{"id":56,"date":"2009-04-27T08:27:20","date_gmt":"2009-04-27T13:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=56"},"modified":"2025-08-06T09:36:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T08:36:28","slug":"films","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/?page_id=56","title":{"rendered":"Films"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Hugh in Afghanistan travelling with Ahmed Shah Massoud’s ex-bodyguard (ex because Massoud had been assassinated)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hugh Thomson<\/strong> has a strong award-winning record as an ambitious film-maker, often with a rock and roll twist, and with what the Observer described as \u2018a daring commando-style\u2019.\u00a0 With a background as a cameraman, he has often shot sections of his films himself and has constantly re-invented his documentary approach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His acclaimed Dancing in the Street:\u00a0 A Rock and Roll History\u00a0<\/span><\/em>won plaudits (\u2018Hugh Thomson\u2019s magnificent ten-part history is the most radical and the most ambitious history of rock ever attempted on television\u2019\u00a0 Daily Telegraph) and a BAFTA<\/span> <\/strong>nomination. \u00a0See the\u00a0Opening Titles of TV being throw out of window<\/a>. \u00a0Hugh personally threw every television for the 15 takes needed to get this shot. \u00a0 Kind of addictive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

John Peel said of the first Indian Journeys<\/span><\/em> with the writer William Dalrymple that it was \u2018as wonderful a film as I have ever watched\u2019.\u00a0 The whole series went on to win the Grierson Prize for Best Documentary Series<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His BBC docu-drama on Patricia Highsmith<\/span><\/em> used Super-8 and stop frame animation, as well as black and white to tell the story that Time Out described as \u2018gliding through Highsmith’s life with the slickness of a Ripley novel\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As well as adventurous, challenging films in difficult conditions \u2013 like the BBC\u2019s flagship series\u00a0Russia with\u00a0Jonathan Dimbleby\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and a Dispatches Special for C4 on<\/span> Afghanistan<\/span><\/em> – he has specialised in making \u2018authored\u2019 films with presenters such as William Dalrymple, Joanna Lumley and Michael Bracewell, in which they put forward their view of a subject. \u00a0His film on Afghanistan was made with the Oscar-winning Pakistani journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy<\/a>; \u00a0his film with\u00a0Joanna Lumley in Bhutan for BBC I has been repeated many times.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His recent three-part series on the Treasures of the Indus<\/a> with Sona Datta was filmed in Pakistan and India.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hugh was a founder member of the group of film-makers who established the Sheffield International Documentary Festival<\/strong><\/span>, the first festival in the UK to concentrate exclusively on documentary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Selected Filmography<\/h2>\n

.<\/p>\n

Treasures of the Indus<\/a><\/span> with Sona Datta, BBC4
\nas Series Producer and Director<\/strong><\/p>\n

Filmed in Pakistan and India, this series was acclaimed by\u00a0the\u00a0critics:<\/p>\n

\u2018Visually rich and intellectually fascinating.\u00a0 Datta portrays Pakistan, self defined as young\u00a0 and Islamic, as in denial about its territory\u2019s long and complicated cultural past.\u2019 Sunday Times<\/p>\n

\u2018Much more than just a highly intelligent and visually beguiling tour of the great buildings and arts of India. It is a subtle and even provocative visual history of some 5,000 years of waves of migration, of empires built and lost, of different cultures and religions living together at times in amity, at times in open warfare.<\/p>\n

In the hands of this highly intelligent and involved guide, we were treated to more than just the sight of glorious buildings and gorgeous paintings; more than art history, this was history in\u00a0every<\/em>\u00a0sense.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0Marina Vaizey<\/a>, Arts Desk<\/p>\n

\u2018The most beautiful hour of television you\u2019ll see this week\u2019.\u00a0Radio Times<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russia:\u00a0 A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby<\/span>
\n<\/strong>Landmark series for BBC 2<\/em><\/p>\n

Jonathan Dimbleby travels across the whole of Russia in an epic journey.<\/p>\n

\u2018Expressive, serious and receptive\u2026\u2026.this trip through a tragic country works so well.\u2019\u00a0 The Times<\/p>\n

\u2018A very engaging series.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 The Observer<\/p>\n

‘ A fascinating series.’\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daily Express<\/p>\n

\u2018Best of all, though, he [Jonathan Dimbleby] was always happy to take second place to the material. Other travel presenters (these days perhaps even including St Michael Palin) may allow themselves and their own choreographed adventures to take centre stage. Dimbleby, by contrast, never forgot the important fact that he\u2019s less interesting than Russia.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Telegraph<\/p>\n

\u2018Like Russia itself, the riches and sorrows of this series seem endless.\u2019\u00a0 Sunday Times<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Afghanistan Unveiled<\/span>
\n<\/strong>C4, a Dispatches Special<\/em><\/p>\n

George W Bush:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018The American flag flies again on our embassy in Kabul.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>The mothers and daughters of Afghanistan were captives in their own homes.\u00a0 Today, the women are free..\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>Discuss\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

