If… Cloning could cure us – Gallery Online

Back in 2004, the BBC aired the “If…” series, which dealt with a couple of “what if” scenarios like “If… Drugs were legal” or “If… We stopped giving aid to Africa”. There was even one episode called “If… TV goes down the tube”.  If!

In one of his early TV appearances, Damian O’Hare played Andrew Holland in the “If… Cloning could cure us” episode. After falling off a cliff, Andrew can’t walk anymore. A doctor tries to heal him by using stem cells from Andrew’s cloned cells. However, the clones are 19 days old and the legal limit is 14, so everybody ends up in court because 19 day old cell clumps are more important than an already living person.

Anyway, ten years later, I finally managed to get a hold of this episode, and so the O’Hare bingo card is now complete: there are now screencaps of all of Damian’s TV and movie roles available on the website!

Click the picture to get to the gallery. Please keep in mind that this is the copy of a copy of a copy of a video recorded ten years ago. The quality is not stellar, but I hope you’ll enjoy it, anyway.

Gallery: Damian O’Hare in “The Bill” (2003)

This is old enough to go on the Antiques Roadshow… Damian’s first appearance as shady  Kieran Thompson in “The Bill”, in a double episode back in 2003. The show was recorded on VHS and half of it was missing. I tried my best to improve the quality of the caps, but alas…

THE BILL (2003)

Taking the Flak back on German TV

Good news for those among you who can get zdfneo! Damian O’Hare is back on the small screen as snarky BBC cameraman Rory Wallace .

There are re-runs of “Taking the Flak” on Thursday nights, starting – ehr, yesterday. No problem, the first episode wasn’t that great, anyway, and you can still catch up next week.

TAKING THE FLAK – REPORTER AUF KRIEGSFUSS

Relevant pages on the website:

Taking the Flak – Reporter auf Kriegsfuss

TV tip: Damian in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl”

For those of you who won’t be watching the game tonight (yes, all three of you):

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl”
Wednesday 31 March
8:05pm – 10:15pm, BBC3

Damian O’Hare plays Lt Gillette, hands down one of the best characters in all three movies.

“I played Jack Davenport’s right-hand man, and the shooting-schedule eventually meant that I spent three months in Los Angeles and one month in the Caribbean. On one rest-day, I was swinging on a hammock, sipping a daiquiri and I couldn’t resist ringing my friends in a rain-swept Belfast just to tell them what I was doing!”

Damian O'Hare as Lt Gillette in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl". Picture courtesy Official Greg Ellis Website. Cheers!

And the winner is…

“What is Rory Wallace’s (Damian O’Hare) job?”

That was the question, and everybody who participated in the

BIG YULETIDE CONTEST

knew the answer: Rory is a cameraman.

Now the lucky winner has been drawn, and it’s…

*drumroll*

Chris Fitzroy!

Congratulations! The DVDs of “Taking the Flak” and “A Christmas Story”, along with a marvellous scented candle from L’Occitane and delicious choccies are on their way to Surrey.

Thanks to everybody who participated!

Damian O'Hare as Rory Wallace and Doon Mackichan as Jane Thomason in "Taking the Flak".

Ambarussa’s Big Yuletide Contest!

Not too keen on 600+ hours of repeats?

Then you should enter our

BIG YULETIDE CONTEST!

Your friendly neighbourhood Webgnome’s favourites are all you’ll need for a canny night in:

1 x DVD “Taking the Flak”
Martin Jarvis, Doon Mackichan, Bruce Mackinnon, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Joanna Brookes, Lydiah Gitachu and of course Damian O’Hare in the excellent dramedy about a BBC news team reporting from a civil war in a fictional African country.

1 x DVD “A Christmas Story”
Peace, harmony, comfort and joy? Maybe next year. Ralphie Parker desperately wants a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas, but his mother refuses, fearing he’ll shoot his eye out. But neither his mother, Santa Claus nor the neighbourhood bullies can destroy Ralphie’s dream… hilarious Christmas comedy, set in the 1950s and one of my favourites.

