20-23 Profiles
12/1/04
10:45 AM
Page 21
text Theo Berry photograph Jesse Wild
profile: Nick Maddocks film-maker
A S I S AT D OW N opposite Nick Maddocks in the Testimony Films’ office I
noticed the floor-to-ceiling rows of videos, prominently labelled. The videos came
from all over – some were familiar: an adaptation of Elspeth Huxley’s Flame Trees
of Thika. Others were archive film, some containing footage that has never been
broadcast before.
Nick was born and bred in Bristol. After 12 years in a bank, he suddenly dropped
it and aged 30 went to UWE, got his degree, and after a brief spell at the BBC
joined Testimony Films as a researcher. He looks younger than he must actually
be. He has just directed and produced his first series, a 6-parter for HTV that will
be shown at 7.30pm on Thursday January 29th. I’m here to talk about him, but
we end up talking mostly about this series; it’s called ‘Hope and Glory’ and it’s
about the British Empire. The Empire & Commonwealth Museum will be supporting the series with their own book and exhibition.
I’m not a Bristolian. I’m 22 and I have spent 16 years of my life living in ex-Empire
countries. I’ve been to Thika and I’ve seen the few flame trees the dual carriageway left behind. I’ve seen the Hope and the Glory, and away from the country of
my birth I’ve experienced the racism and resentment that welcomes many immigrants. As soon as I hear the title I’m very, very sceptical.
It doesn’t begin well. I was heartened to hear he spent over a year researching the
series – talking to lots and lots of people about their experiences of Empire and
viewing reels and reels of archive film from all over the world. However, I’m surprised to hear that he didn’t leave England. Even those interviewees who live
overseas, such as the legendary weightlifter Precious McKenzie, who now lives in
New Zealand, were interviewed in the UK. So despite the fact that his series will
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cover oft-neglected episodes from the Empire’s history such as the Malayan emergency, I was in no way reassured that Hope and Glory would capture the real story
of the Empire. People tend to approach the subject of Empire with preconceived
ideas and images with the result that the conclusions they draw are skewed before
they even begin.
Which is exactly what I did – I heard the title Hope and Glory and immediately
jumped to a conclusion about what kind of view the series would take of the
Empire. Actually Nick maintains he had no need to travel as what he was interested in was people with both Empire and West Country connexions. The series
is about ‘personal truths’ – recording voices and memories before they fade.
(Indeed, one of the ‘stars’ of the series has already passed away.) As Nick says he
has ‘gone to great lengths to make Hope and Glory a lasting testament to those
that took part - as is my duty as a film maker.’ Each episode tries to illustrate as
closely as possible with archive footage the personal history of extraordinary individuals as told in their own words. While there naturally had to be some editorial control – Hazel Hooper, whose family left India after partition leaving all their
land and possessions for their servants, spoke for nearly 4 hours about her
Empire experience – the sense has not been altered. This is a series about people connected by themes; the 2 people featured in each programme are often very
different but are connected by a theme, be it forbidden love or finding justification in a strange land. And all are linked by the Empire, which shaped their lives,
and by Bristol, which shaped their stories.
Hope and Glory is personal not political.
I left convinced.