Hiroshima

It's one of the most indelible images of the twentieth century—the attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This gripping documentary takes you through the history and aftermath of the world's first atomic attack—from the room where politics drove the mission, on board the Enola Gay on her fateful voyage, inside the bomb as it detonates, and into the streets of Hiroshima as history is changed. Archival footage and state-of-the-art visual effects combine to recreate the story, told from both US and Japanese perspectives. A new installment in the heralded BBC History of World War II series!

Hiroshima is the dramatic story of the first atomic bomb to be dropped on people.

It is an epic, ambitious project, with a large cast and extensive visual effects.

When the first experimental uranium bomb exploded over central Hiroshima at 8.15am on 6 August 1945 nearly 100,000 people were killed instantly.

Those who managed to survive - in spite of the lethal heat-blast, the colossal shockwave and the invisible effects of gamma radiation - told stories of a living nightmare.

This is the story of the scientists who designed the bomb; the politicians who took the decision to drop it; the aircrew who flew it through the night to the mainland of Japan; and, finally, the people of Hiroshima, soldiers and civilians, whose lives were devastated by it.

At the heart of this film is the unflinching depiction of the effects of a nuclear explosion - a forensic examination of the experiences of real people who found themselves caught up in the smoke, flames and darkness, people who struggled for survival and tried to make sense of the unimaginable chaos.

But it also puts the explosion in historical and political context, examining the evidence and records to build a detailed account of the reasons for the decision to bomb the city.

“...very good, informative and even entertaining ... made us think about issues and feelings ... The horrible job of recreating Armageddon was an object lesson in imaginative understatement and the judicious use of computer graphics ... while survivors and witnesses told their story to camera with dignity and candour ... but equal weight was given to the painful honesty of Colonel Paul Tibbets and the rest of the Enola Gay crew, who were never demonised." -Guardian (Features page)
"...a towering drama-documentary ... accomplished and thrilling ... brilliant but chilling re-enactments of the dreadful aftermath of the bomb ... wonderfully well-acted by a Japanese and American cast, supplemented by newsreel footage from the time and surviving witnesses ... we were battered, horrified, moved to tears and driven to pity - and anger."- Daily Mail (Peter Paterson)"
"Powerful is an overused word in telly previewland, but it is the best way to describe both this drama-doc's arresting, feel-a-bit-sick qualities and the act of bombing itself. And the reminiscences make you realise it wasn't all that long ago."- London Evening Standard (Imogen Ridgway)
"...seamless blend of archive film, reconstruction and interview ... The film leaves judgment to us, posterity and eternity."- Financial Times (Martin Hoyle)
"...riveting..."- Independent (Gerard Gilbert)
"The programme's reconstructions of Hiroshima street scenes neatly matched the original, sun-drenched footage of housewives and schoolchildren walking across a backdrop of pastel-coloured shops. So the shock was all the greater when Wilmshurst dropped his load of computer-generated special effects, depicting the firestorm with a realism stopping just short of relish. We heard from an old Japanese doctor who had been called four miles out into the countryside; even at that distance, the explosion blew him across the room. Walking back, he met a black spectre with no face, no nose and no skin who promptly expired in front of him. It is not easy to tell us that and also convey the bravery of the men six miles up in the B-29 Enola Gay. Yet Hiroshima managed it, simply by reporting the facts." -Daily Telegraph (Damian Thompson)
“...sombre, informative and moving..."- Guardian

BAFTA® Awards
2006 - Best Visual Effects

Oppenheimer originally thought that the atomic bomb would have no military significance

Narrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Hurt Written by. . . . . . . . . . . . .Claire Saxby and Paul Wilmshurst Producer/Director . . . . . . . . . . Paul Wilmshurst Executive Producer. . . . . . . . . . .Matthew Barrett