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Learn how animals use all sorts of strategies to protect their families and food from marauders. Part 4 of 12.
After Auschwitz is a 'Post-Holocaust' documentary that follows six extraordinary women, capturing what it means to move from tragedy and trauma towards life. These women all moved to Los Angeles, married, raised children and became 'Americans', yet never truly found a place to call home. Having lived through America in the second half of the 20th century, they serve as our guides on an unbelievable journey, sometimes celebratory, sometimes heartbreaking, but always inspiring. In a time when empathy and connection to one another seem to be in limited supply, this programme provides a much needed antidote, using lessons from the past to address answers for the future.
The Ghosts of the Third Reich documents the poignant and anguished stories of descendants of the Nazis, who confront their family’s past and communicate their most profound feelings of guilt by inheritance. These individuals, whose family members were the supporters, officers and elite of the Nazi regime, share a common desire to distance themselves from Nazi ideology and the actions of their ancestors, and to liberate themselves from the guilt, shame and pain that continue to levy a heavy price seventy years later. The confrontation with the inheritance of the Nazi legacy is powerfully evoked further in the inclusion of moments from The Austrian Encounter, a focal point for dialogue between descendants of Nazi perpetrators and survivors of the Holocaust.
It was the defining moment of the 20th century - the scientific, technological, military and political gamble of the world's first atomic attack. Discover what it is like to live through a nuclear explosion, millisecond by millisecond, as this drama-documentary takes viewers into the room where the crucial political decisions were made, on board the Enola Gay on her fateful voyage, inside the bomb as it exploded and on the streets of Hiroshima when disaster struck. Parallel storylines interweave as the events unfold from both US and Japanese perspectives, revealing the tensions and conflicts in the actions and minds of the people who were making history. Special effects recreate the reality of the mission, and archival footage replays the horrific aftermath. Part 1 of 2.
It was the defining moment of the 20th century - the scientific, technological, military and political gamble of the world's first atomic attack. Discover what it is like to live through a nuclear explosion, millisecond by millisecond, as this drama-documentary takes viewers into the room where the crucial political decisions were made, on board the Enola Gay on her fateful voyage, inside the bomb as it exploded and on the streets of Hiroshima when disaster struck. Parallel storylines interweave as the events unfold from both US and Japanese perspectives, revealing the tensions and conflicts in the actions and minds of the people who were making history. Special effects recreate the reality of the mission, and archival footage replays the horrific aftermath. Part 2 of 2.
Joe English was nineteen when he joined the Air Force. He learned to fly a bomber before he could drive a car. The pilot of a Lancaster known as the Lucky H, Joe and six other hardy young men flew thirty combat missions over Germany. Sixty years later, Joe’s grandson, Mathew English, will try to walk in his grandfather’s footsteps. Mathew is one of seven young volunteers from the US, UK, Australia and Canada who make up 'Baker Flight.' They’re up at dawn, marching and saluting, cleaning and polishing, in classrooms and period planes, struggling to see whether they are the men their grandfathers once were. Part 1 of 4.
We follow the trials of Baker Flight as they struggle to adapt to the discipline of military life. Their instructors, real-life drill sergeants, are determined the boys will measure up… no matter how much humiliation and discomfort they must endure. The lone American recruit, in particular, chafes under the constant scrutiny of the drill sergeants. After countless hours on the drill square the recruits are finally given hands-on training with the Lee-Enfield .303. Most of the boys have never fired a gun before and the Lee-Enfield will be their introduction to the feel and sounds of battle – and the bruises the kick of a rifle can leave. We also hear about the Lucky H's first combat operation. The German city of Nuremberg - home of the Third Reich - was a target Bomber Command was determined to destroy. For Joe English and his crew it was a terrifying introduction to the reality of aerial war. Part 2 of 4.
One-hundred and twenty-five thousand aircrew fought Bomber Command’s war and 56,000 died. Opening with a dramatic re-creation of a Lancaster bomber at war, we hear haunting memories from the veterans. Even sixty years later, the sounds and smells of battle - and death - are still fresh in their minds. Baker Flight gets to spend time in the sky as the recruits begin hands-on training in a Tiger Moth. After the flights, the recruits are ordered to prepare their barracks for a surprise VIP inspection by none other than the Lucky H crew. Three generations after their training began, our group of Second World War vets gets a chance to see if the young men measure up. Part 3 of 4.
Both generations experience the rare opportunity to fly in one of the world’s only operating Lancasters. After their momentous flight, they cross the Atlantic to visit the places the Lucky H crew first visited when they were young. In England, there is a poignant reunion with a key member of Joe’s original bomber crew. At the Adegem aircrew cemetery in Belgium, Joe English and his grandson, Mathew, discover the grave of a long-lost family member while the other boys discover most of the graves are filled with airmen of their own age. In Rotterdam the veterans are warmly welcomed by the people they saved when they flew the very first airdrop of the famed 'Operation Manna' mercy missions to the starving people of Holland. The series ends as we see how much the young recruits have bonded with their grandfathers, and how much they have learned, and come to appreciate, the sacrifices they made. Part 4 of 4.
