Season 1 2021

The presenter looks back at conflicts Britain was involved in during the second half of the 20th century, beginning with Operation Desert Storm in 1990, when 35 nations retaliated against the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Service personnel share their memories of one of the first wars to be televised live across the globe, and reflect on how many of the same armies would find themselves back in Iraq a decade later.

The civil war that raged after the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992, as UN forces struggled to maintain order in the newly created nation of Bosnia under impossible circumstances. Testimony from peacekeeping soldiers, survivors and forensic scientists reveal the true horror of a war that has faded from public consciousness, and the helplessness they felt lacking the authority to act.

First-hand accounts of the Suez crisis of 1956, when Britain and France resorted to military force to regain control of their lucrative transport arrangements in Egypt after the new president nationalised the Suez canal. The programme features personal accounts of soldiers involved in a situation that left the two European nations empty-handed and under heavy criticism from the UN act.

The conflict in Malaya between the British Empire and Communist insurgents, that began in 1948 after the murder of three rubber planters and continued for over a decade. Tony Robinson discovers the stories of people directly involved in the war, and discovers how it would ultimately lead to independence and the establishment of Malaysia as a new nation.

The forgotten stories of Korean War veterans who fought in a brutal conflict that claimed over four million lives and inflicted incredible cruelty on the Korean people. The programme examines how the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korean force, and reveals how the conflict has been overshadowed by the Second World War before it and the Vietnam War that followed.

The series concludes with a look at the Mau Mau uprising against colonial rule in 1950s Kenya, when a group of freedom fighters used guerrilla tactics against the British in reaction to harsh economic and social reforms. The programme examines the brutal methods the British used to put down the rebellion, tales of torture and murder that were kept out of the history books for decades to come followed.