Mine rescue

The live coverage of the Chilean mine rescue was extraordinary as a piece of television.  There were elements of a David Blaine event; an Evel Knievel stunt (heightened by the omniprescence of red white and blue of the Chilean flag) and even moon-shots, with the blurred black and white from underground.

Whoever was mixing the master shots was largely faultless - just as someone got in the way of a camera, another glimpse was picked up.  When the first miner came out as the surface, a discreet hand removed the presumably-compulsory-safety helmets of wife and son, and bingo, a memorable close-up of the reunion hugs.  There were more cinematic hints, as he lay down on a trolley, with helmet and sunglasses still in place, and was rolled away behind closed doors by medics. ET ?

Sky News did most of their work out-of-vision, with useful experts back in London, and I think that was a good call.  On the BBC, Tim Willcox, speaking good Spanish was an asset on site. The egregious Matt Frei was the "big-foot", who had to show he knew a bit too, yet couldn't resist double-entendres about measurements. "Let's not go there", he said.  I wish he hadn't.