D-Day: The Unheard Tapes – a 'sombre, vital and masterful' documentary
The BBC's three-part series is filled with 'diamond quotes' from the people involved in the landings

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the BBC has been showing Mark Radice's superb three-part documentary D-Day: The Unheard Tapes. In a technique previously employed for 2022's "Aids: The Unheard Tapes", the series features actors who lip-sync to the recorded testimony, gathered from archives around the world, of some of the thousands of people involved in the landings, and the fighting that raged afterwards.
We hear, of course, the voices of British and American veterans, but also those of local people, French Resistance fighters and German veterans. It is phenomenally effective. You feel "you're there with the soldiers", trying, under heavy gunfire, to make it over the "blood-splattered beaches", said Barbara Ellen in The Observer.
This is a "sombre, vital, masterful retelling" in which "the immediacy is jolting", and "the emotional access intimate", said Jasper Rees in The Daily Telegraph. It helps, too, that the cast is "outstanding", able to hint at trauma with just "the tweak of an ear or the widening of an eye".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It is "stunning television – stunningly simple, too", agreed Aidan Smith in The Scotsman. And it is full of "diamond quotes". In one memorable segment, Private Harry Parley, of the US army's 29th Infantry Division, describes the moment he became one of the first troops to land off Omaha Beach, on 6 June 1944.
"You didn't know where you were, what to do," he recalls. "The ramp went down, your asshole puckered up. You took a deep breath and you started to pray."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
9 haunted hotels where things definitely go bump in the night
The Week Recommends Don’t fear these spirited spots. Embrace them.
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
The 5 best zombie TV shows of all time
The Week Recommends For undead aficionados, the age of abundance has truly arrived
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’