| 1 |
The Windermere Children: In Their Own Words (2020) #1240
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. The story of the pioneering project to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Windermere. In the year that marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Holocaust, this powerful documentary, which accompanies the BBC Two drama, The Windermere Children, reveals a little-known story of 300 young orphaned Jewish refugees, who began new lives in England’s Lake District in the summer of 1945. With compelling testimony from some of the last living Holocaust survivors, the film explores an extraordinary success story that emerged from the darkest of times, all beginning with the arrival of ten Stirling bombers carrying the 300 children from Prague to Carlisle on 14 August 1945. The survivor interviews include extraordinary first-hand accounts of both their wartime experiences, separation from their families and the horrors they experienced, but also their wonder at arriving in Britain and their lives thereafter. The children hailed from very different backgrounds, including rural Poland, metropolitan Warsaw Czechoslovakia and Berlin. Some had grown up in poverty, others in middle-class comfort. Their rehabilitation in England was organised by one charity, the Central British Fund (CBF). Leonard Montefiore, a prominent Jewish philanthropist, used his pre-war experience of the Kindertransport and successfully lobbied the British government to agree to allow up to 1,000 young Jewish concentration camp survivors into Britain. It was decided that the first 300 children would be brought from the liberated camp of Theresienstadt to Britain. And serendipitously, empty accommodation was found on the shores of Lake Windermere in a defunct factory. During the war, it had built seaplanes, but after D-Day the factory was closed, and the workers’ accommodation stood empty. With space to house them and in a truly beautiful setting, it was to prove the perfect location for these traumatised children. The CBF, however, was in uncharted territory. A project to mass-rehabilitate a group of traumatised children had never been attempted before. But in the idyllic setting of Windermere and with just the right team assembled, the children were given the chance to unlearn the survival techniques they’d picked up in the camps. With the freedom to ride bikes, play football, learn English, socialise with local teenagers and swim in the lake, they began to come to terms with the horrors they had experienced and the fact that their mothers, fathers and siblings had perished. Despite the fact that the UK government initially only offered two-year temporary visas, with strict immigration policies enforced in other countries and without families to return to, it soon became clear that there was nowhere else for most of the children to go. Many of the 300 stayed in the UK for their entire lives, becoming British citizens and raising children of their own. Now, 75 years later, the close friendships that were forged in Windermere remain and many consider each other as family. Reflecting on the survivors’ lives after Windermere, the film includes touching home movie footage and remarkable success stories, like Sir Ben Helfgott’s incredible weightlifting career, representing Britain at the 1956 Olympics, only eleven years after arriving in the UK. The documentary also tells the story of the charity they formed, the 45Aid society. With footage of their annual reunions, the documentary gives a sense of the generations of families who all trace their British beginnings to Windermere. |
| 2 |
The Children Act (2017) #1328
FILM
Main
Directed by Richard Eyre. With Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Jason Watkins, Ben Chaplin. As her marriage crumbles, a judge must decide a case involving a teenage boy who is refusing a blood transfusion on religious principle. |
| 3 |
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) #21
FILM
Main
Directed by Samuel Bayer. With Jackie Earle Haley, Rooney Mara, Kyle Gallner, Katie Cassidy. The spectre of a dead child rapist haunts the children of the parents who murdered him, stalking and killing them in their dreams. |
| 4 |
Oranges and Sunshine (2010) #1038
FILM
Main
Directed by Jim Loach. With Emily Watson, Aisling Loftus, Stuart Wolfenden, Lorraine Ashbourne. Set in 1980s Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys holds the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunites the children involved -- now adults living mostly in Australia -- with their parents in Britain. |
| 5 |
BBC 4 Sessions: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) (2009) #625
MUSIC
Main
Series of unique, intimate performances by some of the greatest legends and contemporary stars around. The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens gives his first full concert in nearly three decades, in an exclusive BBC performance at the Porchester Hall, London. In an exotic Morrocan cafe-style set, he and his band treat the audience of friends, family and fans to songs from across his career, including classic tracks like Father and Son, Peace Train, Wild World and Where Do the Children Play. |
| 6 |
The Children (2008) #135
FILM
Main
Directed by Tom Shankland. With Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley. A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents. |
| 7 |
Arena: Pavarotti - the Last Tenor (2004) #712
DOCUMENTARY
Main
For 40 years, Luciano Pavarotti has been hailed as one of the greatest tenors of all time, an artist fit to rank alongside the great Caruso. As his career reaches its climax, this documentary, showing as part of the BBC's Summer of Opera, chronicles his background and upbringing, and follows him as he performs to sell-out audiences on three continents, culminating with his valedictory performances of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Backstage in LA, the tenor greets celebrity admirers, including Michael Caine and Dustin Hoffman , in Berlin he's reunited with Three Tenors group members Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo , while in his Italian hometown of Modena the maestro gathers top names in rock and pop, such as Bono, Queen, Ricky Martin and Andrea Bocelli , to raise money for the children of Iraq. Narrated by Sir Ian McKellen. |
| 8 |
The Sound of Music (1965) #51
FILM
Main
Directed by Robert Wise. With Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn. A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower. |
| 9 |
Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog (1961) #468
FILM
Main
Directed by Don Chaffey. With Donald Crisp, Laurence Naismith, Alex Mackenzie, Duncan Macrae. Scotland, 1865. An old shepherd and his little Skye Terrier Bobby go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master's grave in the Greyfriars Kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a "no dogs" rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it's up to the children of Edinburgh ... |