Next Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks – and it looks as though the memory of the event is still fresh in people”s minds.
ITV1, so often denigrated for its populist content, aired a documentary by respected film-maker Leslie Woodhead about the attacks and attracted an impressive 5 million viewers in primetime.

The film, called 9/11: Day That Changed the World, was a Brook Lapping production and featured accounts from key players at the time, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Brook Lapping has also produced seminal works on the crisis in the Middle East and the former Yugoslavia.

Channel 4 is also part way through a season of films to mark 10 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Titles included in the run are 9/11: ER, 9/11: The Fireman’;s Story, The Children of 9/11, Inside the Mosque at Ground Zero, and Targeting Bin Laden.

Hamish Mykura, Head of Documentaries, who commissioned two documentaries from Testimony Films and a single from Nutopia, said: “In 9/11: The Tenth Anniversary, two documentaries tell the stories of those caught up in the events of 9/11. In 9/11:ER, we see how timely intervention saved the lives of hundreds of wounded. 9/11:The Fireman’;s Story explores the reality of what the fire-fighters achieved on 9/11 and the impact that had on their lives. Targeting Bin Laden is an ambitious drama-documentary, setting out a range of perspectives to tell the story of the operation to kill Bin Laden.”

Ralph Lee, Head of Specialist Factual, who shared commissioning responsibility across the season added: “The story of the proposed Mosque at Ground Zero is an extraordinary prism through which we can view the ways that America has and hasn’;t been able to accommodate Islam post 9/11. With Children of 9/11, the passage of time since the attack on the Twin Towers is put in stark relief, as we see the events through the eyes of a generation for whom it defined their personal lives and the wider world in which they have since grown up.”

9/11: The Fireman’;s Story has already aired and attracted an audience of 2 million. Others films will be aired in the run up to the day itself.

The international trade in 9/11 documentaries is also busy right now. UK-based distributor Shine International has the international rights to Rebirth, a 9/11 feature-doc from the Hollywood producer Jim Whittaker (8 Mile, American Gangster).