Barcroft Preps Pearl Harbor Docuseries for Channel 5

Factual production company Barcroft Studios has unveiled a new documentary series that chronicles the devastating Pearl Harbor attacks during World War II.

Attack on Pearl Harbor: Minute by Minute will piece together the complex events of December 7, 1941, combining interviews from the last remaining survivors and experts, archival material, a unique graphic style and underwater shipwreck footage. The docuseries is a co-production between Barcroft Studios and Channel 5 for the U.K. and Ireland.

Barcroft Studios retains the rights for the U.S. and Canada. Channel 5 will broadcast a 3×60-minute version of the series.

Each episode of Attack on Pearl Harbor: Minute by Minute will unfold chronologically and cover a different part of the timeline surrounding the attacks on the Hawaiian naval base. Barcroft has exclusive access to American and Japanese survivors. The series will also use the actual naval communications from the time and feature recently filmed underwater footage of shipwrecks from the attack.

Peter Wyles, Barcroft Studios’ director of programs, said: “I’m incredibly proud to be making such an important series. As the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor approaches, our films will take the closest look at the event yet. We have an incredible cast of characters, including some of the oldest World War II contributors ever to be filmed. And we have the perfect partners with Channel 5.”

Guy Davies, commissioning editor for factual and VP, at Channel 5, said: “Pearl Harbor is one of the greatest stories of the Second World War and to piece it together minute by minute is a gripping narrative. With the likely last-ever interviews from both the U.S. and Japanese forces involved on the ground, this is a powerful testament to those involved. It’s a brilliant historical boxed set treat for Channel 5 viewers.”