Week 3: Heavy Toll (Student Radio/BBC Radio 4 Extra)

Heavy Toll is a short speech-based documentary by student Tabitha Constantine, focusing upon the aftermath of suicides that occur on railway lines. She explores what happens from the viewpoints of those who work on Britain’s rails. This documentary won the 2017 Charles Parker Prize for Best Student Radio Feature and, as a part of this, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra and BBC iPlayer (Charles Parker Archive Trust, 2017).

The stories told by both participants, George and Collette, are paired back, with little music and sound effects. The lack of these, especially as most documentaries use them often, allows for a simplistic, ‘real’ feeling. Sound effects used compliment the story of the piece. A few examples of which include screeching brakes and actuality of Collette doing her job. The mixing of this documentary as well as the interviews “paint a horribly vivid, very human picture of train suicides and their effect on train staff” but handled such topic maturely (Charles Parker Archive Trust, 2017).

Heavy Toll differs from other documentaries. It has no narration or noticeable structure to guide the story, like most traditional documentaries. However, the editing/mixing of the interviews allowed for each sentence to create the tone and flow of the piece, as well as empathy for the subjects. The ending, in my opinion, is edited that way in order to show empathy to the interviewees. Poignant quotes such as “It never goes away” and “That’s when I saw a hand” create visual images in the audience’s mind and allows for them to understand the horror of events like these.

As part of the Charles Parker Prize process, it featured on BBC Radio 4 Extra on “special program” on “Saturday 10 June [2017] at 3pm” (Charles Parker Archive Trust, 2017). With BBC Radio 4 Extra “providing speech-based entertainment”, it’s the perfect place to broadcast this particular documentary (BBC Trust, 2016). According to it’s remit, the station “should play its part in supporting new talent”(BBC Trust, 2016). The showcasing of this documentary (and the others nominated) is excellent for new talent, providing a platform for students to aim for.

Sources-
http://www.cpatrust.org.uk/prize/prizewinners-2017/

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/regulatory_framework/service_licences/radio/2016/radio4extra_apr16.pdf