Sunday, November 18, 2012

From the sea to the land beyond

I've just watched the BBC4 film "From the sea to the land beyond" which explores Britain's coastline through archive video, and it was an absolute gem.

Unlike most TV documentaries that over-focus on the presenter's character this had none. Nearly wordless it connected well chosen historic clips full of truth and life, together with a soundtrack from one of my favourite bands, the appropriately named "British Sea Power".

Sailors and fishermen, soldiers and dockers, nature and developers, babies and dancing girls, lighthouses and lifeboats, over a hundred years of life at the shore of our seas flowed by in a poetic, lyrical way. Apart from one glance at twitter to make sure others were watching this too, it captured my attention from beginning to end.

If you've got access to iPlayer you can watch it here - and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Like a song to the sea it was magical, wonderful and moving.

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