A hard-hitting examination with the Oscar-winning journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy<\/a> of the true situation in Afghanistan for the women who were supposedly liberated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018<\/strong>One of the most moving and upsetting films I\u2019ve seen for a long time\u2026\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Andrew Marr<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018Unsensational but shocking, this is superb reporting.\u2019\u00a0 <\/strong>Financial Times<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Highsmith: Her Secret Life, BBC<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Famously evasive during her lifetime, the author Patricia Highsmith left an array of diaries, notebooks and letters when she died in 1995 -a revelatory collection that answers many of the questions she would not answer about her private life and her work. As might be expected from the writer of Strangers on a Train<\/em> and The Talented Mr Ripley<\/em>, Highsmith’s life was rich in secrets, and this documentary unveils the hidden world of the woman Graham Greene called \u2018the poet of apprehension\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Glides through Highsmith’s life with the same ease that you read a Ripley novel…Fascinating for its full 60 minutes, this profile shouldn’t be missed\u2019\u00a0 Time Out<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Pacific Hell (To The Ends of the Earth), Granada for C4<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018The incredible story of Jim Shekhdar\u2019s journey across the Pacific, alone and unassisted, in a 23ft rowing boat made of plywood.\u00a0 When he decided to do it, he was due for a hip operation, overweight and frightened of the sea.\u00a0 One of his daughters reckoned he was having a mid-life crisis.\u00a0 The other thought he ought to be sectioned. His wife dreamed of killing him.\u00a0 But set off he did, rowing away from Peru armed with bars of chocolate, a machine for turning sea water into drinking water and The Greatest Hits of Leonard Cohen<\/em>, and his one luxury item \u2013 a lavatory.\u00a0 Nine months later he waded on to the Australian shore, Neptune emerging from the ocean.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Times<\/p>\n

\u2018Extraordinary\u2026\u2026genuine emotion that will live on in the mind.\u2019\u00a0 Daily Mail<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indian Journeys<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Icon Films for BBC.\u00a0 Three-part series for BBC2 (as both series producer and director) with the travel-writer William Dalrymple, who journeyed across India looking at the country\u2019s great spiritual past and troubled present.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Among the most ravishingly photographed series ever to be broadcast.\u2019\u00a0 The Scotsman<\/p>\n

Programme 1 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shiva\u2019s Matted Locks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the Hindu pilgrimage route up to the source of the Ganges in the highest reaches of the Himalayas.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018This is as wonderful a film as I have watched since I started writing this column and I cannot imagine not being moved by it and by the devotion of the pilgrims, particularly of the man who, even as he justifies leaving his family for ever in the name of his God, wipes away his tears. The soundtrack is marvellous, too.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Peel (Radio Times)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Programme 2 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 City of Djinns<\/strong><\/p>\n

A journey into the soul of Delhi, where the ancient rites of Sufism sit uneasily beside modern, disturbingly nationalistic currents.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018This brilliant series – as good-looking as it is thought-provoking – continues with another eye-opening report.\u2019\u00a0 Daily Mail<\/p>\n

\u00a0Programme 3\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Doubting Thomas<\/strong><\/p>\n

A re-tracing of the epic voyage supposedly undertaken by Christ\u2019s apostle St Thomas in the first century, when he sailed from Jerusalem down to the south of India.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018Filmed with a beautiful lyric eye that is now rare in documentaries, where too often the words are supposed to paint the picture and the pictures are just to remind you that this isn’t radio.\u2019\u00a0 A.A. Gill, Sunday Times<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Omnibus: \u2018Oscar\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

watch the film<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A controversial BBC I film in which the writer Michael Bracewell presented a very personal account of Oscar Wilde\u2019s life and legacy as the first of the century\u2019s rock and roll stars, helped by Stephen Fry, Tom Stoppard and the Pet Shop Boys.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mounts a daring commando-style raid on the reputation of Oscar Wilde.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0Observer<\/p>\n

\u2018Fascinating\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0Standard<\/p>\n

\u2018Intensely sincere and thoughtful\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0Time Out<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Dancing in the Street: A Rock and Roll History, BBC<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Major 10-hour series (as series producer of all of them, and director of two), which set out to tell the history of the devil\u2019s music from the 1950s to the present day. It cost \u00a35,000,000 to make – I should know as I spent it! – and needed \u00a31,000,000 just to clear the archive – for ten years only which is why it can no longer be broadcast, sadly. But The whole series can be seen here, uploaded from the VHS boxset that was issued at the time (pre-DVD) and is still the best way of seeing the series: get on EBAY now!.<\/a><\/p>\n

The films Hugh directed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hang on to Yourself<\/em>. \u00a0 Episode 7 on Glam<\/a>: \u00a0includes Mick Ronson’s last interview<\/a>, David Bowie’s best interview (heavily recycled in recent Five Year<\/em>s BBC doc<\/a>) as if he was in 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>, Lou Reed pretending to be a boxing manager at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn<\/a>. \u00a0One of the films Hugh had most<\/em> fun directing. Only matched by no fun…<\/p>\n

