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Rockface Wins TV Drama Award

Mountain rescue epic Rockface has landed a prestigious TV drama award OUTDOORSmagic can exclusively reveal


Posted: 24 April 2002
by Jon

Gone - for now - but not forgotten, BBC Mountain Rescue soapo-drama Rockface has won a prestigious TV Award.

Yep, on the first weekly anniversary of the programme's last showing, Rockface has been presented with an OUTDOORSmagic DAFTA prize for 'least believable, but hypnotically magnetic because of the strange technical balls-ups, drama about a Scottish mountain rescue team'.

To be honest, Wednesday nights just won't be the same without the slightly bizarre goings on from Glentunnock, sorry Glentannoch, but in an effort to ease the withdrawal symptoms, we've put together some more DAFTA Awards specially for Rockface. And hey, don't worry, there's a new series in the pipeline 'next year'.

The Rockface DAFTA Awards

Best Mountain Ringlets A walkover for love-triangle apex Annie Craig. When Annie isn't shaking those entrancing dark ringlets or climbing in voluminous Victorian bloomers, she's the love focus for her husband's decent and soulful brother Ben.

Best Maggots Not to be confused with best ringlets, the winner is the bloke found halfway up a rockface by posh tottie and aspirant team member Caroline with the little critters crawling all over his head wound. And he'd only been there a few days... Fortunately the kindly maggots had saved him from infection.

Weirdest Technical Faux Pas A hotly contested category, since the whole series revolves around thoroughly unlikely mountain events. Our choice though - and the competition was fierce - was one for the conoisseurs, viz, the extraordinary invisible belayer. Caroline - 'Posh Rescue' - is supposedly out alone soloing, erm, except that she's clearly tied on to a top rope... Nice.

Best Robbie Williams Lookalike Annie's hubby Peter Craig - the local bobby - whose painful inability to remember their wedding anniversary is probably down to a late return from a big stadium gig.

Best Belay The besandalled monk who, in the final episode manages to hold a two-man fall with his bare hands. Sadly even with the help of God he is unable to support two dangling climbers simultaneously - something the highly trained mountain resuers realise instinctively - and with blood pouting from his hands as the rope slips we get...

Best Touching The Void Moment Gordon does the old Swiss Army knife trick on Douglas but only after endless barracking from Cal who is keen to do the right thing and clearly has faith in the monk's ability to hold one fallen climber with his bleeding hands. Fortunately Cal survives with minor damage to his kidney, or was it his pancreas? (see the video clip from episode 5 on the Rockface site).

Best Villain The loopy psychopath with the gun who takes Annie and Ben prisoner when they turn up to investigate a helicopter crash. Billy Deansgate - named after one of Manchester's main shopping streets - claims to be stronger than anyone else because he has no regard for anyone, something he proves when he shoots himself in one of the series' gorier moments.

Best Slow Motion Snog Her with the ringlets and him with the best pained puppy dog expression of hopeless love when they are finally rescued from the mad villain by armed police. Whatever will become of them?

Too Handsome For His Own Good Brilliant Young Climber Award Anyone but posh, young superflirt Jamie. Not only are Jamie's brilliant extreme climbs at a conservative guess somewhere around V Diff. but he's not particularly handsome and has a disturbing oedipal relationship with his medical mumsy. Tormented by the sudden departure of his brother during his adolesence, he is SCREWED-UP. Trouble is, it's hard to give a damn.

Least Urgent Rescue In episode two, the team are called out to help a team of students who've very carelessly taken a mass fall. Faced with the prospect of dealing with a string of casualties, the team amble amicably across the hills chatting about trivia and enjoying the scenery. Still, why rush, the students aren't going anywhere...

Best Rockface Web Site The BBC Rockface site complete with weekly plot guides, video clips from each episode and profiles of and interviews with the stars. Unmissable.

Thank you and goodnight.


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I would like to echo Jon's comments and extend a sincere vote of thanks to the BBC for what has been one of the best comedy (sorry, drama) series in the last few months.

I found the last episode particulary hysterical - in particular the "Quick, grab that rope with your bare hands!" scene, featuring a petrified monk.

Anyway, whatever happened to wearing a climbing helmet? Experience has shown (me at least) that wearing a helmet can prolong your lifespan. Or, is the Beeb not doing enough research and trying to present climbers and mountaineers as irresponsible people who are not aware of potential risks - just climbing fools?

I await the next series, as I think that telly is crap on Wednesday's now.

Posted: 26/04/2002 at 17:17

Think they wore helmets in the first few episodes and then couldn't be bothered any more. Much like real life climbers then

Posted: 26/04/2002 at 20:48

You've missed a whole category of Rockface driveltastica out, I'm afraid. True to form (and perhaps because they know they're on the same night as ER) Rockface is about as medically accurate as Mystic Meg on acid. Such treats as "he's ruptured his spleen, we've got to keep him awake or he'll die" vies closely with "he's unconscious, quick, NOW let's give him some oxygen". The scriptwriters seem keen on talking to people keep them awake (the viewers, perhaps) as in the prolonged hypo scene. When the bloke sent his assistant down to the Chemist to buy some Glycogen (er, I think you mean Glucagon) I nearly lost control of my sphincters.

Being a totally crap climber myself (regarding V.Diff as just that)I missed most of the technical climbing faux pas but I can assure you for us medics it was just as screamingly funny. Roll on another series with that A&E consultant with the "seems alright" approach to Trauma management. Nice cup of tea, anyone?


Posted: 26/04/2002 at 23:51

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