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NARRATOR Over 2,000 years,
they will forge a nation,

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dominate the globe

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and invent the modern world.

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This is the story of how a small group
of islands becomes a superpower.

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The British.

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This is our story.

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(WOMEN CHATTERING)

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WOMAN 1  Good morning, girls.
Ready for your shift?

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NARRATOR July 1, 1 9 1 8,

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a factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire.

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WOMAN 2 Good morning.

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Remember to take out your hairpins.
All of them.

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NARRATOR Dorothy Nicholls is beginning
a 1 2-hour shift.

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Just a few years earlier,
in Victorian Britain,

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the idea of a woman running a workplace
like this was unthinkable.

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Now, Dorothy is a shift supervisor.

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Factory girls like Rebecca Roper have
strict rules they must obey at work.

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REBECCA You're not allowed hairpins,
nor hooks and eyes in your clothes.

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Nothing metal on you.

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NARRATOR Rebecca is on the most
dangerous production line in Britain.

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One spark could set
the whole plant ablaze.

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Over one million British women now work
in factories making bombs and bullets,

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because the existence of the world's
largest empire is under threat.

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For a century,
Britain had been the world superpower.

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A nation that sparked
an 1ndustrial Revolution,

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transformed transportation.

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A country that pioneered engineering,

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dominated world trade

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and revolutionised
the lives of its people

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with sanitation and new technology.

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But now Britain is at war with Germany,

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Europe's great new industrial nation.

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And this Great War
will be a battle of industry.

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Not won in hand-to-hand combat,

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but by the side
who can fire the most ammunition.

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Britain fires over a million shells
a week to keep the enemy at bay.

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Rebecca Roper and women like her
at the Chilwell munitions factory

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will produce over half of
Britain's high-explosive shells.

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They contain TNT,
a highly explosive and toxic compound.

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REBECCA Our faces
took on a strange yellow hue.

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You'd wash and wash and wash,
but it didn't make any difference.

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This became the trademark
of the shell-fillers.

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We were called ''canaries''.

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NARRATOR Two thousand women work
round the clock, seven days a week.

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Sulphur was used
in the making of munitions,

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and this could turn the skin yellow.

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It was terribly bad for them,

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and many munitions workers,
male and female, died,

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and others were disfigured

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by the poisonous stuff
that they were handling every day.

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CAITLIN MORAN I love the confidence
trick that was played on women

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kind of all the way through history,
which was to tell them

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that they weren't the equal of men
and they couldn't do anything.

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Until we really needed the women,

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and then they would prove that they
could do anything that men could do.

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NARRATOR Today, ice has been brought in
to keep the TNT cool.

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Dorothy's evening shift follows
one of the hottest days of the year.

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Willie Abelard was injured in action
and discharged from the front line.

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This evening, he begins his first shift
at the factory.

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There are over 1 00 tons of
high explosive stored on the site.

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(LOUD EXPLOSIONS)

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Just an hour into the shift,
in another building,

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a spark sets off
a series of deadly explosions.

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(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

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Aprons! Aprons! Aprons!

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NARRATOR Covered
in volatile TNTpowder,

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the girls' aprons must be abandoned.

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Willie Abelard is
one of the 1 34 killed in the blast.

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250 are injured.

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(COUGHING)

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Of the dead, only 32 can be
positively identified.

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WOMAN Here. Help us.

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(WOMAN SOBBING)

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Rebecca Roper is one of the lucky ones.

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REBECCA There was utter devastation.
People were running about

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with the most terrible injuries
and shattered limbs.

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NARRATOR Supervisor Dorothy Nicholls
is granted an OBE

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for her part in rescuing the injured.

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1t's one of the worst disasters
on Britain's home front.

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But within two days, the survivors are
back on the production line.

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These women are instrumental
in winning the war.

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When women put their chins up and
go out and do what's needed to be done,

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it seems to me that
they do it with such good grace,

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with such energy, with such humour.

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And they do it without ever expecting
any medals or any recognition.

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NARRATOR From the great warrior women
who fought the Romans

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to the pioneering female reformers
of the 1 9th century,

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women have fought for their role
in British history.

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As the Great War draws to a close,

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and despite the Suffragette Movement,

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women still don't have a voice
in society.

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But the sacrifices of women
like the Chilwell factory workers

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are hard to ignore.

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1n February 1 9 1 8, women are
given the vote for the first time.

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We should celebrate the fact that

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British women felt empowered enough
to stand up and go,

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''No, we're here, too,
and we want to be a voice that's heard,

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''that has a say, that has a right,
that has a right to make a change

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''in a country that
we live in as equally as men.''

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NARRATOR A year later, the first-ever
female MP takes her seat in Parliament.

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JEREMY BLACK This is a world in which

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for upper, middle class
and working class women,

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there is a breakdown
of pre-existing social norms.

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And obviously that doesn't mean

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that you're moving into
a kind of society equivalent to today,

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but what it does mean is
this is not Victorian Britain any more.

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NARRATOR 7.'45 a.m., May 5, 1 930.

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A 26-year-old from Kingston upon Hull
is about to become a female icon.

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Amy Johnson, a new breed of woman.

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One of the first generations to
study at university.

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She's an economics graduate.

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And now, an amateur pilot.

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She aims to fly solo
from Britain to Australia.

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Only two people have attempted
such a flight,

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and neither of them were women.

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Her plane has top speed
of only 90 miles an hour.

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Extra fuel tanks have given her
a flying time of just 1 3 hours.

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JOHNSON 1 have an immense belief
in the future of flying.

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1'm certain a successful flight of
this nature by an English girl, solo,

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will do much to engender confidence
amongst the public in air travel.

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JULIET GARDINER What Amy Johnson
was interested in was speed,

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and speed is a great preoccupation
of the '30s,

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so that's why Amy Johnson
is such a celebrity,

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as a glamorous young woman,
fearless young woman,

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prepared to take on anything.

