Tim Roth, Toni Collette, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Okonedo, Hugh Bonneville, Gina McKee, Kate Ashfield, Samrit Machielsen and Will Yun Lee lead the cast in Tsunami, The Aftermath - a compelling two-part landmark drama for BBC Two of loss, survival and hope.

Based on extensive research and interviews, this fictional drama focuses on the aftermath of the tsunami in Thailand, as seen through the eyes of a group of characters whose lives are irrevocably transformed by the disaster:
* a British couple searching for their daughter;
* a Thai survivor who loses his family and tries to prevent developers from seizing the land his village is built on;
* an ambitious reporter;
* an overwhelmed British official whose faith in the system is torn apart;
* a mother fighting to get her injured son back to the UK;
* and a leading Thai seismologist, whose earlier report detailing the inevitability of a tsunami hitting the affected area was ignored.

It examines the lessons for humanity raised by an event of this magnitude, and forces us to ask how the response next time could be different.

Filmed on location in Thailand, Tsunami, The Aftermath was developed by the internationally-acclaimed Kudos and written by award-winning Abi Morgan (Bafta winner for Sex Traffic and Murder).

The director of photography is John de Borman (Hideous Kinky, The Fully Monty, Serendipity), production designer is Richard Bridgland (Wicker Park, Gangster No.1), composer is Alex Heffes (Last September) and film editor is Barney Pilling (Spooks, Life on Mars).

The executive producers are Jane Featherstone (Life on Mars, Hustle, Spooks, Amazing Mrs Pritchard) and Derek Wax (Sex Traffic, Flesh And Blood) for Kudos.

The producer is Finola Dwyer (Stoned, Hamburg Cell, Me Without You, Backbeat) and director is Bharat Nalluri (Life on Mars, Hustle, Spooks).

Might be worth a watch.

More info HERE

just watching intro ,,, felw into phuket on 22/12/2004 and making the hairs on my neck stand up already
cheers andy

What a very thought provoking movie. We really enjoyed it....shame we won't be here to see the 2nd half next week!!

Watched this movie part 1 with Dao last night and apart from her going under a blanket during the wave scenes she said it was good and she is looking forward to part 2 next week

She particularly liked the fact that there was a lot of Thai spoken in it and thoroughly enjoyed telling me what was going on!
colin 244

Yes, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. Can't wait till next Tuesday.

Good old BBC!

Agreed, and a well made, sensitive, watchable drama which I think hit the right note despite the disaster still fresh in many peoples' minds.

A grim but compelling drama

Rich

As someone who was in Thailand at the time of the tsunami, albeit in Phitsanulok, say 400 miles away from where the waves struck, who was therefore able to watch the 24-hour per day news coverage, I totally agree with Alvin's comment :-

quote:

.... a well made, sensitive, watchable drama which I think hit the right note despite the disaster still fresh in many peoples' minds.

It should not be overlooked that the TV coverage in Thailand was far more graphic than would tend to be thrown on TV in the UK. Thus having seen that news coverage shown in Thailand late December 2004, I was not surprised by the graphic scenes shown in the drama yesterday.

Second instalment next week eagerly awaited.

My wife, bless her, insisted on watching it but then had nightmares all night......needless to say she wont be watching next weeks episode. I guess it effects people in different ways.

Adam.

It was difficult viewing for me,as the memories are still very fresh.

I agree with John and I recall posting at the time,that those of us in Thailand at the time had the unsanitised media coverage. I vividly recall the increasing panic at not being able to contact friends/employees in the Phuket area and the lack of information available and the apparant lack of action from the British embassy. There were also the busloads of German/Scandanavian tourist refugees being relocated to Pattaya,all with attendant horror stories...

Nevertheless,I shall watch the concluding part,albeit uncomfortably.

I can fully understand why anyone who was actually there on that fateful day, or who has friends or relatives who were, would find this uncomfortable viewing. Especially if they lost someone. My sympathy is with you.

However, Noi and I found it compelling watching and, like John, eagerly await the second part.

Though one should remember that, although based on real events, this is a work of fiction.

Rolyshark posted :-

quote:

I vividly recall the increasing panic at not being able to contact friends/employees in the Phuket area

Indeed. Nat had worked for 4 years at a college on Phuket and thus knew lots of people there ... work colleagues and also members of the Church she used to attend. And the college where she used to work, was it standing, or damaged at all? It was an agonising wait before she managed to get through to anyone.

Luckily the news turned out to be good. No one she knew was lost or injured, and the college had got just slightly wet .... about an inch depth of water affecting some of it.

But the wait to hear that news ... not good.

The school I was working in at the time suffered no loss at all though the previous two lost staff, students and parents. As far as I know, the only person I knew who dies was the (Thai) bass player from me mate's band (B*s*a*d, if anyone ever saw them at Ploenchit Fair, Rock Pub or wherever). All the band members had bought land on Khao Lak and built houses there. Alf, who had moved there to teach, had built his house over a kilometre from the shore but his wife woke up to find the mud piled up to her 2nd floor bedroom.

Another mate who runs a dive school had 3 boats of tourists in the water for morning dives and got a phone call from one of his staff saying there was something wrong with the water and they wouldn't be able to dive as visibility was so poor. He called all 3 boats in and they got every customer to shore before the waves came. Less lucky was one of his instructors who he had given the day off to spend with the 3 children of his estranged marriage, sent over for Xmas by his wife in Europe, all lost on the beach. How must she have felt?

Another friend was washed away but survived, though it took her all day to find her husband and young child who had also survived.

A German friend, Bangkok-based, rides with the volunteer rescue service, the ones in the pickups who turn up at big accidents. They were among the first to travel south to offer what help they could. I don't think it meant much more than bagging bodies on Khao Lak, where he reported seeing over 2000 bodies processed in one temple while the official bulletins were still putting the toll in the low 100s.

