Editing Edge of Darkness (section)

==Background==
===Origins===
[[File: James Lovelock, 2005 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[James Lovelock]] (seen here in a photo from 2005) developed the [[Gaia hypothesis]] that is important to the plot]]
"I am writing this story about a detective who turns into a tree" was what writer Troy Kennedy Martin told his colleagues when asked what he was working on during the early 1980s.<ref name="Introduction">Kennedy Martin, ''Introduction''.</ref> Kennedy Martin had become frustrated that "at the BBC there was no political dimension to their drama whatsoever" but had chosen to write a political story anyway, not really believing it would be made.<ref name="Magnox" /> The election of [[Margaret Thatcher]] as Prime Minister and [[Ronald Reagan]] as [[President of the United States]] had brought about a major shift in the global political landscape. Kennedy Martin was motivated to write out of concern arising from such issues as the [[Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp|Greenham Common protests]], the [[Falklands War]], the [[UK miners' strike (1984-1985)|Miners' strike]] and arising out of the escalation of the [[Cold War]] the fear that "[[born-again Christians]] and Cold War warriors appeared to be running the United States".<ref name="Introduction" />

By 1983, Kennedy Martin had written the first draft of what became ''Edge of Darkness'' – at this stage it was called ''Magnox'' (a reference to the [[Magnox]] type of [[nuclear reactor]]) and was about [[trade union]] problems in the [[nuclear industry]].<ref name="PixleyA_52">Pixley, ''Get It While It's Hot'', p. 52.</ref> The script was given to BBC head of drama series and serials, [[Jonathan Powell (producer)|Jonathan Powell]], who encouraged Kennedy Martin to continue its development.<ref name="PixleyA_53">Pixley, ''Get It While It's Hot'', p. 53.</ref> The script went through many changes and revisions. A particular influence was the speech made by President Ronald Reagan on 23 March 1983 announcing the [[Strategic Defense Initiative]] (SDI) which proposed protecting the United States from attack by [[nuclear weapon|nuclear missiles]].<ref name="Magnox" /> One of the supporters of SDI was [[Lyndon LaRouche]], on whom Kennedy Martin based the character of Jerry Grogan, owner of the Fusion Corporation of Kansas.<ref name="Introduction" /> Kennedy Martin was also influenced by the secrecy surrounding the UK's policy on [[Nuclear power in the United Kingdom|nuclear power]] in light of the inquiry into the construction of the [[Sizewell B nuclear power station]] and the concerns about the safety record of the [[Sellafield]] nuclear reprocessing plant; this led him to conceive International Irradiated Fuels and its chief executive Robert Bennett.<ref name="Introduction" />

The other major influence was the Gaia hypothesis, that the Earth is a single living system that self-regulates to maintain the optimum conditions for life, formulated by climate scientist James Lovelock and popularised in his 1979 book ''Gaia: A new look at life on Earth''. Kennedy Martin used the name Gaia for the environmental organisation Emma Craven was involved in and drew the notion for the black flowers seen at the serial's conclusion from a passage in Lovelock's book that describes a dark marsh grass that grew on the surface of the Earth trapping heat during a time when the planet was too cold to sustain life, simulated in Lovelock's [[Daisyworld]] model.<ref name="Magnox" />

Although Kennedy Martin's notion for the serial was influenced by real political events, he had for a long time railed against [[naturalism (literature)|naturalism]] in television drama – most notably in a 1964 article for the theatre magazine ''[[Encore Theatre Magazine|Encore]]'', titled "Nats Go Home. First Statement of a New Drama for Television", in which he sought "to free the camera from photographing dialogue, to free the structure from natural time and to exploit the total and absolute objectivity of the television camera".<ref>Cooke, ''British Television Drama: A History'', p. 64</ref> ''Edge of Darkness'' producer Michael Wearing has noted that "there is a mystical dimension to Troy's imagination. His instincts are visual and non-naturalistic".<ref name="Lavender_104">Lavender, ''Edge of Darkness (Troy Kennedy Martin)'', p. 104.</ref> Kennedy Martin, therefore, crafted a serial that on the one hand placed its events squarely within the real, present day world but on the other also placed itself within the realm of the mystical and the mythic.<ref>Lavender, ''Edge of Darkness (Troy Kennedy Martin)'', p. 112.</ref> Realism and authenticity was provided by the appearances of real life television presenter Sue Cook and Labour MP Michael Meacher. There was also use of contemporary stock footage, such as [[Robin Day]]'s interview with Margaret Thatcher and references to real persons like [[Michael Heseltine]] and places such as Sellafield, alongside the references to fictitious characters and places contained in the plot. The mystical dimension is provided by Emma's ghost while the mythic is provided by Craven himself and by Jedburgh and Grogan. Kennedy Martin, influenced by John Darragh's ''The Real Camelot'' (Thames and Hudson, 1981) which examined the pagan origins of the [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian legend]], saw Craven as a modern-day [[Green Man]] who would confront the threats to the Earth on behalf of Gaia.<ref name="Introduction" /> Jedburgh was conceived by Kennedy Martin as a Knight of the Marches, one of the [[Teutonic Knights]] who defended the borders of [[Eastern Europe]], opposed to Grogan, who Kennedy Martin saw as a descendant of the [[Knights Templar]] who, according to legend, had guarded a special wisdom in the Temple of the [[Dome of the Rock]] in [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="Introduction" /> These aspects would reach their apotheosis in the serial's conclusion in which Kennedy Martin envisaged that Craven, having found the plutonium stolen by Jedburgh, would be shot by a [[sniper]] and would be transformed into a tree.<ref name="PixleyA_55" />