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And so unusual for a woman in her time.

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NARRATOR Not only does she want to be
the first woman to fly to Australia,

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she also wants to break the 1 5 and
a half day record for a solo flight.

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The furthest Amy Johnson has ever flown
is from London to Hull.

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Now she faces a journey of 1 1,000 miles.

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1n her attempt to be the very first
woman to fly to Australia,

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Amy Johnson hits a sandstorm over 1raq.

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JOHNSON Sand and dust
covered my goggles.

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My eyes smarted,
and 1 couldn't control the machine.

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1've never been so frightened
in my life.

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NARRATOR Yet, she is still two days
ahead of the world record.

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Britain has a rich history of pioneers
looking beyond our shores.

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Pioneers of land, sea and in the air.

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We are a nation of adventurers.

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SAUL DAVID The Amy Johnson story
very much encapsulates

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the British spirit of adventure,

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because here's a secretary from Hull
who decides to take on

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this incredible voyage of
flying halfway around the world.

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And despite all the hardships and all
the difficulties and all the obstacles,

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I think it says everything
about the British determination

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to take on something
that is the other side of the hill

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and find out
if we can actually conquer it.

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(THUNDER RUMBLING)

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NARRATOR But bad weather through Asia
means she is forced to divert.

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No longer able to navigate,
Amy Johnson crash lands.

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(CRASHING)

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Her journey looks to be over.

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JOHNSON 1'm getting very tired
of my trip, and a wee bit discouraged,

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because everything seems
to be going wrong.

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NARRATOR But Britain still rules an
empire covering a quarter of the globe,

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and she has crashed
in the British colony of Burma

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and near an engineering school.

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The students have
the skill and materials

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to patch up the wing, and replace
her damaged propeller and burst tyre.

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She doesn't have
particular mechanical skills,

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she's not much of a navigator,
but she's pretty intrepid.

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And she was intent on breaking records
quite fearlessly.

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NARRATOR The world is getting smaller.

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The highs and lows of Amy's progress

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fill the British press,
airwaves and newsreels.

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JESSIE J Well, I mean,
I can imagine being,

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say, if I was a child, back in the day,

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and looked at somebody that had
literally just destroyed and ripped up

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all the rulebooks that I had ever known,

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and gone, ''You know what?
I'm gonna do what I wanna do,

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''and I'm gonna get a plane
and fly around the world by myself.''

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You know, I would've gone,

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''Wow, that's completely changed
my mindset on how I see my life now.''

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(CHEERING)

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Amy Johnson!

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NARRATOR May 24, 1 930,
Darwin, Australia.

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The journey has taken her
1 9 and a half days.

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She's the first woman
to fly solo across the world.

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MAN Three cheers!

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(CLICKING)

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(WHOOPING)

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NARRATOR Despite
missing the world record,

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the Daily Herald declares
her achievement,

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''The vindication of womanhood. ''

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She receives a hero's welcome.

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The Daily Mail buys Amy Johnson's
exclusive story,

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and declares her journey,
''The most marvellous feat of endurance

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''recorded in the whole history
of womanhood. ''

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JESSIE J Whatever they put
in magazines and newspapers

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and on newsreels in cinemas
in the '30s or the '40s,

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that's what young people are looking at
and being inspired by.

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NARRATOR 1n the 1 9th century, Britain
had been the workshop of the world.

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A manufacturing superpower.

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Britain's coal producers provided
the steam that powered

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the 1ndustrial Revolution.

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British steel built new railways,
driving massive trade expansion.

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But the efforts of the Great War
derailed British industry.

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GARDINER Britain was broke,
money, was in debt to America

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and had its industry in disarray,

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obviously because everything
had been geared up for war.

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NARRATOR During the 1 930s,
in some towns of the industrial north,

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70% of men are out of work.

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DR NEIL FAULKNER
The experience, very often, is

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of unemployment and impoverishment,

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and there's no sense that
this is a country fit for heroes,

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00:16:21,887 --> 00:16:23,923
a home fit for heroes.

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NARRATOR Two hundred men from Jarrow
marched 300 miles to London to protest.

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GARDINER Britain was
a very divided country in the '30s.

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In the north,
you have very high unemployment,

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00:16:38,207 --> 00:16:41,199
whereas for those people
living in the Midlands or the south,

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00:16:41,287 --> 00:16:44,916
where there are new industries
making things for the consumer market,

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00:16:45,007 --> 00:16:48,602
synthetic textiles,
cars, pharmaceuticals

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and, of course, building,
a great boom in the building industry,

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then life was pretty good.

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NARRATOR Four million new homes
are built.

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00:17:04,367 --> 00:17:08,121
Fitted out with all mod cons,
including inside bathrooms.

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Before the Great War, only one in ten
families owned their own home.

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By 1 939, cheap mortgages mean
that this number has tripled.

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These homes,
with their gardens and garages,

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give birth to a new suburbia,
green and spacious,

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and transformed the landscape
of Britain forever.

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They had their own front door,
they had a small back garden,

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they had fresh air. It was so different
from the overcrowding

224
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and the pollution of the inner cities,

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and it was a lot of people's dreams.

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00:17:44,007 --> 00:17:46,919
DAVID PUTTNAM I was brought up
in a new semi-detached house,

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and it was home, and my mother
was a real homemaker.

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It was her palace, you know.
It was what she wanted.

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She ruled it, and the rest of us
were allowed to live in it. (LAUGHING)

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NARRATOR The 1 930s sees the beginning
of another transformation.

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00:18:07,247 --> 00:18:10,523
A British discovery is
set to revolutionise medicine.

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Save lives, reduce infection,

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cure disease.

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1t's the result of over two decades
of scientific endeavour.

