‘Making films? It’s as Huq off the challenging as life at JFS’ hook on Israel claim

A JFS teacher turned award-winning filmmaker has claimed that making ground-breaking films is just as challenging as teaching students at the largest Jewish school in Europe.

Neil Grant won a Bafta award for best factual series on Sunday after the success of his three-part Channel 4 documentary The Murder Detectives.

Mr Grant taught politics at JFS for seven years before later working at the BBC, and is now managing director of independent production company, Films of Record.

The documentary, which followed the 18-month investigation into the murder of a teenager, also received two awards at the Bafta Craft TV ceremony in the director and editing categories.

The 56-year-old, from Kingsbury, northwest London, said: “You have to work a lot harder in documentary these days to get an audience. You have to think of a way to make hard stories accessible. I Neil Grant wanted to do something that was bold and very different. I suppose in a way I had been somewhat inspired by Scandinavian crime dramas.” Mr Grant, a former Hull University Jewish Society chairman, said film-making was “as challenging” as teaching at JFS in the 1980s. He explained: “I absolutely adored teaching at JFS. They were my formative years. I adored it so much that I went on to become a school governor after I left. “I had done everything I wanted to do as a teacher. I was seemingly regarded as quite a successful teacher — but my love lay in the classroom and not going up the food-chain. “Going into filming was a natural progression. All of my teaching experiencehelpedmeasaresearcher on a political programme.” During his time at JFS, Mr Grant also worked as a voluntary r e s e a r c her f or then Labour MP Ken Livingstone, who is currently suspended from the political party. But the pair have notspokenforalmost 20 years. Mr Grant said: “Ken is not the person I remember. It’s very sad for me.”

LABOUR MP Rupa Huq has said she is “glad” the Mail on Sunday retracted a headline which claimed she said Britain should apologise for helping to create the state of Israel.

The newspaper ran a piece last weekend based on comments made by Ms Huq at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting in February last year.

But it misrepresented her answer on whether an apology should be made by Britain for its role in Israel’s independence in 1948.

Ms Huq had said that while a Labour government could theoretically apologise, she did not believe it should.

Asked about the meeting, the Ealing Central and Acton MP told the Mail on Sunday: “I was answering a question. I went on later to say that there shouldn’t be an apology. I have supported Labour Friends of Israel events and am a signatory to the We Believe in Israel charter.”

The newspaper later altered its headline to make clear she had not supported the proposal.

Ms Huq subsequently tweeted: “Glad that Mail on Sunday have now retracted original headline.”