The Real Heroes of Telemark doesn't get discussed very often. Shamefully, the Bloody Bodge-up Company have still not released the series on DVD in a crystal clear format. Ray went out there and pretended he could ski, I have it on good authority that his telemark skiing leaves a lot to be desired! All the same, he opened up a whole new avenue of survivalism, a brand new topic on the subject and a story I was not that familiar with. te scenery was breathtaking, the skills were pretty good and to have everyday guys basically running the show interspersed with Rays' little tips and voiceovers, it made excellent viewing.
Last year, I met Ray. He's a decent guy, no matter what I may think of his recent TV series. I'd like to think that he is a big enough man (save the fat jokes please!) to take any criticism in his stride with regards to his programmes. To be fair, the rest of his stuff has been of such a high standard that anything less than his norm was gonna get ripped apart straight away.
Of the telemark series, he said that he really wanted to pay tribute to these men who had basically halted Germanys' production of heavy water and denied Hitler The Bomb. (That's BcUK getting flagged by the FBI now!) He said he needed to make the programme before the rest of the team started to drop like flies, as one or two guys had already succumbed to old age. When he was told that there wouldn't be any interest, he said that if the BBC wouldn't make it, he'd go elsewhere to make it and never work for the BBC again. They let him make the programme and it was well recieved. Something makes me think that Ray should get up on the soap box against the fuel prices! Anyway, he made it and a few weeks after filming, the next Hero passed away. These guys really were heroes, to live in such conditions with little food to keep them going, under threat of being found by the Germans and with no immediate back up if the proverbial hit the fan, I have the most unbelievable respect for those guys. And also to Ray for having the balls to stand up to some short sighted big wig at the Bloody Bodge-up Company who didn't think it would do well.