235
00:18:23,527 --> 00:18:26,724
But it all starts with
the wartime experiences of one man.

236
00:18:31,247 --> 00:18:34,444
1 9 1 8, the Great War.

237
00:18:35,607 --> 00:18:38,485
A makeshift hospital
along the French western front.

238
00:18:38,567 --> 00:18:40,717
(SOLDIERS COUGHING)

239
00:18:40,807 --> 00:18:45,597
Alexander Fleming, a Scottish captain
in the Royal Army Medical Corps,

240
00:18:45,687 --> 00:18:51,319
knows even a minor wound can mean death
from bacterial infection.

241
00:18:52,887 --> 00:18:54,605
-NURSE There you go.
-Thank you.

242
00:18:56,487 --> 00:18:59,638
NARRATOR Basic antiseptics
often make things worse,

243
00:18:59,727 --> 00:19:03,356
killing not the bacteria,
but the body's natural defences.

244
00:19:04,287 --> 00:19:05,720
(GROANING LOUDLY)

245
00:19:10,327 --> 00:19:12,921
Fleming takes samples
from those who have died

246
00:19:13,407 --> 00:19:17,082
and begins to study how to wipe out
the bacteria that cause infection.

247
00:19:20,647 --> 00:19:23,081
FLEMING 1 could see for myself
that these antiseptics

248
00:19:23,167 --> 00:19:24,759
didn't kill all microbes.

249
00:19:25,127 --> 00:19:28,881
1 was consumed by a desire to discover,
after all this struggling,

250
00:19:28,967 --> 00:19:30,923
something which would.

251
00:19:35,967 --> 00:19:39,880
NARRATOR 1t would be another decade
before his work comes to fruition.

252
00:19:48,607 --> 00:19:50,563
September 1 928.

253
00:19:51,447 --> 00:19:55,838
1n his London laboratory,
Fleming makes a chance discovery.

254
00:19:57,447 --> 00:20:02,123
He notices one of his bacterial cultures
is contaminated with a type of mould.

255
00:20:06,287 --> 00:20:10,405
He should reject the culture,
but he doesn't.

256
00:20:11,247 --> 00:20:15,684
1nstead, Fleming looks a little closer,
and notices something unusual.

257
00:20:17,927 --> 00:20:22,205
Wherever the mould appears,
the bacteria is destroyed.

258
00:20:23,447 --> 00:20:25,517
He had stumbled upon
one of the most significant

259
00:20:25,607 --> 00:20:27,802
medical discoveries of the century.

260
00:20:28,367 --> 00:20:32,485
Fleming identifies the mould
as Penicillium notatum.

261
00:20:33,167 --> 00:20:38,605
From this discovery, Oxford scientists
later derive the drug penicillin.

262
00:20:39,727 --> 00:20:41,399
FLEMING Never neglect any appearance

263
00:20:41,487 --> 00:20:44,081
or any happening
which seems to be out of the ordinary.

264
00:20:44,687 --> 00:20:46,643
1t may be an important truth.

265
00:20:49,447 --> 00:20:51,358
ROBERT WINSTON I think
the reason why Fleming is

266
00:20:51,447 --> 00:20:53,005
important as a scientist

267
00:20:53,087 --> 00:20:57,956
is because he recognised something
was going on, which he hadn't expected.

268
00:20:58,687 --> 00:21:02,646
And most people, when that happens,
throw away the evidence.

269
00:21:03,647 --> 00:21:06,719
Science works,
very often, by serendipity.

270
00:21:07,807 --> 00:21:11,117
DOUGRAY SCOTT That changed
the course of medicine and our lives.

271
00:21:11,207 --> 00:21:14,836
So it was an incredibly
important discovery,

272
00:21:14,927 --> 00:21:18,886
and he was one of many Scots
that made great discoveries.

273
00:21:21,167 --> 00:21:23,158
NARRATOR Penicillin
revolutionises the way

274
00:21:23,247 --> 00:21:25,636
infection and disease are treated
across the world.

275
00:21:26,967 --> 00:21:30,755
Now the lives of countless millions
are saved from diseases,

276
00:21:30,847 --> 00:21:32,803
which would once have routinely killed.

277
00:21:35,687 --> 00:21:38,440
For someone who's an explorer,
I always carry a survival kit,

278
00:21:38,527 --> 00:21:42,122
and it's got fishing hooks in,
fishing line, compass.

279
00:21:42,447 --> 00:21:45,439
But above all,
my antibiotics, penicillin.

280
00:21:45,767 --> 00:21:47,519
And that makes me feel like

281
00:21:47,607 --> 00:21:50,405
I've got a little bit of Britain
strapped to my waist.

282
00:21:51,367 --> 00:21:52,595
Might save my life or not,

283
00:21:52,687 --> 00:21:54,757
but I always feel
a little bit more comfortable

284
00:21:54,847 --> 00:21:56,724
having it tucked against me.

285
00:21:58,567 --> 00:22:01,764
NARRATOR The health
of the British people is transformed.

286
00:22:02,247 --> 00:22:06,081
1n 1 900, a child could expect to live
to less than 50.

287
00:22:06,847 --> 00:22:10,635
Now life expectancy exceeds 80 years.

288
00:22:11,807 --> 00:22:15,083
But this newfound well-being
will soon be under threat

289
00:22:15,887 --> 00:22:18,799
from an enemy beyond Britain's shores.

290
00:22:25,687 --> 00:22:27,325
Over 2,000 years,

291
00:22:27,407 --> 00:22:30,524
the British have fiercely defended
their land from invaders.

292
00:22:31,607 --> 00:22:35,361
Not since William the Conqueror and
the Norman 1nvasion a thousand years ago

293
00:22:35,447 --> 00:22:38,564
has a foreign army defeated
the British people on home soil.

