A decade on, with many other series and awards aplenty under his belt, Richard still considers this Triple Echo's finest moment. "I think it was probably the best piece of work I've done," he says. "It was tricky to arrange, tricky to film, and we has very little time to capture the action." The skill with which this was achieved led many viewers to assume that digital manipulation must have been employed. A panning shot from the Ridge across the Ben's Orion Face for example, showed it completely empty of climbers, despite it being a perfect winter's day. But in fact it was all down to old-fashioned virtues of graft and editing skill, rather than fancy new technology.
"The quality of the documentary series was such that it was shown nationwide in the UK"
"We couldn’t possibly afford that!" laughs Richard. "We simply had a whole set of motivated people who were really up for it." "We only actually spent two days filming the Tower Ridge sequences," chips in Margaret Wicks, "but we got up early and they were long days." And unlike drama series like Rockface, who often 'commandeer' entire crags for filming, the Triple Echo team, coming from the climbing community themselves, were sensitive to the needs of other mountain users. "We were always scrupulous in not getting in the way of other climbers who were on the routes we filmed," says Margaret.
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The spectacular 'Totem Pole' a slender Tasmanian sea-stack featured in Triple Echo's film about Paul Pritchard
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The quality of the documentary series was such that it was shown nationwide in the UK on BBC2 in an early evening slot - a rare accolade for the kind of subject that is normally relegated by the schedulers to either the 'specialist interest' bin of late night airings, or given a 'regional' tag and restricted to only parts of the country.
Since then Richard and Margaret haven't looked back. There have been strings of awards for their work from all over the world - indeed winning an annual award at either the prestigious North American Banff Festival or Britain's Kendal Film Festival almost appears to have become a habit for the couple. They haven't been restricted to just climbing and walking features however; Triple Echo has been responsible for cutting edge reportage programmes such as a recent BBC2 Correspondent documentary about the Tibetan religious figure the Gyalwa Karmapa.
"They've also made moving documentaries featuring the hemi-plegic climber Paul Pritchard"
They've also produced one of BBC1's popular Great Railway Journeys, covered a recent enjoyable 'adventure race' in Greenland fronted by 'TV's Jackie Bird' (in which a hot Scottish team 'whupped the English team's ass' - not that we were at all biased), and made moving documentaries featuring the hemi-plegic climber Paul Pritchard and rehabilitative journeys in Australia and Africa. It's an impressively busy CV for any independent production company; the kind of activity most would associate with large, slick operators working out of swanky metropolitan offices. It comes as a bit of a surprise to find, therefore, that Richard and Margaret effectively do it all out of their spare rooms!
It's all been possible because of the ongoing revolution in digital technology. Producing films, which until very recently might have required the services of highly paid technical staff and editing suites, can now be done 'in-house' - literally. Filling two of Richard and Margaret's bedrooms are impressive banks of Applemac computers and video screens - the high tech-tools of their trade. Making TV and radio programmes as an independent producer is rapidly turning into a cottage industry - almost literally.
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Paul Pritchard arriving by helicopter near the scene of his near-fatal accident in Tasmania
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"With the maturing of digital telecommunications living in a relatively remote location like Newtonmore is now no longer any problem," says Richard. "You can so this kind of work from virtually anywhere now - and it's a lot more pleasant than working from London or Glasgow."
Indeed, Newtonmore itself seems in danger of becoming a centre for media 'café society'. Cameron McNeish lives a few doors away, while just down the street is the home of Landward's Lindsay Cannon. But you don’t have to be a professional to join in this media feeding frenzy. Pinned up in the local pubs and tea-shops you can’t help noticing advertising for extras in a forthcoming shoot for episodes of Monarch of the Glen... Page 1>2>3>
