Occupation

I am 17, and I have seen TV dramas that often falls into mawkish sentimentality and confusion. Occupation however is one of those rarities, the whole drama was just superb in every aspect, I couldn't fault it at all. I personally think it is one of the best dramas ever on the BBC in recent years. The acting was just brilliant, the three leads James Nesbitt, Warren Brown and Stephen Graham giving towering and sometimes emotional performances as three men with different reasons for returning to Basra, all of which are explained clearly. They are all aided by a wonderful script by Peter Bowker, haunting music, subtle direction from Nick Murphy and superb camera-work, making the look of the drama more realistic than it was. The scene in the hospital in particular is worth mentioning, as it was so powerful and perhaps even moving. The drama concludes with a harrowing and heart-rending climax, making it an unmissable and enormously satisfying drama from the BBC. 10/10 Bethany Cox.

I have only recently watched Occupation, despite the fact that it came out in 2009, and I was pleasantly surprised. The drama certainly enthrals you from the first episode and is fast moving so it is almost impossible to be bored. The three main characters were played by James Nesbitt, Stephen Graham and Warren Brown. I thought that the performances from Brown and particularly Graham were brilliant and clearly showed the emotional strain on their characters but also how they coped with it so differently. On the other hand, I felt that the performance from Nesbitt was a little wooden. In fact, Nesbitt was completely eclipsed particularly in scenes played opposite Monica Dolan (his wife) who delivered a brilliantly heart-rending performance throughout. I would definitely recommend anyone to watch this but be prepared for some pretty emotional scenes.

Well made and quite gripping.

However, I thought it was totally unconvincing that Danny and Lester were capable of running a successful military contractor company. Danny was completely unstable and had no aptitude for business or level-headedness.

So Lester must have done all the organizing and thinking, though we never saw any of that take place. But why in the world would Lester trust Danny and think he was a suitable business partner?

Another thing that seemed unlikely: the Americans and Iraqis were easily able to understand the British characters' strong accents (Northern Ireland, Manchester, and Newcastle?). I had plenty of difficulty understanding what they were saying, and I'm British and sitting comfortably at home, and sometimes even rewinding it or switching the volume up.

This three-part war drama is definitely the best thing to come out of the BBC in years. Superb writing from Peter Bowker is what really drives it home. An incredibly powerful and original story, combined with Nick Murphy's clever yet subtle direction are a perfect combination.

Then there's the acting - perfectly executed. A great performance from James Nesbitt (as always) as well as Stephen Graham and Warren Brown, who deserves a special mention for some particularly emotional scenes - his agent's phone is going to be ringing off the hook now! The story seamlessly skips in time, often showing 'Three months later' etc. When this happens so often in shows, people can become confused and lose connection with story and characters. In OCCUPATION however, this is not the case. Rather than throwing layers of exposition and lesser moments at the audience, the story remains fast-paced throughout. At no point do you feel cheated in what you see, as the audience is given the freedom to resolve certain story elements for themselves.

It's a must-see for everyone (war fan or not). Packed with great characterisation, strong storytelling and powerful emotion, OCCUPATION is a landmark in British television. Hopefully there will be many more dramas like it in the coming years.

So when does a topical drama go from being 'committed' to being 'shrill'? And when does 'covering many aspects' become 'cluttered'? This was engaged film-making of the Ken Loach style - you'll probably guess from that comparison what the makers' view of the Iraq war was. But even as someone who marched against the war, I found the film overwrought at times.

The sheer number of characters meant some of them were just cyphers, and you got the feeling the makers had tried to bung everything they'd heard about Iraq into the film.

... and yet for all that it was a passionate, 'big' work, well-acted and powerfully-scripted. The plot twists were cheeky, but it was easy to be carried along.

Oh and if you haven't yet seen 'Occupation', avoid the IMDb discussion page. Some numbskulls haven't quite grasped the idea of 'spoilers'!!