Like John, I had travelled in the opposite direction for the holidays and watched the drama unfold on TV in Khon Kaen, in the same hotel as Thaksin who was soon packing his bags for a tremendous photo opportunity. Though I was totally unaffected in terms of any personal loss, I found myself bursting into tears for days afterwards as these sorts of stories unfolded and the reality became clearer.

quote:

Like John, I had travelled in the opposite direction for the holidays and watched the drama unfold on TV in Khon Kaen, in the same hotel as Thaksin who was soon packing his bags for a tremendous photo opportunity. Though I was totally unaffected in terms of any personal loss, I found myself bursting into tears for days afterwards as these sorts of stories unfolded and the reality became clearer.

My wife and I also felt the same as you and John we were in Surin miles away but when we watched it on tv we were all bursting into tears, we were supposed to go to Phuket for the Christmas Holidays but we had friends who came with us and they wanted to stay in Surin till after Christmas, just the thought still sends shivers down my spine.

Sounds as if you were more fortunate than I was.
Two employees died,one of the bodies has never been recovered/identified. Noi's best friend,her husband and six month old baby were en route to the beach when the waves struck-they spent two days sleeping on a hillside,lost their car and all their possessions,but 10 mins later and...

Many stories from people coming to the bar later in the holiday-the German family going down to breakfast in the hotel when the lift started filling with water and they only escaped by forcing the doors and swimming for the stairs.
The badly scarred Swedish bloke,who would come to the bar wearing all his clothes (shorts and flip-flops). He and six mates had arrived in Thailand for a three month break. Gone drinking on Xmas Day and gone to sleep on the beach in the early hours. He described waking up in a washing machine and never saw any of his five mates again and didn't want to go back to Sweden as they were all dead and he'd have to face the other five families. The Swedish embassy rep would turn up every day and give him a daily baht subsistance and toiletries. I sorted him out with some clothes and obviously a few beers,but I was glad I was not in his shoes.

A number of the street watch-sellers in Pattaya are tsunami victims who have relocated to enable them to earn an income. One was a fisherman previously,but didn't stay in Phuket as he couldn't rebuild his boat,there were no people left to sell his fish to and those that were didn't want to buy fish because they had been feeding on dead people.

On a personal front,the kids were too scared to come from Buriram to the seaside.

This dramatisation may indeed be a work of fiction,but the facts may be harder to bear.

I think the subject was handled pretty well - But I must admit wasn't easy viewing!!

The only bit I think that could have ben explained "a little" better is why the monks were cremating people straight away ??

Did that indeed really happen??

As for a journalist friend sadi regarding the British Embassy - the programme didn't go far enough to show there complete incompetence ( only his opinion but here was there - I wasn't) I honestly aren't trying to say the Aussies were doing it any better

Must say I came to work here the next day and gave our friend who survived the wave when it hit the Maldives a big hug!

-Skippy

quote:

Originally posted by Skippy:
As for a journalist friend sadi regarding the British Embassy - the programme didn't go far enough to show there complete incompetence ( only his opinion but here was there - I wasn't) I honestly aren't trying to say the Aussies were doing it any better

I don't know if the timing of the program was coincidental or not but an independent report into the peformance of the British officials during the disaster was published yesterday.

Report published

The verdict seems to be poor at first, getting better as time went by.

Rich

Watched last night's episode, British Embassy were a little better but lost, not worth their wages or the Medal.

quote:

Watched last night's episode, British Embassy were a little better but lost, not worth their wages or the Medal.

Sorry, I thought it was a drama????

Ian

Thanks for informing me it was a drama, British Embassy still not worth their wages or the Medal, full stop!

quote:

Thanks for informing me it was a drama, British Embassy still not worth their wages or the Medal, full stop!

Errr exactly what did they do wrong ?

one big problem with working away from home, i didnt know this was on never mind see it. Dont suppose anyone recorded it or knows of another showing.
I like everyone have vivid and very upsetting memories of this tragic event. I landed in bangkok on boxing day to meet Par and fly on to Phuket. I turned my phone on when i landed to hear a message from my very distressed brother. I was actually due to make the journey one week earlier but my boss talked me into going later for work purposes. My brother didnt know this and thought i was out there. Still brings tears now as i type

N,Barton,

I didnt watch it because the true facts never come out in a Documentary/Drama. The TV company couldn't care less about peoples feelings, loss of loved ones and tragedy, they are more concerned in making money.

If you really want to see it, have a look on http://www.tvgenius.co.uk/ and they will tell you when its going to be repeated.

If might say, This show is not showing on any UK TV channels before Saturday 16th December, but the TV Genius will know when this shows next comes on TV and will remind you on the Day. Hope this helps.

quote:

Originally posted by Ron-Tik:
I didnt watch it because the true facts never come out in a Documentary/Drama. The TV company couldn't care less about peoples feelings, loss of loved ones and tragedy, they are more concerned in making money.

Thank goodness for 24 hour news channels, eh, Ron?

I'm not sure how the BBC would be making any money out of this programme, which seems to be generally considered to have been a very well-made film. We all saw more than enough of the grim reality at the time and at various points since.

quote:

Originally posted by N Barton:
one big problem with working away from home, i didnt know this was on never mind see it. Dont suppose anyone recorded it or knows of another showing.

Do you have Telewest Replay? I'm sure I remember the first episode being listed on that, though that would now have been replaced by the second. I do have it on ye olde worlde VHS, or at least I hope I have! I'll find out tomorrow - I'm working away too! I can stick the tapes in the post when I've watched it or pass them on over a pint or two. Alternatively, are our wives/ex-wives still in touch?