Tom Dormer

This film tells the incredible story of Bletchley Park and the Ultra Secret. Filmed at Bletchley in collaboration with the Bletchley Trust and with interviews with Bletchley Veterans the BHTV team explain the importance of Bletchley to the Allied War effort. As Sir Harold Hinsley a Bletchley Veteran and Official Historian of British Intelligence during WW2 said, Ultra shortened the war by two to four year's and that the outcome would have been uncertain without it. The film also shows how the allies used the intelligence on land, sea and air. This film shows that the success at Bletchley was not just the result of a few brilliant men and women but the result of the efforts of thousands of unsung heroes.

In 1944 prior to D Day the allied planners realised it was vital to isolate the Normandy Battlefield from reinforcements. In particular it was essential to delay or stop the movement of 2 SS Pz Div (Das Reich) from the south of France. The initial plan called for the French Resistance to interdict the French Railway system to stop their movements. Doubts over the effectiveness of the resistance led to the deployment of 1st SAS to do the task. This programme covers both the deployment of a troop of B Sqn into the Poitiers, in what was known as OP BULBASKET, to delay the Das Reich and the movements and actions of the Das Reich as they move through the Dordogne and Vienne Regions culminating in the massacre at Oradour. Part 2 of this programme will cover the SAS actions in delaying the Das Reich.

The Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 21 April–25 May 1915 for control of the strategic Flemish town of Ypres in western Belgium, following the First Battle of Ypres the previous autumn. It marked the first mass use by Germany of poison gas on the Western Front. For the first time a former colonial force (the 1st Canadian Division defeated a European power (the German Empire) on European soil, in the Battles of St. Julien and Kitcheners' Wood. In the now established BHTV style, the BHTV Team join a selection of historians on the ground to explore the actions of Second Ypres and analyse the significance of what was the first former colonial victory on European soil, the first major use of a terror weapon and the knock on effects of the virtual destruction of the BEF. The team explain the bravery shown by the troops on the ground and the horrors they faced from the advancing German gas clouds.

Continuing the story of 'Operation Bulbasket' the BHTV team follow the development of the attacks on the railways in order to delay the arrival of crucial German re-enforcements in Normandy. They find the clandestine drop zones where the men and jeeps dropped, look at the targets (railway bridges and junctions) and SAS camps deep in isolated forests, before examining how it all started to unravel.