294
00:22:44,287 --> 00:22:45,515
I think that spirit of defiance,

295
00:22:45,607 --> 00:22:49,122
you can trace all the way back to
the Britons taking on the Romans,

296
00:22:49,207 --> 00:22:51,926
to the Anglo-Saxons
taking on the Normans.

297
00:22:52,007 --> 00:22:54,840
There's a collective determination
among the Britons, 1 think,

298
00:22:54,927 --> 00:22:58,317
from that point onwards
that we will not be beaten again.

299
00:23:06,647 --> 00:23:09,844
NARRATOR But this spirit of defiance
will face the ultimate test.

300
00:23:10,847 --> 00:23:12,963
Built from the ruins
of the Fire of London,

301
00:23:13,047 --> 00:23:16,881
the iconic Saint Paul's Cathedral
in the heart of the city of London,

302
00:23:16,967 --> 00:23:19,435
standing proud since the 1 700s,

303
00:23:19,527 --> 00:23:22,360
an enduring symbol of hope
and resilience.

304
00:23:24,767 --> 00:23:27,804
Now, for the first time,
it's under threat.

305
00:23:28,847 --> 00:23:31,441
Hitler wants to destroy the symbols
of our history

306
00:23:31,527 --> 00:23:33,563
and bring the city to its knees.

307
00:23:36,287 --> 00:23:39,324
December 29, 1 940.

308
00:23:40,487 --> 00:23:43,445
At 6.'1 5, an air raid begins.

309
00:23:47,887 --> 00:23:51,038
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
declares Saint Paul's Cathedral

310
00:23:51,127 --> 00:23:53,322
must be protected at all costs.

311
00:23:58,807 --> 00:24:01,879
The survival of these buildings
was seen as important,

312
00:24:01,967 --> 00:24:06,483
in part because they symbolise
the trust between the generations.

313
00:24:06,607 --> 00:24:08,677
I think that's a very important thing

314
00:24:08,767 --> 00:24:12,726
about the inter-relationship
between community and history,

315
00:24:12,807 --> 00:24:15,002
between, as it were, deep history.

316
00:24:18,007 --> 00:24:21,283
NARRATOR 1nside the Cathedral,
the Dean, Walter Matthews,

317
00:24:21,887 --> 00:24:25,084
directs a team of fire-watchers
to extinguish incendiary bombs

318
00:24:25,167 --> 00:24:27,123
before the flames take hold.

319
00:24:34,687 --> 00:24:37,076
These are not experienced firemen,

320
00:24:37,207 --> 00:24:39,960
but architectural students
who know the building well.

321
00:24:41,407 --> 00:24:43,841
They need to be able to navigate
the 30 staircases

322
00:24:43,927 --> 00:24:46,122
within its six towers by torch light.

323
00:24:52,127 --> 00:24:53,765
For more than three months,

324
00:24:53,847 --> 00:24:56,600
London has suffered
devastating bombings.

325
00:24:58,167 --> 00:25:02,285
The ports of Bristol, Cardiff
and Liverpool have also been targeted,

326
00:25:02,847 --> 00:25:07,045
along with industrial cities
like Coventry, Glasgow and Belfast.

327
00:25:09,127 --> 00:25:11,925
Over 1 4,000 have already died.

328
00:25:13,847 --> 00:25:17,522
The Blitz is an attack
on the spirit of the British people.

329
00:25:18,047 --> 00:25:20,607
FAULKNER The situation in 1 940

330
00:25:20,687 --> 00:25:23,485
is one of profound shock.

331
00:25:23,567 --> 00:25:25,797
The expectation was that
the war would be fought

332
00:25:25,887 --> 00:25:29,163
on the continent, in the same way
as the First World War.

333
00:25:29,247 --> 00:25:33,365
The collapse on the continent means
that Britain, London in particular,

334
00:25:33,447 --> 00:25:38,202
is now the frontline in a global war
against fascism.

335
00:25:41,167 --> 00:25:43,522
NARRATOR 1n the first half hour
of the raid,

336
00:25:43,607 --> 00:25:46,804
the Germans dropped
300 incendiary bombs a minute.

337
00:25:49,287 --> 00:25:52,085
The Dean of Saint Paul's
recalls the attack.

338
00:25:59,927 --> 00:26:01,360
Bring the sandbags.

339
00:26:01,967 --> 00:26:04,117
MATTHEWS The action in
the cathedral became, for a while,

340
00:26:04,207 --> 00:26:05,959
a number of separate battles,

341
00:26:06,047 --> 00:26:09,005
in which small squads fought fires
at different places

342
00:26:09,087 --> 00:26:11,157
on and beneath the roofs.

343
00:26:12,607 --> 00:26:15,405
(FIREMAN SHOUTING ORDERS)

344
00:26:19,567 --> 00:26:21,159
NARRATOR 1n the next three hours,

345
00:26:21,247 --> 00:26:25,320
Luftwaffe drops over 1 20 tons
of explosives on London.

346
00:26:30,447 --> 00:26:33,803
During the night,
250 firemen are injured

347
00:26:33,887 --> 00:26:36,526
and 1 4 will die protecting their city.

348
00:26:43,047 --> 00:26:45,515
Saint Paul's dome takes a direct hit.

349
00:26:46,287 --> 00:26:49,085
An incendiary bomb lodges
in the lead panelling.

350
00:26:50,087 --> 00:26:54,046
Beneath the lead
is a lattice of timbers 200 years old.

351
00:26:54,727 --> 00:26:56,160
They are tinder-dry.

352
00:26:57,207 --> 00:26:59,767
MATTHEWS We knew that once a fire
got hold of the dome timbers,

353
00:26:59,847 --> 00:27:02,361
it would, at that high altitude,

354
00:27:02,447 --> 00:27:05,166
quickly be fanned
into a roaring furnace.

