The real heroes of battle
THE Battle of Britain raged on for three months and three weeks, so the title of Channel 5’s new history series might initially seem quite odd.And when I say “odd”, what I specifically mean is “wrong”.
But don’t worry, it’s nothing of the sort.
Once we’ve cleared up the confusion, establishing that THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN: 3 DAYS THAT SAVED THE NATION
(9pm) is actually focusing on three specific 24-hour periods of particular significance to the broader conflict, then we can settle back and appreciate what really is an excellent programme, the first of a mini-series going out nightly between now and Thursday.
Presented by Dan Snow and Kate Humble – so, yes, we know we’re in safe hands, as I trust Kate’s lovely pigs will be in her absence – it sets out to tell a familiar story from an altogether more human perspective. Rather than talk us through every detail of the military strategy – subject matter which is obviously pretty darned important here but which, on its own, can get a wee bit dry – it turns the spotlight on so-called ordinary lives, documenting the experiences of a handful of individuals who, as Hitler’s numerically superior Luftwaffe sought to destroy the RAF and bring the nation to its knees, found they had to step up to the mark.
Those we hear about in this first programme, focusing on August 15, 1940, include raw recruit William Hopkin, whose squadron went head to head with Hitler’s most deadly pilot, and Scotland’s Archie McKellar, whose men had to intercept one of the Luftwaffe’s most northerly raids.
On the outskirts of London, meanwhile, in a secret bunker in Uxbridge, 19-year-old Joan Fanshawe, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, was helping track the battle hour by hour.
What brings Joan’s story so vividly to life here is her handwritten diary whose pages we’re afforded a glimpse of – not containing anything that would have landed her in trouble had it fallen into the wrong hands but simply reminding us that, despite the huge responsibility on her and her colleagues’ shoulders, Joan was still a young woman with everyday concerns.
For one day’s entry, written just before she joined up, she puts: “The whole day is dominated by my thought of having to get my hair cut off tomorrow.
“It’s a terrible wrench after having had it long all my life and it being my chief attraction.”
And she adds: “I shall feel rather as if I’ve lost my individuality without it.”
In other news, they’re making giant sugary bug cakes on
BAKE OFF: THE PROFESSIONALS (C4, 8pm).