Royal Navy School

bbc.co.uk

With my older brother being a marine who trained at Victory about 12yrs ago, I was excited for C4s Royal Navy School to see what he and his mates really got up to at basic training. Episode 1 offered an inside look at Raleigh in Cornwall but was a little more dull then I'd expected, and fails to really explain much about the training process either. The production assumed that audiences knew and understood some of the navy lingo my brother would come home confusing me with. 'I ate some dodgy skran from the NAAFI and had to run to the wets'

He's never said that sentence - but you get the point. (It did make me feel like a bit of an expert when I was able to explain these words to my confused boyfriend).

When following squad leader Ronan's story, particularly towards the end, phrases like 'passing out' came with another meaning. Ronan discovers during training that his heart beats irregularly and has to leave and undergo surgery. It is perhaps the only moment we really witness the friendship of the lads first-hand as they say goodbye to a man they've all looked up to as a father figure. Although it's not long later and he's back with new recruits being awarded the role of squad leader once again. 

telegraph.co.uk

We could have done with more backstory to the three boys we focussed on really. With the exception of father-figure Ronan we didn't really care much about them as characters. We saw Hugh Harland throw a hissy fit over his ironing, then again at the end when he'd learnt to no longer answer back to his superiors - but we saw no evidence of the journey in between to suggest how this was possible. There just wasn't enough fly-on-the-wall action to get us into the bromances and friendships formed in the dorm. I wanted to see those friendships form, I wanted to watch them grow not just hear about it. Where were the pranks I've heard so much about? The sabotage of kit? Where was the banter?

Though if it's entertainment you're after then look no further than the COD!

Next week it's onto Cornwall's newest recruits - so maybe we'll find some more banter in ep2! An OK start to a series that hasn't really started yet - onwards and upwards. Will we see them all pass out? Who knows.