355
00:27:05,567 --> 00:27:08,400
The chances for the dome
were slender indeed.

356
00:27:12,927 --> 00:27:15,885
NARRATOR Firemen battle
a strong southwesterly wind,

357
00:27:15,967 --> 00:27:17,923
which feeds the inferno.

358
00:27:19,767 --> 00:27:23,282
Stay on it! Stay on it!
Keep the stream straight.

359
00:27:23,367 --> 00:27:27,280
Sam Cheveau, a 28-year-old
in the Auxiliary Fire Service,

360
00:27:27,647 --> 00:27:29,285
begins his shift.

361
00:27:30,207 --> 00:27:31,640
SAM We could see enormous fires

362
00:27:31,727 --> 00:27:34,036
burning all around us
with blowtorch effect,

363
00:27:34,127 --> 00:27:36,561
as they sucked in the freezing cold air.

364
00:27:41,087 --> 00:27:42,566
Where's my water?

365
00:27:42,647 --> 00:27:46,640
NARRATOR Water mains burst
under the intense heat of the inferno.

366
00:27:46,727 --> 00:27:48,080
No water!

367
00:27:48,647 --> 00:27:51,639
Backup supplies from the Thames
can't be used.

368
00:27:52,207 --> 00:27:53,276
Where's our water?

369
00:27:53,367 --> 00:27:55,005
SAM To add to the difficulties
of the night,

370
00:27:55,087 --> 00:27:57,476
the Thames was at its lowest ebb.

371
00:27:58,887 --> 00:28:00,445
NARRATOR There is no water,

372
00:28:00,527 --> 00:28:03,360
and the flames are now
within metres of Saint Paul's.

373
00:28:04,167 --> 00:28:06,635
Just one more wave of German bombers,

374
00:28:06,727 --> 00:28:08,957
and the city will be engulfed.

375
00:28:16,167 --> 00:28:19,318
MATTHEWS We gazed upon
this apocalyptic scene.

376
00:28:20,967 --> 00:28:23,162
1t's like the end of the world.

377
00:28:26,367 --> 00:28:28,597
ALLEN You have to ask yourself,

378
00:28:28,687 --> 00:28:31,724
when you are being
bombarded in the Blitz,

379
00:28:31,807 --> 00:28:33,923
why press on?

380
00:28:34,367 --> 00:28:37,245
What's the point?
Why not just throw in the towel?

381
00:28:37,327 --> 00:28:39,283
I think it is because

382
00:28:39,367 --> 00:28:42,359
we are such a small nation.

383
00:28:42,447 --> 00:28:46,235
We've understood that way back
through history for thousands of years.

384
00:28:46,327 --> 00:28:49,046
There's no other way
except to fight, in the end.

385
00:28:49,127 --> 00:28:51,800
Otherwise, you account for
absolutely nothing.

386
00:28:54,687 --> 00:28:57,997
NARRATOR But over the Channel,
the wind changes direction.

387
00:28:58,807 --> 00:29:00,957
1t is no longer safe to fly.

388
00:29:02,087 --> 00:29:05,443
The final wave of enemy bombers
never comes.

389
00:29:09,407 --> 00:29:12,717
The incendiary on the Saint Paul's dome
has fallen outwards

390
00:29:12,807 --> 00:29:16,277
onto a stone parapet,
and not the timber rafters.

391
00:29:19,167 --> 00:29:22,284
On the ground, water is restored.

392
00:29:26,087 --> 00:29:28,760
From the roof of
The Daily Mail building,

393
00:29:28,847 --> 00:29:31,805
photographer Herbert Mason
watches the scene.

394
00:29:32,647 --> 00:29:33,762
(CLICKS)

395
00:29:33,847 --> 00:29:37,806
MASON 1 focused as the great dome
loomed up through the smoke.

396
00:29:37,887 --> 00:29:40,720
The glare of many fires
and sweeping clouds of smoke

397
00:29:40,807 --> 00:29:42,684
kept hiding the shape.

398
00:29:42,767 --> 00:29:44,598
Then a wind sprang up.

399
00:29:46,927 --> 00:29:49,521
Suddenly, the shining cross,
dome and towers

400
00:29:49,607 --> 00:29:52,326
stood out like a symbol in the inferno.

401
00:29:58,167 --> 00:29:59,805
MIKE JACKSON That iconic photograph.

402
00:29:59,887 --> 00:30:02,526
London appears to be
completely in flames.

403
00:30:02,607 --> 00:30:05,883
But somehow, in the middle,

404
00:30:05,967 --> 00:30:08,686
untouched, is the dome of Saint Paul's.

405
00:30:09,527 --> 00:30:12,644
A huge symbol of defiance.

406
00:30:20,007 --> 00:30:22,805
NARRATOR The ''all clear''has sounded.

407
00:30:22,887 --> 00:30:24,161
(SIREN BLARING)

408
00:30:24,247 --> 00:30:28,001
Slowly London's firefighters
bring the blaze under control.

409
00:30:33,207 --> 00:30:36,756
MATTHEWS The cathedral had survived,
as if by a miracle,

410
00:30:37,567 --> 00:30:40,001
while all around was consumed.

411
00:30:49,567 --> 00:30:52,161
NARRATOR Hitler has been thwarted.

412
00:30:52,247 --> 00:30:56,160
Churchill praises the indomitable spirit
of the British people.

413
00:30:56,967 --> 00:31:00,118
CHURCHILL Little did he know
the spirit of the British nation

414
00:31:00,847 --> 00:31:03,964
or the tough fibre of the Londoner,

415
00:31:04,047 --> 00:31:09,167
who have been bred to value freedom
far above their lives.

416
00:31:13,327 --> 00:31:15,124
On her way to work,

417
00:31:15,207 --> 00:31:18,756
Dorothy Barton sees Saint Paul's
through the burning ruins.

