The Undercover Soldier
Encyclopedia
The Undercover Soldier is a 2008 BBC
documentary which investigated bullying in the British Army
in the wake of the Deepcut enquiry. For the programme, BBC journalist Russell Sharp went undercover as a soldier, enrolling in the army for six months basic training at the Infantry Training Centre
, at the Catterick Garrison
in Yorkshire. The one hour programme was shown on BBC One
on Thursday 18 September 2008 at 9:00pm.
The programme did not show any filmed evidence of ill treatment, although Sharp himself claimed to have witnessed several incidents of bullying. The documentary led to the suspension of five instructors based at the camp. The show attracted relatively low ratings and the BBC was criticised by serving soldiers for the way the investigation was conducted.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary which investigated bullying in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in the wake of the Deepcut enquiry. For the programme, BBC journalist Russell Sharp went undercover as a soldier, enrolling in the army for six months basic training at the Infantry Training Centre
Infantry Training Centre
The Infantry Training Centre is a unit of the British Army administered by HQ School of Infantry responsible for both basic and advanced training of Soldiers and Officers joining the infantry...
, at the Catterick Garrison
Catterick Garrison
Catterick Garrison is a major Army base located in Northern England. It is the largest British Army garrison in the world with a population of around 12,000, plus a large temporary population of soldiers, and is larger than its older neighbour...
in Yorkshire. The one hour programme was shown on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
on Thursday 18 September 2008 at 9:00pm.
The programme did not show any filmed evidence of ill treatment, although Sharp himself claimed to have witnessed several incidents of bullying. The documentary led to the suspension of five instructors based at the camp. The show attracted relatively low ratings and the BBC was criticised by serving soldiers for the way the investigation was conducted.