TVREAL
Channel 4 is marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands with Britain Under the Nazis: The Forgotten Occupation (w.t.).
The series delves into the period when Britain abandoned Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney to the Nazi forces, stranding 69,000 islanders, who had to collaborate, resist or tread a difficult line in between the two to survive. Their words, drawn from diaries, memoirs and letters from the occupiers and the occupied, are brought to life by actors for the first time in this series.
The invasion of the Channel Islands was a propaganda coup for Hitler, who began building a campaign to transform them into a fortress. What started as a “model” occupation became a full-blown rollout of Nazism, with persecution, antisemitic orders, informants, mass deportations, starvation and slave labor camps. There was no official investigation into the occupation.
Historians Gilly Carr and Louise Willmot provide their meticulous research into the period in the series.
Britain Under the Nazis is being directed and filmed by Jack Warrender. Executive producers are Alicia Kerr and Morgan Matthews, and Tim Dunn is series producer. Minnow Films is the production company.
“Drawing on incredible first-person testimony, with stories that intersect, overlap and defy each other in ‘their’ version of the truth, Minnow have created a mesmerizing portrait of life under enemy rule,” said Emily Shields, commissioning editor at Channel 4.
