Warriors

Damian Lewis, Matthew Macfadyen and Peter Kosminsky Remember…Warriors

On October 13, 2023October 19, 2023 By Gingersnap Comments Off

by Staff | TV Gids | October 13, 2023

Actors Damian Lewis and Matthew Macfayden and director Peter Kosminsky come together to look back at the 1999 BBC drama Warriors and the roles that brought Lewis and Macfayden international success. The critically acclaimed series explored the role of British soldiers working as UN peacekeepers in Bosnia, confronting the moral realities of war and the horrors of ethnic cleansing.

The three share the stories behind the making of the programme, from casting process to location filming, and how cast and crew let off steam to help deal with the harrowing storylines. They also discuss the critical response, how the series stands up today and why, for all three of them, Warriors remains a career highlight even over two decades later.

Warriors (cultural programme) airs on BBC 4 on Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at 22:00 BST. Rebroadcast can be viewed here.

Continue reading Damian Lewis, Matthew Macfadyen and Peter Kosminsky Remember…Warriors

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Ten Films About the Plight of Refugees

On March 12, 2022 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Warriors

by Stephen Ariel | The Spectator | March 11, 2022

The tragic ongoing events in Ukraine have highlighted the plight of refugees, with over 2m people (mainly women and children) fleeing the country since Russia invaded on 24 February 2022. Sadly, refugee crises have been occurring since the dawn of what may ironically be called ‘civilisation’, most notably the Biblical Exodus from Egypt and Caesar’s conquest of Gaul, which began when the Swiss Helvetii confederation, under pressure of Germanic tribes, sought to cross into Roman territory on their westward journey to safety.

Movies concerning refugees range from the past (Exodus: Gods & Kings) to the dystopian future (Children of Men) and are international in scope, including the UK (Limbo), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Welcome to Sarajevo) and West Africa (Beasts of No Nation). There are also a fair number of motion pictures which follow the lives of rulers forced to exit their countries (including Leo the Last, A King in New York, The Last Emperor, The Exception, The King’s Choice, and Monsieur N), but I will concentrate on the fate of the less privileged seekers of asylum.

If you have the fortitude for watching more films in a similar vein, you may want to check out Peter Kosminsky’s BBC TV movie Warriors (1999), which depicts a group of British soldiers serving with the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia during the Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing of 1993. The harrowing drama stars Matthew MacFadyen, Damian Lewis, and Ioan Gruffudd. Video clips:

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Interview: The Charmer, The Times / Sunday Times, November 17, 2002

On November 17, 2002October 8, 2017 By Damianista Comments Off

The Charmer

by Lesley White, The Times / Sunday Times, November 17, 2002

Smooth, confident and raring to reinvent himself, Damian Lewis is just the chap to play Jeffrey Archer, says Lesley White

When we meet on the Pinewood set of the slapstick satire, written by Guy Jenkin, creator of Drop the Dead Donkey, Lewis’s flaming red hair is dyed brown, the make-up department has achieved a not totally streak-free job with the fake tan, and, with his funky shorts, he is transformed not into Jeffrey, but a cross between an Ibiza raver and a boy scout. As Greta Scacchi is playing Margaret Thatcher, we can assume no attempt at impersonation is being made.

In some ways, Lewis, 31, and the celebrated fantasist have more in common than it might first appear. While the latter has spent his adult life embellishing his biography for public consumption, the actor went through a period of reverse self-invention. Rather than admit having attended Eton, for example, he told early interviewers that he went to boarding school, then changed the subject before they could ask which one. “I tried to sever all ties to my posh upbringing. It made me feel as if I couldn’t be a genuine moody actor. I’m desensitised to that now.”
Continue reading Interview: The Charmer, The Times / Sunday Times, November 17, 2002

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Warriors: Oh what a lonely war, Daily Mail, November 22, 1999

On November 22, 1999October 10, 2017 By Damianista Comments Off

Warriors: Oh what a lonely war

by Peter Paterson, Daily Mail, November 22, 1999

OVER the past two nights, we have seen, in Warriors, a deeply moving, alarmingly realistic and powerfully acted drama about a war in Bosnia-Herzegovina that occurred less than a decade ago, yet has been almost wiped from the memory by subsequent Balkan troubles.

Given this collective amnesia and magnificent as it was in many respects – Warriors had no time to explain the witches’ brew of Serb versus Croat, Moslem versus Orthodox, the bitter legacy of World War II, the Tito dictatorship or the collapse of communism. As a consequence, the complexities of who was fighting whom, and why, were barely intelligible to anyone who had not at least seen the shortened, three-hour version of that great documentary The Death of Yugoslavia. Continue reading Warriors: Oh what a lonely war, Daily Mail, November 22, 1999

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Fighting Talk, New Woman – October, 1999

On October 1, 1999February 1, 2020 By Gingersnap Comments Off

Love Wars

by Staff | New Woman | October, 1999

Ioan Gruffudd and Damian Lewis play soldiers in a new BBC drama, so we thought we’d check out their basic training in the love wars.

We love a man in uniform, and they don’t come much better-looking than Ioan Gruffudd, 25, and Damian Lewis, 27. They’re officers in “Warriors”, BBC’s new hard-hitting series about Bosnia. But if they were really in the army, would they lead the charge or get beaten up in the showers?

Right, you ‘orrible men, we’re taking you over the NW emotional assault course to see what you’re made of…

Continue reading Fighting Talk, New Woman – October, 1999