418
00:31:22,087 --> 00:31:25,124
BARTON 1 felt a lump
in my throat because,

419
00:31:25,207 --> 00:31:28,882
like so many people, 1 felt that
while Saint Paul's survived,

420
00:31:29,527 --> 00:31:31,006
so would we.

421
00:31:37,727 --> 00:31:40,719
NARRATOR 60,000 civilians
will die on British soil

422
00:31:40,807 --> 00:31:42,843
in the Battle of Britain.

423
00:31:43,367 --> 00:31:46,996
German bombs' damage will destroy
three and a half million homes.

424
00:31:48,087 --> 00:31:51,557
But Hitler's plans to break the spirit
of the British people

425
00:31:51,647 --> 00:31:53,922
only serves to strengthen them.

426
00:31:54,287 --> 00:31:56,084
MEERA SYAL The bombs were dropping,

427
00:31:56,167 --> 00:32:00,638
and yet people stayed in their houses
helping each other.

428
00:32:00,727 --> 00:32:02,399
You know, the house next door's gone,

429
00:32:02,487 --> 00:32:04,842
''We'll put the kettle on.
Don't you worry.''

430
00:32:04,927 --> 00:32:08,237
And they're the kind of people
that you just want on your side.

431
00:32:09,647 --> 00:32:11,842
MICKEY FLANAGAN My mum
often talks about the fact that

432
00:32:11,927 --> 00:32:15,283
she would meet a family who'd been
what they call ''bombed out''.

433
00:32:15,367 --> 00:32:18,484
They'd gone down the shelter,
they'd come up, the house is gone.

434
00:32:18,567 --> 00:32:20,159
They got on with it.
They went and moved in,

435
00:32:20,247 --> 00:32:22,397
they moved in with friends
and neighbours.

436
00:32:22,487 --> 00:32:24,682
I cannot begin to imagine
how it must feel to come up

437
00:32:24,767 --> 00:32:26,678
from the shelter
with your fingers crossed

438
00:32:26,767 --> 00:32:28,598
that your house is still there.

439
00:32:28,687 --> 00:32:30,518
On a daily basis.

440
00:32:30,927 --> 00:32:33,964
NARRATOR From the ashes of war,
Britain rebuilds.

441
00:32:34,047 --> 00:32:36,925
The days of imperial glory
are disappearing.

442
00:32:37,047 --> 00:32:41,245
At home, the British people
demand a new, fairer society.

443
00:32:41,607 --> 00:32:45,077
There was a real deference
to the old establishment

444
00:32:45,167 --> 00:32:47,158
before the Second World War,

445
00:32:47,247 --> 00:32:49,203
and that is largely gone.

446
00:32:49,327 --> 00:32:53,206
Now the assumption is
that everybody is entitled to share

447
00:32:53,287 --> 00:32:55,278
in democratic decision-making.

448
00:32:55,367 --> 00:32:58,200
Everybody is part
of the process of deciding

449
00:32:58,287 --> 00:33:00,437
what kind of Britain
this is going to be.

450
00:33:00,527 --> 00:33:05,317
There's no longer a touching of caps
to the great and the good.

451
00:33:07,287 --> 00:33:10,757
NARRATOR 1t marks a turning point.
For the first time,

452
00:33:10,847 --> 00:33:15,045
everyone is guaranteed free healthcare
from cradle to grave.

453
00:33:16,207 --> 00:33:18,880
GARDINER The people
who had made sacrifices during the war

454
00:33:18,967 --> 00:33:21,117
were to reap rewards in the peace.

455
00:33:21,207 --> 00:33:24,517
And those rewards were going to come
in terms of a welfare state,

456
00:33:24,607 --> 00:33:27,201
in terms of a better standard of living.

457
00:33:27,287 --> 00:33:31,360
They wanted peace, of course,
but they also wanted a better peace.

458
00:33:34,487 --> 00:33:37,206
NARRATOR Britain enters
a hopeful new age.

459
00:33:40,807 --> 00:33:42,081
(INDISTINCT)

460
00:33:43,607 --> 00:33:45,962
Right. All the chaps are in place.

461
00:33:46,047 --> 00:33:47,878
Now I want to brief you all
about where we are,

462
00:33:47,967 --> 00:33:49,480
where the camera positions are.

463
00:33:49,567 --> 00:33:52,400
These are the cameras on the interior
of the Abbey.

464
00:33:52,487 --> 00:33:54,125
Got the one here by the western door...

465
00:33:54,207 --> 00:33:57,005
NARRATOR June 2, 1 953.

466
00:33:57,247 --> 00:34:00,603
1n a temporary television studio
at Westminster Abbey,

467
00:34:00,767 --> 00:34:04,043
broadcaster Peter Dimmock
is about to make history.

468
00:34:06,447 --> 00:34:08,802
The people of Britain
will have access to an event

469
00:34:08,887 --> 00:34:12,516
that has only previously been witnessed
by a select elite.

470
00:34:12,847 --> 00:34:14,917
Number two, here,
will be looking right across.

471
00:34:15,007 --> 00:34:16,884
(CROWD CHEERING)

472
00:34:16,967 --> 00:34:19,083
NARRATOR A royal coronation

473
00:34:19,167 --> 00:34:23,206
of the 2 7-year-old Queen Elizabeth 11.

474
00:34:26,527 --> 00:34:28,597
Recorded in colour film,

475
00:34:28,687 --> 00:34:32,282
this footage will be shown in cinemas
after the event.

476
00:34:34,767 --> 00:34:38,601
But live on black-and-white TV
for the first time,

477
00:34:38,687 --> 00:34:41,440
2 7 million people in Britain
are about to watch

478
00:34:41,527 --> 00:34:44,280
the coronation unfold in their homes.

