The
Fall of Milosevic
Meet
the production team
Programme summaries
Slobodan
Milosevic, former President of Yugoslavia, is the first head of
state to be tried in an international court for war crimes and genocide.
The
producers of The Death of Yugoslavia - the series that won 16 major
awards in 1996 - return with this gripping and definitive documentary
series.
It
charts Milosevic's fall from the height of his power in 1995, when
he was feted by world leaders as the only hope for peace in the
Balkans, to his trial in the Hague for war crimes and genocide.
This
is the inside story with extraordinary access to leaders across
Europe, America and Russia: President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister
Tony Blair, President Jacques Chirac and Secretary of State, Madeleine
Albright, recount how they were drawn into a bombing campaign against
Milosevic – and how the fierce arguments between them almost
brought defeat.
The
series also tells the story from the Yugoslav side, from those closest
to Milosevic: his wife and political partner, Mira Markovic, his
deputy Milan Milutinovic and Army Chief of Staff, Nebojsa Pavkovic,
describe how Milosevic refused to take the threats to his power
seriously either from NATO or from his own disillusioned electorate.
Milosevic's
successors, President Voyjaslav Kostunica and Prime Minister Zoran
Djindjic, tell how they plotted his removal.
Milosevic's
generals and policemen describe how they disobeyed Milosevic's orders
to fire on protestors and allowed the newly elected government to
supplant and later arrest him.
The
three 90 minute programmes are:
Defiance
- how Milosevic tried to steal an election in Serbia and
intensified ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.
War
- how the West won the 1999 war in Kosovo – and how
Russia nearly stole the victory.
Finished
- how Milosevic lost the September 2000 election and was finally
forced from office to stand trial for genocide.
Executive
producer Norma Percy said: "As the trial of Milosevic enters
its second year, the series tells the story of how he moved from
presidency to prison cell.
"But
it also gives insight into the preparation for the Iraq confrontation
today: it shows how America overcame the Europeans' refusal to go
to war without a UN resolution – and how a threatened Russian
veto was finessed."
Notes
to Editors
Executive
Producers: Norma Percy and Brian Lapping for Brook Lapping and Alex
Holmes for the BBC.
Series
Producer: Dai Richards.
Associate
Producers: Tihomir Loza & Delphine Jaudeau.
The
Fall of Milosevic will be broadcast on BBC TWO in January 2003.
Meet
the Team
Dai
Richards, Series Producer/Director
Barrister
turned television producer, Dai has made studio performance and
discussion programmes, current affairs series, biographies, historical
and political documentaries.
His
credits include: Kursk: The Mother of all Battles; Hitler: the Final
Report; A Living Hell and The 50 Years War - Israel and the Arabs.
Each of these has won awards, and together they have been seen in
more than 40 countries.
Norma
Percy and Brian Lapping, Executive Producers
Norma
and Brian have been making television programmes together for more
than 25 years. In 1995 they jointly won the Royal Television Society
judges award which recognises an outstanding contribution to television
journalism over many years.
In
November 2002, they won the first News World documentary award for
their last series Avenging Terror. The citation said:
"These
programmes turned heads of state into talking heads to tell a story
that was, in its way, as vivid and startling as the most graphic
news bulletin images."
The
Death Of Yugoslavia (1995), six programmes for BBC TWO which charted
Milosevic's rise to power, won 16 major awards including the BAFTA,
the Broadcast Press Guild, the US EMMY and the Peabody.
It
was the first foreign made programme to win Columbia University's
journalism school's highest award, the du Pont Gold Baton.
The
series was broadcast in more than 50 countries and repeated all
over the world during the 1999 Kosovo war.
They
have also been responsible for: The Second Russian Revolution (1991);
Watergate (1994); The 50 Years War: Israel And The Arabs (1998);
Playing The China Card (1999); Endgame In Ireland (2001); and The
Death Of Yugoslavia (1995).
In
1988, Brian Lapping set up as an independent producer and Norma
Percy became a director of the company. Last year their company
Brook Lapping became part of the Ten Alps group.
Norma
Percy is a fellow of the Royal Television Society and in 2000 was
awarded the James Cameron prize by the school of journalism at City
University for some of "the most remarkable current affairs
television of the last 20 years."
The
first of these documentary series in which the principal decision
makers each tell their own part in momentous political events was
End Of Empire, 14 programmes they made for Granada Television in
1985.
At
Granada, Brian Lapping was also executive producer of World In Action
1976-9.
Holocaust
Memorial Day is 27 January 2003.
The
Fall of Milosevic press pack is available below, in PDF
format. You may require Adobe Acrobat Software to read PDF files
which can be obtained here.
Programme
summaries (19 KB)
|
