I watched Channel 4's "The Not Dead" tonight. I hadn't realised that Simon Armitage had written the poetry for it. I like his work. I first heard him on Radio 1 years ago, when he was still working as a probation officer, or similar. I was unfamiliar with poetry other than prose from school. It was either flowery or about the war dead. For some reason, Nicky Campbell (after his move from Northsound, down to London) had some poets - John Hegley, Ian McMillan and Simon Armitage. I wasn't keen on Hegley's performance style, McMillan was 'Northern' and fun, Armitage's work had depth to it.
Perhaps this depth was what lead to him being commissioned by Channel 4?
I would like to see a programme about the work that went into his poems. Did he visit the places? How long did he spend with the veterans? How does he capture the fears, the experiences, the emotions, and did those being written about help craft the prose? It worked for me. It worked on me.
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