No Fun. \u00a0<\/em>Episode 8 on Punk: \u00a0whole film (note mislabelled as Hang on to Yourself)<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0The reclusive Jonathan Richman, Steve Jones on how to play guitar on speed (and at speed), The Clash, John Lydon, Johnny Ramone interviewed together with Joey Ramone – very rare – Iggy Pop in the nude – very common – and some amazing footage of Patti Smith we found in a fridge that had not been seen for 20 years since she played at CBGBs and raised the hair on the back of Tina Weymouth’s neck (who Hugh also interviewed, along with David Byrne). \u00a0In face who didn’t he interview? And he got to go to Jamaica to have herbal tea with Bunny Wailer; and hang out with Lee Perry at the Black Ark Studio<\/a>. \u00a0Watch and envy.<\/p>\n

PBS broadcast a recut version of the series in the States as ‘Rock & Rol<\/a>l’, with an American narrator. Legendary music journalist Robert Palmer was commissioned to write the <\/span>accompanying book to the series, using the interview transcripts, or I would have done so myself (and called it ‘Lost in Music’, which I was for the four years or so it took to make the series): <\/span>Robert Palmer<\/a>, Dancing in the Street: a Rock and Roll History<\/em>, (BBC Books, 1996). The American edition, Rock & Roll: An Unruly History<\/i> (Harmony, 1995), has much the better cover, of a flaming guitar. Very sadly it was his last book as he died shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

BAFTA NOMINATION; EMMY AWARD WINNER; also winner of Peabody Award, special medal-winner at New York Film Festival<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Hugh Thomson\u2019s magnificent ten-part history is the most ambitious and the most radical history of rock ever attempted on television\u2019\u00a0 Daily Telegraph<\/p>\n

\u2018Anecdotal, evocative and authoritative, this is a treat\u2018 \u00a0Sunday Times<\/p>\n

\u2018Fine pop chronicle\u2019 \u00a0The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u2018A very fine new history of rock music\u2019\u00a0 Independent<\/p>\n

\u2018Easily TV\u2019s most perceptive analysis of popular music\u2019\u00a0 Daily Mirror<\/p>\n

\u2018Four years in the making, Hugh Thomson\u2019s accessible, erudite series is an intelligent, superbly edited overview of this thing called rock and roll….unmissable.\u2019\u00a0 Birmingham Post<\/p>\n

\u2018A palpable hit on the subject…. .as good as television gets.\u2019 \u00a0The New York Times<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Joanna Lumley in the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Icon Films for BBC. 70-minute BBC1 Special in which Joanna Lumley travelled across the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan in the footsteps of her grandfather, who had made the same journey in the 1930s when he was a British political officer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The archive her grandfather had taken seemed to flower into colour in this film.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Guardian, Nancy Banks-Smith<\/p>\n

\u2018Beautiful sights in her journey – in particular prayer flags rippling like a land-locked armada of devotion – and some comedy as well;\u00a0 in one scene a member of the Bhutanese royal family gossiped about Newmarket racing and took a phone call as if impersonating Patsy (\u201cHow are you doing?\u00a0 Absolutely fabulous!\u201d).\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tom Sutcliffe, Independent<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

War Stories: \u2018Andrew Graham-Yooll\u2019<\/strong>, <\/span>BBC<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>A personal look at the military regime in Argentina prior to the Falklands War, in which the human rights campaigner and writer, Andrew Graham-Yooll, himself Anglo-Argentine, returned there after many years of exile to confront some of the generals.<\/p>\n

\u2018Emotionally charged\u2019\u00a0\u00a0 Time Out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Great Journeys: \u2018Mexico\u2019,<\/strong> <\/span>BBC<\/span>\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Account of Cort\u00e9s’ epic journey across Mexico, again with the Irish poet Damian Gorman, who followed the conquistador\u2019s difficult route overland from the beaches of the Yucatan to the site of the final Aztec defeat in the mountains and reflected on the current situation in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lyrical\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0Peter Patterson, Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

\u2018A treat\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0The Guardian.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words on Film: \u2018Devices of Detachment\u2019<\/strong>, BBC<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Acclaimed ground-breaking documentary about the troubles in Northern Ireland, with a commissioned verse commentary from the poet Damian Gorman.<\/p>\n

British selection for INPUT FESTIVAL. \u00a0Screened again at Belfast Film Festival 2014 to mark 20th anniversary.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018A television masterpiece\u2019 \u00a0Sean Day-Lewis, Sunday Telegraph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Hugh Thomson has a strong award-winning record as an ambitious film-maker, often with a rock and roll twist, and with what the Observer described as \u2018a daring commando-style\u2019.\u00a0 With a background as a cameraman, he has often shot sections of his films himself and has constantly re-invented his documentary approach.   His acclaimed Dancing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3892,"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56\/revisions\/3892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thewhiterock.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}