479
00:34:51,887 --> 00:34:54,526
1t has taken 1 2 months to organise,

480
00:34:55,447 --> 00:34:57,756
and almost as long
to persuade Britain's hierarchy

481
00:34:57,847 --> 00:35:00,805
to allow television cameras
inside the Abbey.

482
00:35:04,807 --> 00:35:06,559
The Prime Minister
and the cabinet believe

483
00:35:06,647 --> 00:35:08,205
the intrusion of lights and cameras

484
00:35:08,287 --> 00:35:11,279
will be an extra strain
on the young Queen...

485
00:35:11,887 --> 00:35:13,479
What's wrong with number two?

486
00:35:14,447 --> 00:35:16,358
...and a threat
to the dignity of the ceremony.

487
00:35:16,447 --> 00:35:17,482
Superb.

488
00:35:19,207 --> 00:35:21,596
But after public outcry,

489
00:35:21,687 --> 00:35:25,885
Elizabeth requests that the whole nation
can see the coronation.

490
00:35:26,527 --> 00:35:28,404
There, and then number six.

491
00:35:31,887 --> 00:35:35,004
-Isn't she marvellous?
-Absolutely stunning.

492
00:35:35,087 --> 00:35:37,555
-Can you believe it, Dad?
-NARRATOR 1n North London,

493
00:35:37,647 --> 00:35:41,276
Charles Bayliss has made
the biggest home purchase of his life,

494
00:35:43,167 --> 00:35:46,125
an eight-inch,
black-and-white television set.

495
00:35:46,287 --> 00:35:48,801
1t costs £ 1 20,

496
00:35:48,887 --> 00:35:51,560
equivalent to over three months' wages.

497
00:35:57,047 --> 00:36:00,722
Two million British households
now own a new television,

498
00:36:01,527 --> 00:36:03,995
but 1 0 times as many were watching.

499
00:36:05,447 --> 00:36:10,043
Today, a dozen friends and neighbours
will crowd around Charles' television.

500
00:36:10,127 --> 00:36:11,845
(ALL CHATTERING)

501
00:36:14,447 --> 00:36:15,960
JESSIE J 1 always like
being part of something

502
00:36:16,047 --> 00:36:17,605
that's celebrating something great.

503
00:36:17,687 --> 00:36:20,201
If I was there, I'd have been scoffing
a coronation chicken sandwich,

504
00:36:20,287 --> 00:36:21,845
eating sweets, waving the flag around.

505
00:36:24,247 --> 00:36:26,317
That would have been my kind of party.

506
00:36:26,407 --> 00:36:29,205
Right in front of the TV,
like this far away from the TV,

507
00:36:29,287 --> 00:36:31,357
cheering uncontrollably.

508
00:36:31,727 --> 00:36:34,560
So she will be with us at the Abbey
in six minutes.

509
00:36:34,647 --> 00:36:36,399
You have six minutes, okay?

510
00:36:38,087 --> 00:36:42,683
NARRATOR Every BBC camera possible
is being used to film the coronation.

511
00:36:42,767 --> 00:36:45,725
Sixteen will record the procession
outside the Abbey.

512
00:36:45,807 --> 00:36:48,196
Five will cover the event inside.

513
00:36:51,487 --> 00:36:55,799
Peter Dimmock has a long list
of strict instruction from the palace.

514
00:36:57,047 --> 00:36:59,242
His cameramen must blend in,

515
00:36:59,327 --> 00:37:01,557
so are dressed in formalwear.

516
00:37:03,407 --> 00:37:06,797
Where possible, the cameras themselves
must be hidden.

517
00:37:07,487 --> 00:37:11,036
Above the Abbey's organ screen,
it's a tight squeeze.

518
00:37:12,087 --> 00:37:13,281
Spot on!

519
00:37:13,847 --> 00:37:18,238
So the smallest cameraman,
Bud Flanagan, is assigned to the job.

520
00:37:19,887 --> 00:37:22,845
But he's not the only one
to need the space.

521
00:37:24,967 --> 00:37:27,845
Tell him if he touches you there again,
he'll have to marry you.

522
00:37:27,927 --> 00:37:31,920
NARRATOR Above all, though, there is
one stipulation from the palace.

523
00:37:34,207 --> 00:37:37,961
Cameras will not be allowed to
show a close-up of the Queen.

524
00:37:41,487 --> 00:37:43,717
(ALL CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY)

525
00:37:56,767 --> 00:37:59,076
NARRATOR At no other time in history

526
00:37:59,167 --> 00:38:02,682
has one person been exposed
to the gaze of so many.

527
00:38:02,767 --> 00:38:04,723
-All those jewels.
-Twenty-seven years old!

528
00:38:09,807 --> 00:38:13,402
ALL (CHANTING) God save the Queen!

529
00:38:14,287 --> 00:38:17,563
MIRREN You just see
this mantle fall upon her.

530
00:38:18,047 --> 00:38:20,242
I feel you see it in her face.

531
00:38:20,327 --> 00:38:23,956
Her full acceptance of
the gravity of this role,

532
00:38:24,047 --> 00:38:26,038
for the rest of her life.

533
00:38:27,127 --> 00:38:30,324
-ALL God save the Queen!
-(CHEERING)

534
00:38:30,607 --> 00:38:32,598
Stand-by three. And cut to three.

535
00:38:32,687 --> 00:38:36,760
NARRATOR As the newly crowned queen
processes down the Abbey,

536
00:38:36,847 --> 00:38:40,203
Peter Dimmock knows
what the nation wants to see.

537
00:38:40,927 --> 00:38:43,885
I'm gonna come to you, two,
for the close-up.

538
00:38:48,647 --> 00:38:50,000
Cut to two.

539
00:38:54,007 --> 00:38:55,281
Hold it.

