The multi award-winning Windfall Films, part of Argonon Group, today announces it is producing a gripping new history series for Channel 5, which will air as a stripped TV event for May. Commissioned by Lucy Willis, The Blitz: Britain on Fire (3×60)will take viewers on a dramatic journey through one of the most tragic incidents in the history of the Blitz.
Presented by Michael Buerk, Angellica Bell and Rob Bell, the series focuses on eight critical days in May 1941, when Britain, and Liverpool in particular, was subjected to one of the most intense bombardments of the war. Using eyewitness accounts and recollections from relatives, it tells the remarkable stories of some very different people who were caught up in the bombing, following them hour by hour, day by day. Over the course of three programmes viewers will discover what happened to each of them- how some survived, often against the odds, but how others were not so lucky.
The series will follow ordinary citizens as well as those involved in the war effort including: a Merchant Navy captain; a dedicated hospital matron; a mother of six; a volunteer firefighter and his young seamstress daughter as well as a film star and her RAF husband. The stories are the result of intensive research pieced together with the direct help and co-operation of the families involved.
Fred Hepburn, Executive Producer, Windfall Films, said: “This series blends gripping and often tragic family histories with one of the little-known chapters of the Blitz. Relatives and survivors gave us their accounts of what happened to their loved ones that were still raw and emotional even more than 70 years later.”
Lucy Willis, Commissioning Editor, Factual at Channel 5, said: “For many people today, it’s hard to imagine the reality of living through the Blitz. I hope by giving a voice to the people in The Blitz: Britain on Fire we get some sense of what that experience must have been like.” The 3 x 60’ series is made by Windfall Films, part of Argonon Group. Fred Hepburn is the Executive Producer and Mike Wadding is the Series Producer