Introduction
Occupation is a three-part drama serial broadcast by BBC One in June 2009. It was written by Peter Bowker and produced by Kudos for BBC Northern Ireland.
Three ex-servicemen return to Basra, each for a different reason.
Outline
The serial follows the fortunes of three British Army soldiers from the 2003 invasion of Basra to 2007. Each is inspired to return to Basra for different reasons: one returns for love; one for monetary gain; and one for his belief in the mission to rebuild the country.
Cast
- James Nesbitt as Mike Swift.
- Stephen Graham as Danny Ferguson.
- Warren Brown as Lee Hibbs.
- Nonso Anozie as Erik Lester.
- Yigal Naor as Dr Sadiq Alasadi.
- Lubna Azabal as Dr Aliya Nabil.
- Omar Berdouni as Ahmed.
- Monica Dolan as Nicky Swift.
- Andrew-Paul Roberts as Richard Swift.
- Lewis Alsamari as Yunis.
- Fenar Mohammed-Ali as Yassin.
- Greg Kelly as Spike.
- John Prentice as John Prentice the 3rd of Lisburn Town.
Trivia
- It took four years to bring the serial to screen.
- Filming took place in Morocco and Northern Ireland.
- The journalist in the first episode, who asks if little girl Maysa’s injury was caused by British troops, was played by the director, Nick Murphy.
Occupation Series
Production & Filming Details
- Director(s): Nick Murphy.
- Producer(s):
- Karim Abouobayd … line producer: Morocco (3 episodes, 2009).
- Laurie Borg … producer (3 episodes, 2009).
- Lisa McAtackney … line producer (3 episodes, 2009).
- Derek Wax … executive producer (3 episodes, 2009).
- Writer(s): Peter Bowker.
- Music: Daniel Pemberton.
- Cinematography: David Odd.
- Editor(s): Victoria Boydell.
- Production:
- ARTE.
- BBC America.
- BBC Northern Ireland.
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
- Kudos Film and Television.
- Distributor(s):
- British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2009) (UK) (TV) (BBC1).
- ARTE (2011) (Germany) (TV).
- BBC America (2010) (USA) (TV).
- Duna Televízió (2013) (Hungary) (TV).
- Rough Trade Distribution (2015) (Germany) (DVD).
- WOWOW (2010) (Japan) (TV) (2 parts).
- Yleisradio (YLE) (2010) (Finland) (TV).
- Release Date: 16 June 2009 to 18 June 2009.
- Running Time: 180 minutes (total running time).
- Rating: Unknown.
- Country: UK.
- Language: English.
Video Link
