Camouflaged Advertising: The 1990s TV series Soldier, Soldier and the British Army

Abstract

The television series Soldier, Soldier of the 1990s remains the longest running, most successful British small-screen drama with which the British Army has ever been involved. Why, though, would the Ministry of Defence lend both material and human support over the course of seven years to the realization of stories over which it had no direct control, and that sometimes dealt with controversial issues ranging from sexism and racism to post-traumatic stress disorder and homosexuality? A likely answer lies in the way in which the army came to exert indirect influence over episodes and the series as a whole through the on-set presence of a succession of military advisors combined with common interests on the part of producers and the army and a tacit willingness to compromise when necessary. Why was the resulting series so popular and wide-ranging in its appeal to television viewers? Through an examination of publicity material, press reviews and audience data, it can be ascertained that the original concept behind Soldier, Soldier – a human drama about the lives of individual serving men and the women with whom they are involved – was one that had broad cross-sectional appeal. This in turn provided the army with a chance to display itself, in a fictional context but on balance in a positive light, not only to large numbers of potential recruits but also to their families and the public at large without the propaganda stigma attached to more direct forms of advertising.