 Peter Kosminsky's work confronts difficult subjects including war, terrorism,
child abuse and political spin, seeking to ask "awkward questions" of "people in
positions of power". Making potent use of drama documentary techniques,
Kosminsky tells individual stories rooted in thorough research, combining
dramatic and journalistic skills to reconstruct major events or dramatise the
human impact of institutional failings. Although widely acclaimed, his
techniques as director (more recently writer-director) are sometimes challenged
by drama documentary's critics.
Kosminsky was born in London on 18 December 1956. After studying Chemistry at
Oxford University, he became a BBC trainee in 1980. He worked as researcher on
programmes including Nationwide (1969-84) - on which he began directing, for
insert items - and This Week, Next Week (1984-88). His BBC prospects seemed to
diminish after his involvement in the 1985 Real Lives strike.
Award-winning work on Yorkshire TV's First Tuesday (ITV, 1983-93) built his
reputation as a documentary filmmaker on pieces like 'A Home for Laura' (ITV,
tx. 3/11/1987) about family housing for children with special needs, 'Cambodia:
Children of the Killing Fields' (ITV, tx. 5/4/1988) about life in a refugee
camp, 'Afghantsi' (ITV, tx. 4/10/1988) about the Red Army's withdrawal from
Afghanistan, and 'The Falklands War - The Untold Story' (ITV, tx. 1/4/1987). His
subsequent dramas returned to such themes of institutional responsibility for
children and concern both for soldiers and war's civilian victims.
His first drama documentary, Shoot to Kill (ITV, 1990) covered the mid-1980s
Stalker Inquiry into contested RUC shootings in 1982. His use of 'faction'
seemed surprising: he told the press he 'hated' this 'evil form'. However,
unable to make a conventional documentary, he found "the only way to tell a
story that we thought journalistically needed telling was to dramatise it". An
accompanying discussion programme presented Kosminsky's first defence of his
techniques: many others would follow. Calling Shoot to Kill his 'big break', he
would continue to give documentary research the emotional impact and audience
reach of drama.
Deviating from this path to make his cinema debut proved to be what he called
"the biggest mistake of my life": although some reviewers praised Emily Brontë's
Wuthering Heights (1992) for its stark atmosphere and faithfulness as
adaptation, others criticised its casting and production detail. Despite less
fraught cinema experience on another adaptation, White Oleander (2002),
Kosminsky has mostly worked in television.
The Dying of the Light (tx. 16/11/1994), written by Hossein Amini, covered
the murder of aid worker Sean Devereux in Somalia in 1993 following his
criticism of arms sales. Several pieces explored institutions' conduct towards
children. Scripted by Jeremy Brock, 15: The Life and Death of Philip Knight
(ITV, tx. 18/8/1993) was about a young offender's death in adult prison in 1990.
Innocents (Channel 4, tx. 1/10/2000), written by Neil McKay, tackled Bristol
Royal Infirmary's recent experimental surgery on young children. Walking on The
Moon (ITV, tx. 30/8/1999), written by Martin Sadofski, covered bullying, and was
subsequently used in schools, while No Child of Mine (ITV, tx. 25/2/1997), from
a script by Guy Hibbert, dramatised the horrific "conveyor belt abuse" of a girl
within her family, the care system and ultimately as a child prostitute. Social
services attacked the programme on familiar drama documentary grounds of
dramatic compression, and some worried about the 12-year-old Brooke Kinsella
performing such shocking material, which Kinsella has always strongly
defended.
Written by Leigh Jackson, the two-part Warriors (BBC, 1999) showed British
soldiers acting as UN peacekeepers during the Bosnian war (1992-95) who were
powerless to intervene as Bosnian Muslim civilians became the victims of ethnic
cleansing. Numerous scenes demonstrated Kosminsky's ability to powerfully render
researched detail and complex events, using a seemingly spontaneous visual style
and a narrative organised around characters with whom we observe and experience
situations.
Jackson and Kosminsky used similar identification techniques on political
drama The Project (BBC, 2002). The two parts, 'Opposition' and 'Government',
moved from the Labour Party's 1992 election defeat to New Labour's second
election victory in 2001, dramatising the New Labour project's impact on Labour
values through the disillusioning experiences of young activists in a
heavily-researched fiction. Characters were integrated with news stories and
policy formation, with real figures like Tony Blair appearing in archive
footage.
By contrast, Blair and others were portrayed by actors in The Government
Inspector (Channel 4, tx. 17/3/2005). Although New Labour advised officials not
to cooperate, the production drew on testimony regarding the Government's
handling of the Iraq/WMD issue, its dispute with the BBC and the 2003 death of
weapons inspector Dr David Kelly. The scripting of scenes for which no record
existed led to literal-minded complaints: Kosminsky defended showing Blair
playing guitar during a conversation with Alastair Campbell because it gave an
"accurate impression" of some conversations (if not that specific one) and
served a dramatic purpose. Kosminsky aimed to "be honest with the audience and
hope that they'll trust me". His first time as writer-director, The Government
Inspector won a writing BAFTA, which Kosminsky called a 'high point'.
He was also writer-director of Britz (C4, 2007), which argued that
anti-terror legislation targeted British Muslims and created more terrorism than
it prevented. Hypothesising legislation's impact on a fictional brother and
sister, Britz's two-part structure revisited scenes considering different
motives: in 'Sohail's Story', Sohail was recruited to MI5 and investigated his
own community; in 'Nasima's Story', Nasima was recruited as a suicide bomber,
radicalised by experience of repressive legislation. Sohail's overcompensating
Britishness and Nasima's disaffected radicalism also dramatised a split
Kosminsky felt within himself as the son of a Jewish immigrant.
The Promise (Channel 4, 2011) examined the Israel-Palestine conflict, Britain's role, and terrorism through an initially apathetic modern British teenager discovering her grandfather's 1940s army service and starting to consider history's relationship with the present. The four-parter's ambitious scale, long gestation and challenging Israeli filming made this Kosminsky's "toughest assignment" yet.
In addition to winning many international awards and being profiled by The
South Bank Show (ITV, tx. 24/5/2009), it is fitting that Kosminsky won BAFTA's
Alan Clarke Award for outstanding creative contribution to television in 1999.
Not only did radical filmmakers like Clarke and Ken Loach inspire him, but he
belongs in their lineage, with his combination of social passion and cinematic
technique. Indeed, Kosminsky's work demonstrates that radical drama documentary
is one form through which contemporary television remains capable of presenting
genuinely challenging programmes.
Dave Rolinson
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FILM & TV CREDITS
