When many months of BBC filming with the British Army condense down into just three episodes, it is reasonable to have an expectation of quality and care, and this seems to be absolutely met in what we see. With a degree of focus on The Rifles (ever an elite unit in a British Army with many elite units), as well as the Army's diverse duties in Iraq, Estonia, Ukraine and South Sudan (as well as at times back home in the UK), we get a very clear and helpful picture of how things stand militarily in 2016-17. There is humanitarian work, training, engineering, help to keep warring sides apart, and efforts to deter an aggressive-looking Russia.
This is a British programme made about "our lads" (not too many female personnel are portrayed), and so it is inevitably and of course quite rightly supportive, as well as delicately patriotic. But, while we (happily) see few tense moments, there is no hiding the small current size of the Army; and the potential for it to be "caught short" at a moment of great need is never far away.
While a mix of views from soldiers and officers is obtained, the latter probably make more of an impact here, and this is in some sense the wrong skewing. For who, after all, is at the sharp end? Nevertheless, this focus enables us to get the sense of mission, and some insight into difficulties experienced and challenges faced in more of a tactical and strategic sense. Quite a lot of background explanation is also supplied by a mostly-helpful narrator, and in several ways the programme achieves a bonus measure of artistry - not only in its imaginitive and attractive animations, but also in the high-quality, nicely-selected, insightful and at times even "doting" camera-work.
What is the British Army doing now? How is it earning its keep on a still-growing amount of taxpayer money? Is it maintaining the highest traditions and standards that ensure our enduring love and respect for it? These are all key questions, and "Behind the New Frontlines" goes a very long way to successfully answering them.
And in a more-basic sense it is just a compelling watch in terms of the age-old mix of the familiar and the entirely unfamiliar that army life has always denoted.
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