Nick Downie, had been a medical student, an SAS soldier , a mercenary and combat cameraman, he was my mentor.
I first worked with him at Thames TV, editing of the film he made about the Afghan war, after he lived with the Mujahideen for six months.
I left Thames TV to work with Nick on a series for Channel 4 called Survive. We travelled all over the world, making six one hour documentaries about human survival in extreme circumstances. Nick taught me how to shoot in every situation, from the jungle to the North pole. We shot everywhere, in the halls of Washington DC, to a Nazi death camp in Austria. I learned how to treat interviewees with respect, and how to cope with the unforeseeable.
Nick died of Covid-19 on May 12, 2021, aged 74
Here's a link to his Obituary in the Times.
