Station X

All Episodes 1999

  • Ended
  • #<Network:0x00007fba3fef7f80>
  • 1999-01-09T00:00:00Z
  • 42m
  • 3h 59m (4 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
Series examining the work of the code-breakers at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, during World War 2. Uses interviews with staff and dramatic reconstructions of events.

4 episodes

Series Premiere

1999-01-09T00:00:00Z

1x01 The Keys to the Reich

Series Premiere

1x01 The Keys to the Reich

  • 1999-01-09T00:00:00Z1h 53m

This episode covers the early allied efforts at cracking the German Enigma system, the establishment of Station X at Bletchley Park and the gathering of the eclectic group of geniuses who were to break the "unbreakable" German Enigma encryption system. The programme gives insight into the inner-workings of the Enigma machine, and the manner in which Bletchley's brilliant boffins managed to outsmart it.

The programme discusses The Herivel Tip, an imaginative cracking method which relied on the laziness of the Enigma operators when setting up their machines in the morning. Also explored is the role of Station X in the air and sea battles of 1941 and the part played by Alan Turing in cracking Germany’s naval messages.

1999-02-02T00:00:00Z

1x03 The Ultra Secret

1x03 The Ultra Secret

  • 1999-02-02T00:00:00Z42m

The programme starts with the 1941 Invasion of Russia. Contributors include David Kahn In a speech Winston Churchill publicises mass executions and the systematic slaughter of Jews, feeling the outrage greater than the imperative to protect the source. Loris Gherardi's role in the Theft of the Black Code, and its continued use under Colonel Norman Fiske and Bonner Fellers, is reconstructed. Also, Turing’s development of the Bombe, a machine used to automate the code-breaking process.

1999-02-09T00:00:00Z

1x04 The War of the Machines

1x04 The War of the Machines

  • 1999-02-09T00:00:00Z42m

This episode covers the Enigma and Lorenz cipher machines, and the role of Station X in the Battle of the Atlantic and D-Day landings. Also, the lighter side of life at Bletchley Park is also addressed, as well as the future of those who left at the end of the war.

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