Making Waves (TV series)
| Making Waves | |
|---|---|
Title card
|
|
| Genre | Drama |
| Created by |
Ted Childs Richard Maher |
| Starring |
Alex Ferns Emily Hamilton Ian Bartholomew Steve Speirs Others |
| Theme music composer | Simon Rogers |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (3 unaired) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Ted Childs |
| Producer(s) | Stephen Smallwood Philip Shelley |
| Location(s) | United Kingdom |
| Editor(s) | Tim Murrell |
| Running time | Approx. 49 minutes per episode |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 7 July – 21 July 2004 |
Making Waves is a British television drama series produced by Carlton Television for ITV. It was created by Ted Childs and chronicles the professional and personal lives of the crew of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Suffolk. The series remained in development hell for several years and was first broadcast on 7 July 2004. However, due to low ratings it was removed from the schedules after only three episodes, the remainder of the series going unaired on television in the United Kingdom.
The series starred Alex Ferns as Commander Martin Brooke and Emily Hamilton as Lieutenant Commander Jenny Howard. The frigate HMS Grafton stood in for Suffolk and additional filming took place around HMNB Portsmouth with the full co-operation of the Royal Navy. A limited-edition DVD of all six episodes was released in December 2004.
Following the success of his previous series Soldier Soldier, Ted Childs, Richard Maher and Carlton began planning the series in the late 1990s, with Carlton's controller of drama and continuing series expecting something "in the London's Burning, Peak Practice vein". It was turned down by ITV because it was "old-fashioned" and did not fit in with the network's existing portfolio of dramas. Despite this, Childs and Carlton continued to develop the series and they brought it to the commissioning editors of BBC One, who negotiated with Carlton to broadcast it. By that time, the top levels of the ITV drama department had changed and due to Carlton's links with ITV, the BBC was unable to take the series. A six-episode series was commissioned in July 2002 by Nick Elliott at ITV.
The project was initially managed by the MoD's Directorate of Corporate Communications (Navy), headed by Commodore Richard Leaman. Lieutenant Commander Steve Tatham undertook much of the initial scoping and planning work before, in August 2002, Commander Kevin Fincher was appointed as the specialist project officer for the series; he would acquire the necessary ships, locations and personnel as well as advising the production team on and off set. Throughout pre-production Fincher negotiated a legal agreement with Carlton, whereby a financial recovery was made for anything they used that was taxpayer-funded. This included use of ships, fuel, and personnel. Another clause gave the Royal Navy a share of any royalties from the series, including advertising revenue and sales.
...
Wikipedia