious about being a war correspondent? Simply-put, this is an awesome documentary and Ross Kemp puts seasoned journalist to shame. From Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Iraq, I am not aware of a journalist getting this close to what the troops on the ground have to endure since Max Hastings reported from the Falklands War. Ross Kemp really transposes to the viewer the horrors of war and how brave the British soldier is. And what makes this feat even more remarkable is that he is on patrol with the soldiers...but not armed! That takes real courage; to be shot at, mortared; RPG'd and have no form of defence.
During the documentary, there are times when Ross Kemp's naivety does become noticeable e.g. when he tries to explain to a "local" that if they stop shooting, then the British Forces can start helping them. If only the Afghan solution can be that simple!
This documentary does not glorify war; it shows it for what it is.
Ross Kemp (and his crew) must win an award for this bit of film-making!