Valley Of Tears

More4, 9pm & 10.05pm

The 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and the massed armies of Arab nations (and named after the holiest day in the Jewish calendar on which the conflict began) shocked the world and threatened to draw in the Cold War superpowers.

Now it is the subject of a ten-part Israeli drama with a truly epic sweep. Caught up in the bloody conflict are the commander Yoav (Aviv Alush, right); Avinoam, an army analyst whose warnings of an Arab attack are ignored by senior officers; and

Melakhi, a soldier torn between his duty and his civil-rights campaigning.

At the heart of the story is the defence by Israeli forces against Syrian tanks in an area of the Golan Heights known as the Valley of Tears – a terrifying claustrophobic battle that encapsulates the entire war.

The whole series is available on All 4 after the opening double bill.