FRED HAMILTON

ZOOM IN WHEN YOU SEE THE TEARS

30 ADVENTUROUS YEARS AT THE BBC

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY

SYNOPSIS

After emigrating to Britain in the 1950s, Fred Hamilton joined the BBC’s Film Department where he learnt the ropes and was quickly promoted to Film Cameraman. Coverage of sports events soon became his bread and butter job, followed by assignments to armed conflict areas in many parts of the world. Obtaining footage to be broadcast on Panorama and other current-affairs programmes often under perilous circumstances. He teamed up with reporter James Mossman and recordist Freddy Downton, surviving the jungles of Borneo, the battlefields of Vietnam and the Middle East.

As a member of the Film Department, he would be called to take part in various projects including iconic shows such as Doctor Who, starring Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, as well as a numerous episodes of Z Cars, Out of the Unknown, Doomwatch, Colditz and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

With colour television still in its infancy, Fred filmed the eye-opening sequences for Paul Temple with directors Douglas Camfield and Mike Ferguson. In 1977 he was brought in by director David Wickes as establishing cameraman on the BBC’s ambitious first all-film television series Target, whose production history was almost as spectacular as the on-screen events depicted. Fred became a man for ‘action scenes’ before the phrase even entered the BBC vocabulary, always on the lookout for that unusual, extra dynamic shot.

Committing his memories of an impressively colourful professional life to paper, Fred Hamilton tells the story of a man totally dedicated to his job, whose accounts are enriched by hilarious anecdotes involving many BBC legends.

This autobiography is a fascinating insider’s view of the BBC, lavishly illustrated throughout with never before seen, exclusive photographs from Fred’s personal archives.

‘Fred Hamilton is a giant of the days when he was one of the BBC’s film cameramen. His work made many of the documentaries I wrote, directed and produced all the better for his skill in knowing where to place the camera. His memoirs are a reminder of a time gone but not forgotten.’    Gordon Thomas, author of “Gideon’s Spies”