LINE OF FIRE
ANTHONY BOYLE AND TOBY JONES star in a real-life drama about a British soldier on trial for war crimes
NEW
DRAMA Danny Boy
Wednesday, BBC2 HD, 9pm
ON14 MAY 2004, Sergeant Brian Wood became the first British soldier for 25 years to lead a bayonet charge as his regiment won a famous victory over a group of Iraqi insurgents at the Battle of Danny Boy.
Named after a nearby British checkpoint, the engagement was one of the fiercest clashes of the Iraq War and Wood was later awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry.
However, in the aftermath, noted human-rights lawyer Phil Shiner accused Wood and his regiment of committing war crimes at Danny Boy by attacking innocent farmers, before demanding a public inquiry that lasted for almost five years.
This week, the story is turned into a feature-length film on BBC2 that transports us from the bulletstrewn battlefields of Iraq to a tense British courtroom, to reveal what really happened on that fateful day.
‘Brian has an extraordinary story,’ says Anthony Boyle, who plays him. ‘Coming home from Iraq and adapting back to normal life was hard enough, but this film explores the realities of war and how they can come back to haunt you.’
The cast includes Leah Mcnamara as Wood’s wife, Lucy, and Alex Ferns as his ex-soldier father Gavin, while Toby Jones appears as lawyer Phil Shiner, who goes head-to-head with Wood in a legal and moral conflict.
Named human-rights lawyer of the year in 2004, and a longtime contributor to The Guardian,
Shiner was a controversial figure who had taken on the Government in mistreatment cases and won.
AMBIGUITY
‘Phil’s an interesting character because he was acclaimed as a hero for his work in a previous case,’ explains Jones, 54. ‘But, like Brian, his reputation was later called into question. He’s an idealist and he’d been right in the past, so that fires him up in his case against Brian.’
With foreign travel impossible for the cast and crew due to the COVID pandemic, director Sam Miller re-created the Iraq battle scenes outside Watford during the depths of an English winter.
‘We filmed in November, so pretending I was in a hot desert when I was actually freezing my backside off in Hertfordshire was quite challenging,’ says Boyle. ‘In fact, I think it’s some of the best acting I’ve ever done!’
At first, Boyle, 26, was reluctant to meet Wood, fearing he would become too close to the former soldier to play the part with real objectivity. But he eventually sought him out and was inspired by tales of his experiences.
‘In the end, we spent hours chatting and eating sandwiches, and Brian came on set when we were shooting the battle scenes,’ he recalls. ‘Looking into his eyes when he was talking about those moments, both in Iraq and when he got home, was invaluable.’