540
00:38:55,807 --> 00:38:57,035
Hold it.

541
00:38:58,847 --> 00:39:01,042
DIMMOCK We were almost in tears.

542
00:39:01,447 --> 00:39:05,406
1t was just fantastic seeing
the young queen walking out.

543
00:39:07,447 --> 00:39:09,199
NARRATOR A new, modern relationship

544
00:39:09,287 --> 00:39:12,597
between the monarchy
and the British public is sealed.

545
00:39:14,847 --> 00:39:16,519
And back to five.

546
00:39:18,847 --> 00:39:20,678
-(ALL SIGHING IN RELIEF)
-(LAUGHING)

547
00:39:21,487 --> 00:39:22,715
That's beautiful.

548
00:39:24,647 --> 00:39:27,036
It was rock and roll.

549
00:39:27,127 --> 00:39:29,277
I mean, it was the greatest show
on Earth.

550
00:39:29,767 --> 00:39:34,397
There was this young, beautiful queen
saying, ''Be part of the new age.

551
00:39:34,487 --> 00:39:37,604
''Be part of the new Elizabethan period.''

552
00:39:37,767 --> 00:39:39,405
(CROWD CHEERING)

553
00:39:41,127 --> 00:39:42,879
NARRATOR Television comes of age.

554
00:39:43,007 --> 00:39:46,477
By the end of the decade,
1 0 million homes have sets.

555
00:39:46,927 --> 00:39:50,044
FAULKNER Television is coming
to embody the spirit of

556
00:39:50,127 --> 00:39:54,166
the more inclusive,
more thoroughly democratic,

557
00:39:54,247 --> 00:39:56,841
more caring, in a way, society,

558
00:39:56,927 --> 00:40:01,205
which is emerging out of the Depression
and the Second World War.

559
00:40:01,967 --> 00:40:06,643
Suddenly, everybody is part of
this project of building a new Britain.

560
00:40:10,407 --> 00:40:14,036
NARRATOR Today's Britain is
a country reshaping its identity,

561
00:40:14,127 --> 00:40:17,199
building upon its rich
and varied history

562
00:40:17,287 --> 00:40:20,085
to find a new role on the world stage.

563
00:40:21,167 --> 00:40:22,236
KATE ALLEN 1t's a softer sort of power.

564
00:40:22,327 --> 00:40:25,399
It's not the sort of power where
you can say, ''This is what will happen.''

565
00:40:25,487 --> 00:40:28,206
It's the sort of power of influence,

566
00:40:28,287 --> 00:40:31,563
where you talk with other countries
and you negotiate,

567
00:40:31,647 --> 00:40:34,878
and certainly the UK
has enormous influence.

568
00:40:39,007 --> 00:40:43,205
To me, the glories of Britain
are that the society

569
00:40:43,287 --> 00:40:45,926
is just, equal,

570
00:40:46,007 --> 00:40:48,123
fair, tolerant.

571
00:40:49,207 --> 00:40:52,483
And that generally, I believe my country
is a force for good.

572
00:40:52,567 --> 00:40:54,444
(CHEERING)

573
00:40:54,527 --> 00:40:56,677
SCOTT We do have something that
I think is rock solid,

574
00:40:56,767 --> 00:41:00,646
and is part of our heritage
and our culture and our history.

575
00:41:00,727 --> 00:41:03,241
And I think that we should be
very, very proud of that.

576
00:41:03,327 --> 00:41:07,240
And that makes me feel proud to not just
be Scottish, but to be British as well.

577
00:41:20,207 --> 00:41:22,277
For me, in modern Britain,
what we have to do

578
00:41:22,367 --> 00:41:23,561
is remind ourselves of our history.

579
00:41:23,647 --> 00:41:27,435
Try and live up to the standards of
the great people that fought wars for us

580
00:41:27,527 --> 00:41:30,360
and what they've given us in the past.

581
00:41:32,327 --> 00:41:36,400
It's nice to be able to
reach back into the past

582
00:41:36,487 --> 00:41:39,285
and feel that you have an identity.

583
00:41:39,367 --> 00:41:44,236
To feel an oceanic, rolling history.

584
00:41:46,287 --> 00:41:50,246
The British identity is made up of
so many different cultural inputs,

585
00:41:50,327 --> 00:41:55,526
and that's arguably the imperial legacy
of all the different influences

586
00:41:55,607 --> 00:41:57,643
we took from around the world.

587
00:41:58,567 --> 00:42:03,595
This is an island race that
absorbs and welcomes other cultures,

588
00:42:03,687 --> 00:42:08,078
because fundamentally,
there is a sense of decency

589
00:42:08,167 --> 00:42:11,523
and an acceptance of the outsider
that is not present

590
00:42:11,607 --> 00:42:13,359
in a lot of other countries.

591
00:42:16,367 --> 00:42:18,244
GARETH THOMAS We are all proud people.

592
00:42:18,327 --> 00:42:19,680
We all have different accents,

593
00:42:19,767 --> 00:42:21,598
different religions
and different beliefs.

594
00:42:21,687 --> 00:42:24,679
But in the soul of everybody
that's a British person

595
00:42:24,767 --> 00:42:26,644
is a proud person as well.

596
00:42:32,607 --> 00:42:35,201
I think the thing that I like
about being British

597
00:42:35,327 --> 00:42:38,285
is that wherever you go in the world,
people respect you.

598
00:42:38,567 --> 00:42:43,004
There's this island that is tiny,
in geographic terms,

599
00:42:43,087 --> 00:42:45,806
and punches and has punched
and still punches

600
00:42:45,887 --> 00:42:47,684
way above its weight.

601
00:42:49,127 --> 00:42:52,119
Which allows us to stand alone and say,

602
00:42:52,207 --> 00:42:54,846
''This is who we are.
We'll go our own way.''