Now the videos are being examined, very serious questions are being raised by The Pipeline about the legality of Channel 5's "Battlefield Recovery" programme, in particular the way it depicts the handling of explosive devices the amateurs are shown excavating and handling (' EOD Expert ConfirmsS “Battlefield Recovery” Showed “Potentially Lethal” Practices' January 9, 2016).
According to period military manuals the effective blast radius of the High Explosive version of the German grenade shown is around 16m. Our expert confirmed that had it exploded the entire cast and crew of the programme involved in the sequence could have been injured or even killed.I wonder whether any of the individuals who were taking part in this filming have sued the production company for what would seem to be (as shown in the film) a serious breach of Health and Safety regulations.
Quite apart from the legal issues, I wonder why it is that when some British metal detectorists go abroad, they seem to leave behind them the ideals of the Code for Responsible metal Detecting. Does it somehow not apply to work done in other countries? And yet, this states very clearly what the responsible metal detectorist should do on finding explosive material. I'd like to see an NCMD comment on this.
The Pipeline also reports on the legal issues behind the withdrawal of the Polish episode where the organization whose work was highjacked by the presenters challenged the way it was presented. Let us hope that when the series is broadcast in the UK, POMOST will sue there too. Presuimably, Channel five were appraised of this potential legal challenge before they took their decision to buy it and think that by adding a subtitle or two, they can get away with it, walk all over the Poles. I hope somebody puts a copy of episode 3 up on You Tube (23rd January) for us all to see.
I do hope The Pipeline's text arrives on the desk of a Channel Five executive, and we get some kind of response. The points made seem to be pretty damning taken alongside all the statements about Channel 5 being "satisfied" with what they bought.
UPDATE 9th Jan 2016
This evening there have been a number of tweets about episode one of the programe, including those that decry the lack of proper Health and Safety measures seemingly revealed by the film. In particular there is the issue of the manner of digging the bunker:
Arran Johnson
@arranjohnson 2 hours ago All ethical concerns aside, this is just ridiculously dangerous.@channel5_tv@H_S_E#BattlefieldRecovery
[ClearStory Productions Fair Use for the purpose of criticism and review]
Harvey @nice_reminder
@arranjohnson@DrKillgrove@channel5_tv@H_S_E Woah. Wait there. Are there people working in there, under a machine atop wet soil?! Woah.
David Connolly @BAJRjobsChristopher Jones podał/a dalej Arran JohnsonWow. Just some 70 year old wood standing between those guys and being buried by a falling excavator + a lot of mud.
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