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TV PREVIEWS
Occupation, Tuesday 9pm, BBC1 
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It takes considerable skill to make a drama out of the Iraq crisis – and that’s exactly what screenwriter Peter Bowker, who penned the BBC's highly acclaimed Blackpool, has done with this hard-hitting three-parter.
Spanning the five years following the invasion of Iraq in April 2003, it follows the lives of three soldiers, first during the battle for Basra, then as they struggle to adapt to life back home and, finally, as very different forces draw them back to Iraq.
In the first episode, we're pitched headlong into the full horror of war. Crammed inside an armed troop carrier, with bullets and RPGs exploding around them, are three British soldiers: Sergeant Mike "Swifty" Swift (played by rent-a-charmer James Nesbitt), Corporal Danny Peterson (This Is England star Stephen Graham) and Lance Corporal Lee Hibbs (Hollyoaks graduate Warren Brown).
Later, the men find themselves caught up in a terrifying grenade attack that has huge consequences for an Iraqi girl and radically shapes the lives of the trio over the years to come.
Back in Manchester, with his wife and kids, Swifty is soon at work publicizing the plight of Iraqi citizens. When the euphoria of homecoming fades, however, he doesn't find civilian life easy – and he's not alone.
While Danny now gets his buzz from drugs and prostitutes, Hibbsy desperately misses the camaraderie of life on the front line. It's only a matter of time before the Army buddies find the lure of a post-war Iraq impossible to resist. The big question is will the three, who were united in battle, find themselves torn apart in the aftermath?
Bowker's script is utterly convincing, and the three central performances are rock solid. Nesbitt, in particular, is mesmerising, exhibiting a calmness and subtlety you wouldn't have thought him capable of in his Cold Feet days.
Gritty and thought-provoking, Occupation certainly isn't feel-good drama, but it's still unmissable viewing.
by Liberty Jones, Tuesday 16 June 2009
