Channel 4 tells Marine A’s own story of battlefield murder in new feature doc

Commercially funded UK pubcaster Channel 4 has commissioned a feature documentary on the first British solider to be convicted of murder on a foreign battlefield since World War Two.

Alan Clements

Marine A (working title) looks at the case of an unarmed and wounded Taliban insurgent who was shot in the chest by a British Royal Marine, who went on to tell his men that he “just broke the Geneva Convention”, in 2011.

Producers Two Rivers Media and Uppercut Films have interviewed Alexander Blackman, known to most as Marine A, about the incident for the 1×90’ film.

Alan Clements, MD of Two Rivers Media, said: “Alexander Blackman was the first British serviceman since the Second World War to be found guilty of a battlefield murder committed overseas. Many have tried to get access to him, to hear his story in his own words. We are honoured and proud that he has chosen to share it with us.

“This unique access allows us to explore the real events surrounding this devastating event, to bring the full story to the screen in the way that we did with Killing Escobar and Cassius X.

“The premium documentary space is central to our growth as a company – we are delighted to be working on Marine A and have more projects coming through.”

In other news C4 has commissioned Crackit Productions to produce Key to a Fortune – a transformational series, hosted by TV presenter Jean Johansson, that reunites families with homes and relatives they didn’t know they had.

Each year in the UK, millions of pounds worth of vacant homes sit unclaimed. These hidden treasures belong to ordinary people, unknowing inheritors to treasured estates that were once owned by a distant relative who left no will.

This 6×60’ format aims to find the unknowing benefactors of these estates.

C4 is also planning to air a play which ran on stage at the end of last year using evidence from The Grenfell Tower Inquiry following the devastating fire which killed 72 people at the tower block in London in 2017.

Grenfell: Value Engineering – Scenes from The Inquiry is a dramatisation of verbatim excerpts from The Grenfell Tower Inquiry which is looking into the causes of the fire and failings that led to the deaths.

The play is edited by Richard Norton-Taylor and directed and produced by Nicolas Kent. It was acquired by Caroline Hollick, head of drama at Channel 4.

Channel 4 will also bring back morning entertainment show The Big Breakfast this August.

The Big Breakfast was a regular staple for Channel 4 in the 90s, before it was axed in 2001. The broadcaster revived the show for a one-off special last year as part of its Black to Front project, hosted by Mo Gilligan and AJ Odudu.

Produced by ITV Studios’ label Lifted Entertainment, The Big Breakfast will return to screens as a 2.5 hour show across four Saturdays in August.