Shoot/edit Camera Journalist
Russian shells rain down on villages north of Mariupol, Ukraine - BBC News - May 2022
Correspondent: Laura Bicker Shoot/Edit: Julie Ritson
Julie has worked in some of the most hostile environments in the world. She filmed in Chechnya as the residents of Grozny fled for their lives under Russian shelling and covered the conflict in northern Afghanistan after 9/11 when the Northern Alliance were fighting trench warfare with the Taliban.
In 2003, Julie was one of the many journalists embedded with the military during the Iraq invasion. The camp included journalists and camera crews from ITV, SKY and CNN, all of whom endured daily missiles attacks, searing heat and regular sand storms. Julie and correspondent Ben Brown were one of the first News teams to reach the centre of Basra as the British military invaded the city.
Whilst preparing for a day of 'Live' broadcasts beside the West Bank barrier wall, Julie and fixer Youssef were shot at by an Israeli guard in a watch tower. They both had to run for their lives as bullets whizzed over their heads. Julie recalls "I heard a bullet fly over my head as I ran and I half expected the next one to hit my back. It was terrifying moment that I'll never forget". The Israeli military authorities had been informed of the BBC's plans and had given permission. Unfortunately someone had forgotten to tell the soldier on the overnight shift in the watch tower.
​Julie has had the pleasure of working with world famous explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes on many occasions. The first time was when he did his 7x7x7 marathon challenge starting in southern Chile. Ran was recovering from a double heart bypass operation so he was running with his friend Dr Mike Stoud. Worried that they might get separated during the marathon, Mike gave Julie a quick lesson on how to use the defibrillator onboard the support bus. Thankfully she never had to use it.
​​They teamed up again for 'The Coldest Journey' expedition. She filmed Ran and his team training in Norway when the temperatures unexpected dropped to minus 42. She recalls having to wear a battery belt under her clothes to power the camera and using the heat vents in the rented car to defrost her frozen audio leads. Sadly Ran had to pull out of the actual expedition due to frostbite and was evacuated from Antarctica.
When the UK hosted the Olympics, Julie had the opportunity to travel with Matthew Pinsent to Afghanistan to film a documentary about their Olympic Taekwondo hopeful Rohullah Nikpai. Just as the team were filming the final sequence, the Taliban launched a huge suicide attack across the country. Julie was then pulled into the News coverage and stayed behind to cover the unfolding events. Overnight the US special forces cornered a group of Taliban militants in a partially built office block.
In the morning, Julie and the team went to the site which was swarming with local media. Julie recalls "As we entered the building, I was surprised to see the bodies of dead Taliban still lying on the floors guarded by US soldiers. I said to one of them that I was surprised they had let the media in and he replied that if it was down to him, we wouldn't be there. Later as we recorded a Standup, I noticed a local man hop over something in the background. Curious, I took a closer look and spotted an unexploded hand grenade on the floor. We left immediately"
Meeting famous people and VIP's was one of the huge perks of the job, none more so than meeting a US President. During Barack Obama's last year in office he visited the UK. Julie and her camera colleagues were chosen to film a BBC News interview with him and he was gracious enough with his time to posed for photos afterwards and he shook each and everyone's hand before leaving.
One filming location that eluded Julie was Antarctica. So in 2021 she decide to book onto a Hurtigruten expedition cruise. The MS Ronald Amundsen was a fully hybrid ship so one of the most environmentally friendly cruise ships in the world. It also played host to many scientists so Julie decided to mix business with pleasure and report, film and edit a short film which was broadcast on BBC News Channel and BBC World Service TV.
In 2022, Julie travelled to Ukraine to film the going invasion by Russia. Julie, correspondent Laura Bicker, their fixer and security adviser Lloyd visited a frontline village near Zaporizhzhia when the Russian's launch a rocket attack, narrow missing them by a few hundred metres (see video above).
Having just arrived, the team pressed on and filmed around the village, meeting elderly sheltering in a cellar and some refusing to even leave their homes. Julie recalls "we had to walk under tree and close to building to avoid detection by the drones. But the scariest part for me was leaving because the Russian's probably saw us arrive in our shiny armoured Land Cruiser and were just waiting for us to leave. We had to drive out from our tree cover and onto the open roads where we were very vulnerable to drone attacks. I remember telling the driver to put his foot down...but he knew anyway.