1 x L’Occitane en Provence: Bougie parfumée “Cannelle Epices”
Spicy cinnamon scented candle from L’Occitane – this will turn your home into winter wonderland. L’Occitane is a French company, known for cosmetics of best quality. They support local production and don’t test their products on animals. C’est le pied!

And because Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without sweets, you’ll also get some chocolate!

And what do you have to do to win this smashing Yuletide package?

Just send an email to

webgnome at ambarussa. net

and answer the following question:

“What is Rory Wallace’s (Damian O’Hare) job in ‘Taking the Flak'”?

That’s all. Even I could answer that!

Deadline: 15 December, 2009, midnight GMT.

Please read the following rules before you send off your mail.

RULES:

1. By participating in this contest, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted the rules.

2. You have to be at least 18 years old to participate.

3. Please be fair: only send in one mail per person.

4. No cash pay-out of your prize.

5. No correspondence will be held over the outcome of the contest.

6. If you are the winner, you’ll have to provide us with your name and address.

7. We’ll send your prize out asap, but have no influence on postal services. We hope the DVDs will be with you before Christmas, though.

8. Should, for any reason beyond our control, one of the prizes not be available, we’ll replace it with a different prize of the same value.

“Taking the Flak”/Charity: DVD signed by Tira Shubart up on ebay

Desperate finding the perfect Christmas present?

Look no further and bid on a “Taking the Flak” DVD which has been signed by Tira Shubart, co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the show. Not only will you get a great DVD, you’ll also support a good cause:

This lot is being sold as part of Save the Rhino’s 15^th Birthday online auction; Hornucopia.  SAVE THE RHINO fundraises for the conservation of endangered species of rhinoceros by supporting community and education programmes in key wildlife habitats in Africa and Asia.

LINK TO AUCTION ON EBAY

“Taking the Flak” in German

Something positive following the downer that was the BBC’s axing of Taking the Flak.

I managed to find ZDF_neo, the German TV station which is showing “Taking the Flak” (“Reporter auf Kriegsfuss”), and from what I can tell, the dubbed version is really good, the voices match the characters, especially the ones of Joyful and Margareth. Nothing travels as badly as humour, but the jokes have been adapted in a way that actually works for a German-speaking audience. Some of the changes are strange, though. (Or very clever; depends on your point of view.)

Remember that one scene in “The Past is a Different Colony” with the beading soldiers? There’s a lady who whacks one soldier on the head when he points his gun at the BBC crew and confiscates the weapon. I can’t remember all of the dialogue, but if I remember correctly, Rory makes a comment that they could use someone like her in Ballymena (?). In German, it was “could use someone like her when we play poker in Belfast”…

The official German website calls Rory an “… alpha male who manages to talking his way out of even the most difficult situations”. Don’t tell David, he’d be shattered.

Damian O'Hare as Rory Wallace in "Taking the Flak" - Reporter auf Kriegsfuss

“Taking the Flak”: Bad News >:-(

The BBC has decided not to produce a second series of “Taking the Flak”.

This just in from the Official Taking the Flak Facebook:

“(…) Hello Flak fans…sad news I’m afraid…the BBC has decided that there will not be a Series Two of Flak. Too bad as we loved making Flak and had exciting plans for the next set of adventures for our intrepid team. (…)”

Major disappointment and grumpiness here and elsewhere!

Thanks a lot to everybody who worked so hard to give us “Taking the Flak”; it was a neat series with unusual, lovable characters and great potential.

If you’d like to leave a “thank you” note to those involved with the production, you can do so on their Facebook.

"I think they are fans - they have torches and pitchforks and sixpacks of cider."

“Taking the Flak”: DVD Extras – gallery online

A gallery with screencaps of the extras on the “Taking the Flak” DVD is now available on the website.

TAKING THE FLAK: DVD EXTRAS