WHAT TO WATCH THE DAMBUSTERS: A DARING PLAN

Channel 5, 9pm

The Dambusters raid of the Second World War is the stuff of legend: heroic RAF fighters push the possibilities of military flight beyond all boundaries to drop an untried bouncing bomb in Germany’s industrial heartland. Historian Dan Snow tells the dramatic story in this three-parter that uses reconstructions and archive footage for visual effect and a raft of historians to dive deep into the subject.

Beginning eight weeks before the May 1943 attack, Snow’s approach is to count down the days, which in episode one at least is a bit problematic: some incidents, like a disagreement over leave for one crew member, hardly warrant inclusion and imply that three episodes is too many. But Snow conveys his detailed knowledge with such enthusiasm that it carries the viewer along while satisfying history buffs with forensic detail. Experts such as Sir Max Hastings lend weight to the commentary, with the result that pivotal questions are addressed – whether the human cost of the attack and its effect on the war’s outcome made the raid worth it. It’s followed by The World’s Biggest Murder Trial: Nuremberg, a documentary recounting the postwar trial of the surviving architects of the Nazi regime. Vicki Power

Dan Snow investigates the true story of the Dambusters