Aftershock was a 1996 TV series of six programmes on Channel 4 charting the history of Britain's emergency services since World War 2. The programme was narrated by John Peel and the last episode called Rescue, looked at the severe psychological problems that affected a minority of rescue workers who have witnessed gruesome sights and how attitudes to post-traumatic stress disorder changed after the 1989 football tragedy at Hillsborough.
Links To Peel[]
Peel commented on the making of the Aftershock TV series on his 06 April 1996 (BFBS) show, describing how he did not like a particular producer from that programme:
UK TRAIN CRASHES - THE GOLDEN HOUR - HARROW & WEALDSTONE 1952 CLAPHAM JUNCTION 1988
Peel narrating the episode of Rescue from the Aftershock series
"I had a full week this week because I was doing some voiceovers.... I was contracted to do six programmes which were a kind of history or recent history anyway of the emergency services, you know, with a lot of rather grisly film which I didn't much like, I have to admit, of sort of accidents, you know, those things which firefighters and ambulance people film so that they can use them for kind of training lectures and things later on. I was in two minds about it before I even started, but I was urged to do it by my agent: "It'll be good for you," she said.... I went to do these programmes and by and large they went alright. There were three different producers, each one does two and so forth: one of them was a truly obnoxious bloke, and I'll tell you how he was obnoxious. He was one of those kind of power people. They kind of run the film past you, a little green light goes on and you read what it is you're supposed to read: "In the late 1970s, firefighters in Wolverhampton discovered something rather special..." and then what happens is, if it's OK they let the film run on to the next one, another green light comes on and you read the next paragraph. What he would do, almost every time.... I'd go, "Phew, passed that one," and he'd stop the film, but then there'd be a long pause, and he'd sit and look at his script, and then he'd just press the button down, "1970s," and then he'd roll the film back again, and then he'd come round again... he ended up by virtually singing some of the lines, and it was one of those things where you felt, this man is a control freak, and the temptation to rush outside and say, "Listen pal, you're so good at it, do it yourself. "...Simon Joyner's football's off again: I think it's time I played another record."