===Production===
By 1983, Jonathan Powell was keen to put the serial into production and offered the scripts to producer Michael Wearing who was immediately impressed by the scenes in the first episode, "Compassionate Leave", depicting Craven's reaction to Emma's death, describing them as "the most sustained evocation of individual grief in bereavement that I can remember".<ref>Pixley, ''Get It While It's Hot'', p. 54.</ref> The budget was set at £2 million, of which £400,000 came from an American co-producer, Lionheart Television International.<ref name="Lavender_104" /> Director Martin Campbell came on board shortly afterwards and soon clashed with Troy Kennedy Martin, demanding rewrites, in particular to the notion that Craven had known about Emma's involvement with Gaia right from the start; this was removed at Campbell's behest.<ref>Pixley, ''Get It While It's Hot'', p. 54 - 55.</ref> Further clashes over the script occurred between Kennedy Martin and star Bob Peck over the conclusion in which his character would turn into a tree; Peck recalled that "it didn't seem to be working in script terms, it seemed as though we wouldn't be able to make it work for the audience",<ref name="Magnox" /> a view echoed by Michael Wearing who felt that it was "likely not to come off as an effect".<ref name="Magnox" /> Kennedy Martin capitulated, introducing instead the concept of the black flowers seen in the finished production. However, some elements of Kennedy Martin's original vision persist in the final script: for example, in episode three, "Burden of Proof", the ghost of Emma urges Craven, as he undergoes a breakdown, to be strong, like a tree.<ref>Lavender, ''Edge of Darkness (Troy Kennedy Martin)'', p. 113.</ref>

Shooting on ''Edge of Darkness'' began on 9 July 1984<ref name="PixleyA_56" /> and ran for five months until 5 December 1984.<ref name="PixleyB_50">Pixley, ''Into The Shadows'', p. 50.</ref> Location filming took place in London (including the [[Barbican Arts Centre]], [[BBC Television Centre]] and the [[Hilton Hotels & Resorts|Hilton International]] hotel in [[Kensington]]), Yorkshire (including the headquarters of the [[West Yorkshire Police]] in [[Bradford]], the [[Middleton Railway]], the headquarters of [[Systime Computers]] (now the Arlington Business Centre) in [[Leeds]] where Craven hacks into the MI5 computer and at Westwood Cottage, [[Ilkley]] (for Craven's home), Scotland (including the Gleneagles Hotel, where Jedburgh addresses the NATO conference and also where President Reagan's [[Reykjavík Summit|Reykjavík policy]] was formulated<ref name="Inglis_55">Inglis, ''Citizenship and the Media'', p. 55.</ref>) and Wales (including [[Clogau Gold Mine]] and Manod, [[Blaenau Ffestiniog]], at [[Graig Ddu quarry]], doubling as Northmoor with the hot cell a set constructed at a factory in [[Penygroes, Gwynedd|Penygroes]]).<ref>Pixley, ''Into The Shadows'', ''passim''</ref> The hospital scenes were filmed at [[Northwick Park Hospital]] accident unit.<ref>''Liverpool Daily Post'' Wednesday 30 October 1985</ref>

Throughout the entire shoot, the production continued to be known as ''Magnox''; the title ''Dark Forces'' was briefly considered before the serial was renamed ''Edge of Darkness'' in April 1985.<ref name="PixleyB_50" /> As the shoot progressed it became apparent to the cast and crew that they had a potential hit on their hands; Bob Peck recalled, "I think we knew when we were making it that it was a good piece of work"<ref>{{cite video | title = Bob Peck interviewed on Breakfast Time | medium = Edge of Darkness DVD Special Feature | publisher = [[BBC Worldwide]] | location = London }}</ref> while Kennedy Martin told reporters "I haven't had this feeling about something for 20 years. It's wonderful, after all this time, to get something that actually works".<ref name="PixleyB_50" />