In a new hybrid of witness testimony, archive and archaeology, we reveal the full, untold story of the Defence of Britain. In this series surviving Home Guard veterans recall what life was like in the Real “Dad’s Army” and archaeologist Francis Pryor explores the undiscovered archaeology of World War Two Britain.
Sixty years ago Britain braced itself for invasion. So how would this country have withstood the might of Nazi Germany? The TV series “Dad's Army” has weaved an enduring myth, but were the Home Guard really as bumbling as the men portrayed in Walmington on Sea? Now surviving Home Guard veterans explain what life was like in the Real “Dad’s Army,” and demonstrate how they trained to tackle the Nazi’s.
This is the story of the Defence of Britain, and the Real Dad’s Army.
Programme 1 TX 21:00pm Monday 27 February 2006
Behind the humor of Dad’s Army, lies the untold story of a Freedom fighter from the Spanish civil war. Tom Wintringham, or “The Red Revolutionary” as he was nicknamed, was a former communist and one of the leading journalists of his time. Determined to resist a Nazi invasion, he set up Britain’s first school for guerilla warfare.
His vision was to mould the Home Guard into a vast guerilla army. In the unlikely setting of a stately home on the outskirts of London, he established one of the most sophisticated military training centers in the country. This is the story of the Real Dad’s Army.
Programme 2 TX 21:00pm Monday 6 March 2006
We know more about the Roman occupation of Britain, than we know about much of our recent military past. Now Francis Pryor unearths telling clues that reveal just how Britain was defended, and reveals the vast scale of the fortifications that dominated this country’s landscape.
Francis investigates an extraordinary recreation of Hitler’s original plans to invade Britain. A unique war game was run at the Military Academy at Sandhurst. It pitted German officers who had planned the real 1940’s invasion against their former enemies. Reuniting Battle of Britain Aces with their Luftwaffe rivals. Francis Pryor retraces the steps, and reveals the result, of what would have happened if Germany had invaded Britain in 1940.
Programme 3 TX 21:00pm Monday 13 March 2006
In the spring of 1940, when Britain was under threat, a secret army was formed. A British resistance force, codenamed the Auxiliaries. Their task: to wreak havoc among any possible German invasion force. They were effectively a suicide squad: no one was expected to survive beyond two weeks.
There is another hidden story from the Second World War. Secret Plans, which would ensure the safety of Winston Churchill, and the Royal Family, the ‘so-called’ Black Moves. Now Francis Pryor explores the hidden underground networks that riddle Britain.
Press:
"Combined with superb archive footage and moving stories about the very real fears of invasion, it all added up to an enjoyable romp through the myths and realities of life on the home front in 1940." Gerard O'Donovan, The Daily Telegraph
"...enjoyable and involving series...the programme-makers get much more lively and detail specific interviews about the subject than we're used to...I can't remember any collection that looked at Britain's Home Guard in such fascinating detail...a well-made opener to a promising three-part series which has all-round decent chap John Bird narrating the story."
Emma Perry, Time Out
"...engagingly narrated...jaw-dropping"
David Butcher, Radio Times