Radio Times

Review by:

David Crawford

Strolling across rocky outcrops in the Egyptian desert, Jonathan Dimbleby explores one of the most decisive battles of the Second World War at a small railway halt in the middle of nowhere. With analysis of the strategies, tactics and politics, he explains how El Alamein became a turning point in the war.

Dimbleby’s intimate style, his character sketches and the affecting testimony of soldiers draw you into a story of Winston Churchill’s tenacity in securing victory from what began as a shambolic campaign.

About this programme

By 1942, the battle for North Africa had become pivotal to what was by then a truly global conflict, and victory for the Allies in the second Battle of El Alamein was a crucial moment. Jonathan Dimbleby tells the story of how the men who fought and died were players in a high drama scripted by Churchill, Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler in the war capitals of London, Washington, DC, Rome and Berlin. He travels to key locations, including the Cabinet War Rooms beneath Whitehall and the vast bunker in Poland where Hitler plotted his campaigns.

Cast and crew

Cast

Presenter

Jonathan Dimbleby

Crew

Director

Robin Barnwell

Executive Producer

Peter Grimsdale

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