We will REMEMBER THEM

A groundbreaking docuseries is among the BBC's special programmes to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day

- HANNAH DAVIES, IAN MACEWAN

This June marks 80 years since the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy in northern France started to turn the tide of World War Two in favour of the Allies.

Now, as part of a special collection of programming and live events airing across the BBC this week to commemorate the anniversary, the remarkable story of the largest seaborne invasion in military history is being recounted, via eyewitness testimony, in BBC2 docuseries D-Day: The Unheard Tapes.

From the makers of AIDS: The Unheard Tapes, the three-parter uses archive audio recordings of British, American and German soldiers, as well as French civilians, to explore how Operation Overlord unfolded.

INNOVATIVE STORYTELLING

Bringing these testimonies vividly to life is a cast of actors in period dress, lip-syncing the veterans’ real voices, along with dramatic reconstructions and expert analysis from specialists.

The opener charts the huge anticipation ahead of the meticulously planned operation, which would see troop-carrying gliders and parachutists land in occupied France, before a massive bombardment heralded the arrival of more than 150,000 Allied troops in landing craft.