3/4. On 17 September 1940, a German U-boat attacked the evacuee ship SS Benares, en route to Canada, killing 258 of the 401 on board, including 80 of 100 child passengers. Sixty-five years on, those still living recall how they escaped death by hypothermia and drowning. Michael Praed narrates.
Producer Steve Humphries; Exec producer John Farren (AD)

9.50 Posh Nosh
1/8. Richard E Grant and Arabella Weir on why we shouldn't like ordinary fish and chips.

Documentary: Children of the Doomed Voyage - Timewatch 9.00pm BBC2
There were many times during this touching documentary when I simply couldn't bear to look at the screen. Not out of horror, but out of admiration and respect for a group of singular people - the survivors of the SS Benares tragedy.
These stoic men and women were child evacuees who were heading for a life of supposed safety abroad shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War. But their vessel was torpedoed by a German submarine in the Atlantic. The Benares quickly sank, and the children were pitched into the freezing water. The lucky ones made it to lifeboats. Eighty children died.
There are many sad stories, but also some of great fortitude and courage. One man tells of how, in the scramble to evacuate the ship, he lost hold of his brother's hand. He never saw him again. Another recounts her delight when the sibling she thought she'd lost turned up safe and well having been rescued.
What really pierced my heart, though, was one sad, final twist involving an unexpected piece of news at a survivors' reunion. (AG)