Chris Terrill

Biography

Born in Brighton, Sussex in 1952, Terrill attended Brighton College 1965–1970, and then went to Durham University, where he gained a joint-honours degree in Geography and Anthropology. Between 1976 and 1977 he lived with the remote Acholi Tribe of Southern Sudan where he carried out doctoral research on the impact of civil war on the tribal society before taking up the post of Head of Geography at Rendcomb College in Gloucestershire. In 1983, he left teaching to become a full-time professional anthropologist working for the International Disaster Institute and the UN in Geneva and throughout the famine gripped and war ravaged areas of Africa. Later, and quite by accident, he moved into broadcasting when he went to give an interview to the BBC African Service and was offered a job on the spot. He changed careers and became a producer for the BBC World Service specialising in African affairs. After five years in radio, in which he specialised in current affairs, documentaries and drama, Terrill joined BBC television as a documentary producer, making investigative documentaries and observational films and series about communities all over the world.

As a programme maker, Terrill has always favoured anthropological methodology, particularly participant observation, rather than more conventional documentary making techniques. As a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Royal Geographical Society, Terrill is regarded as a practising anthropologist/geographer who uses film as his primary research tool and recording medium in the field.

He won an Emmy for outstanding investigative journalism for a film called Ape Trade. This Inside Story Special (BBC1) exposed the major gangs smuggling endangered orangutans to illegal markets in Taiwan, the USA and Russia. After 20 years at the BBC, and with over 100 prime time films to his name, he left the corporation in 2003 to set up his own company, Uppercut Films, and began to specialise in military and high adventure documentaries—though always concentrating on communities/groups and their internal dynamics. In 2007, he documented and participated in the rigorous eight months training with the Royal Marine Commandos after which he followed the newly qualified recruits to the front line in Afghanistan for their first taste of real war. Terrill is the first civilian to complete and pass all four commando tests for which he was awarded an honorary green beret.

Terrill produces his own camerawork and sound recording without a film crew. This "lone wolf" technique is a hallmark of his work. Using the new digital technology, he was the first mainstream filmmaker to experiment as a self-shooting/self-recording director in the mid 1990s when he made Soho Stories for the BBC; a series that won him the coveted Royal Television Society Award for Innovation. This seminal series, a colourful and highly revealing portrait of London's glamorous Soho district, was one of the first to use the docu-soap style of filmmaking. Widely credited as the "father of the docu-soap", though both Paul Watson and Jeremy Mills have similar claim to the title, Terrill then went on to refine his techniques on prime time series such as The Cruise (BBC1), Jailbirds (BBC1), Through the Eyes of the Old (BBC1), The Ship (BBC2), Shipmates (BBC 1) and two feature documentary specials on Charlotte Church—Spreading Her Wings (BBC1) and Confessions of a Teen-angel (ITV1). Commando: On the Front Line (ITV1)—an account of Royal Marine Commandos fighting in Afghanistan was followed by Nature's Fury (ITV1) a trilogy on the world's greatest storms and their impact on communities

In 2009 Terrill made a series on the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London, called Theatreland. This was an intimate portrait of theatre people at work and featured Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Anna Friel. In the same year he made a two-part film series about Royal Marines, badly injured in Afghanistan, attempting to climb in the high Himalayas (Wartorn Warriors—Sky1). In 2010 he spent six months on HMS Manchester in the Caribbean filming counter narcotics operations as well as humanitarian disaster relief during the hurricane season (Royal Navy: Caribbean Patrol for Channel Five and National Geographic). In 2011 Terrill returned to working with the Royal Marines when he joined 42 Commando in the dangerous Nad e Ali (north) district of Helmand Province. This was for a 6-part series commissioned by Channel Five entitled "Royal Marines: Mission Afghanistan" transmitted in January/February 2012.

In late 2011 Terrill embarked on a project that brought together the military and the theatre. The Theatre Royal, Haymarket (where Terrill had filmed Theatreland in 2009) put on a play using injured soldiers and marines as the actors, singers, and dancers. The play, written by the poet Owen Sheers and based on the experiences of the soldiers mostly in Afghanistan, was called The Two Worlds of Charlie F and was performed on 22 January 2012. Terrill's feature-length film entitled Theatre of War, documenting the preparation of the play, was shown on BBC1's Imagine strand and was nominated for a prestigious Grierson Award in the best arts documentary category.

In 2014 Terrill's current affairs film for the BBC: Marine A: Criminal or Casualty of War? won the Evcom Clarion Award for ethics in journalism.

In 2015 Terrill became a Fellow of the Maritime Foundation and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Throughout 2016 and 2017 Terrill has been embedded in the ship's company of HMS Queen Elizabeth to make a major series for the BBC about the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy. He will stay with HMS Queen Elizabeth into 2018 to make a second series as she goes through her war trials in preparation for deployment as an active strike carrier.

Terrill lectures widely on film making techniques – especially on working solo in the field. He holds regular workshops at the London Film School.

Personal life

In 1999 Terrill was engaged for a brief period to former glamour model Heather Mills. He proposed to her on a fishing boat whilst sailing up the Mekong River in Cambodia, where they were making a film about landmines.

Terrill is now married to the BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Christine Hall.

On 9 February 2013 Terrill received a full apology in open court from News Group for repeatedly hacking his phone in 2005/06. They also paid undisclosed but substantial damages plus costs.

Terrill is an accomplished amateur athlete, specialising in ultra running, triathlon, rugby and boxing.