British Planes That Won The War With Rob Bell

Channel 5 and My5 June/July

Over recent years, engineer Rob Bell has carved out a space for himself as someone who can bring the history of technology vividly alive. It’s a knack once again on show in this four-part series that traces the stories behind four aeroplanes that have been mainstays of the British military: the Sopwith Camel, the Spitfire, the Lancaster and the Harrier Jump Jet.

The show on the Spitfire is a particular treat, not least because we hear from veterans what it was actually like to fly a fighter forever associated with the Battle of Britain at a time when the fate of the nation hung in the balance.

Long Lost Family

ITV and ITV Hub June/July

After a series of specials, Long Lost Family returns with a run of new episodes. Although these may sometimes lack the jaw-dropping revelations of the Switched at Birth offerings, the new shows are bound to be full of extraordinary moments – and insights into how you can overcome dead ends in your own genealogical research.

The first episode of the new series, available via the ITV Hub, is themed around an alltoo-familiar fear for those with complex family histories: the idea that you might leave it too late to trace surviving relatives. Nonetheless, there’s always hope, as 64-year-old Judy Kenyon learns when she goes in search of her birth mother and sister.

Mansfield Park

Radio 4 Sunday 10 July

Jane Austen’s third published novel came out in 1814 and follows the story of Fanny Price, a poor relation sent to live with her wealthy aunt on an estate that’s partly funded by the income from West Indian sugar plantations. Lydia Wilson plays Fanny in this new two-part serial.

Train Truckers

Yesterday

July

Heavy haulage is a specialised business, especially when it comes to transporting precious steam engines around the UK and Europe. The second series of Train Truckers follows a familyrun firm that specialises in such mammoth tasks as working out just how to deliver a Great Western Railway Modified Hall Class steam engine to its new home at a heritage railway. The series also explores the featured locomotives’ histories.