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Duration: 1 x 60 minutes Channel: C4 First Screened: Tuesday December 30th 2000, at 9pm |
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Produced by: Beryl Vertue Debbie Vertue Written and directed by: Michael Davies |
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| The Welsh Great Escape |
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In the dead of night in March 1945, almost seventy desperate young German prisoners of war tunnelled from a camp
in Bridgend in Wales and escaped over the sand dunes. The film follows the fate of the POWs, many of them
committed Nazis, as they were tracked by armed soldiers, the Home Guard, dogs, local children and Girl Guides as
one of the largest manhunts of the whole war got underway. Dramatic, serious and comic in turn, dramatic
reconstruction is intercut with commentary and personal testimony. Two of the German POWs return to the site for
the first time in more than 60 years to see the very hut from which they escaped. In addition, we follow the
production team as they make the extraordinary and exciting discovery that the 60' long tunnel, sealed up and
forgotten for so long, is incredibly still intact - despite being shored up using timber from the prisoners'
bunk-beds. |
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"**** A fascinating, all but forgotten story from World War II" (Daily Mail) "Escapees, a jailer's daughter and local children (now grown-up) recount an extraordinary story of cows, girl guides and the 'natural friendliness of the Welsh'... [with] a rather tongue-in-cheek feel." (Sunday Telegraph) "We've all heard of The Great Escape, the 1963 movie based on the true story of the most ambitious attempt to abscond from a German prisoner of war camp by Allied servicemen during the second world war. This documentary is a little different, but the story is just as compelling." (Daily Telegraph) "The escape of 67 PoWs from a camp in south Wales is here related in all its inadvertently hilarious glory, with the escapees' adventures making this a fantastically entertaining film." (Sunday Times) |
Other Documentaries
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Going To Chelsea
Officers And Gentlemen
The Red Baron
In Love With Elizabeth
The War Behind The Wire
The Welsh Great Escape
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Useful Links
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Distribution Email
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© Hartswood Films Ltd 2007 |
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 |
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