12200944896?profile=originalThe victims: Winston Churchill, King Edward VIII & Wallis Simpson, the Queen, Louis Blériot and Welsh miners, to name but a few

The culprit: Fleet Street photographer Jimmy Jarche

Not to be outdone by BBC's Frith, ITV's first instalment of the returning Perspectives documentary strand features actor David Suchet, a keen amateur photographer, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Fleet Street photographer Jimmy Jarche. He sets himself an assignment to meet the standards of modern day Fleet Street photojournalism by emulating and in some cases replicating Jarche’s classic photographs, with the aim of getting his pictures into the Sunday Times magazine. 
David’s journey takes him around the country, from a South Wales coal mine to 10 Downing Street, and from archives to art galleries. It provides an insight into Britain then and now through the images he uncovers and attempts to capture, shows how skilled photographers have to be in order to get the shot, and the challenges facing them.  Woven into the narrative is David’s story of the relationship with his grandfather, and his own passion for the unique power of photography.

After uncovering the depth, range and quality of Jarche’s archive, David also attempts to discover what the experts’ view is of his grandfather’s work and invites their appraisal of its importance and where he sits among the pantheon of acclaimed 20th century photographers. David also visits the archives of the imperial war museum with his brother John Suchet, to examine photographs from Jimmy’s time in North Africa and Burma during the Second World War. He then tries to get a sense of the challenges that face a war photographer, seeing just how difficult it is to take accurate pictures in the middle of a gun battle during training with the British Army.

'Perspectives – David Suchet: People I Have Shot' will be aired next Sunday 25th March 2012 at 10:15pm on ITV. You can read the official press release here, and a news article here. A related BPH post on Suchet can be found here too.



Photo: Jimmy's 1911 image of Winston Churchill, then Home Secretary, in a top hat (seen on left), during the armed Siege of Sidney Street in the East End.


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