I used to work here when it was RAF Portreath (defence radar station). I remember the chemical dumps and gave them a wide berth! Happily the whole site has now been thoroughly cleaned up since this documentary was made.
lol... talk about missing the main point of the documentary... strewth... the soundtracks were clearly just a scene setter for the various decades (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s etc) the programme was talking about. They may have overused them a bit, but plenty of history programmes use pop music as a social sign of the times. More importantly... the high death rate of the workforce - around a third - and just what was pumped out into the sea, that's the real issues raised by this interesting programme.
My great uncle John (Jack) Warburton of Redruth worked at Nancekuke in the 50/60's We would visit my lovely uncle Jack and aunt Molly every year and camp at Cambrose Farm spending long summer days on beautiful Portreath beach, swimming daily in the sea and exploring the harbour - Uncle Jack would tell us he was the real James Bond but couldn't talk about his secret service missions - I now realise they weren't just imaginary stories for the young minds of his eager nephew/neices but the sad reality of what went on at Nancekuke - if you watch this video you will see a photo of the unfortunate civilian men who worked there - the man standing middle left in the duffle coat was my great uncle - so sad to think what they naively endured
Fairly interesting documentary, although most of the info conveyed is already easily found online. But I take issue with whoever in the production team signed-off on the soundtrack. As another reviewer has noted, most of the tunes used are incongruous. Worse, in this context the soundtrack is thoroughly tasteless. Jaunty rock and pop songs are entirely inappropriate for a topic concerned with toxic weapons manufacture, ministerial mendacity and a multitude of innocent deaths. Using 'That'll be the Day' and 'Silence is Golden' for the simple expedient of lyrics that can be brought up to suit the subject in hand ("...that I die" is just one particularly egregious example) is contemptible, too boneheaded for words. I hope someone's head rolled for this.
Nice documentary. Some interesting info. The only criticism I can think of, at least, right off the top of my head is that the various pop tunes peppered throughout the film were incongruous with the film, itself. While I enjoy most of the songs that were excerpted here, I found the soundtrack lacking in a certain coherence or continuity. Not a big deal, just a little something I noticed. Otherwise, fab! I'd have it even more if it had been a little longer too.
