Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson

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Joe Simpson

Ed Stafford

Nick Metcalfe

Alexis Girardet

Arrow International Media Ltd

Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson: Episode 1

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Episode 1

BBC Two - Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson, Episode 1

Joe Simpson travels to Myanmar to retrace the steps of his father who fought there in WWII

Mountaineer Joe Simpson travels to Myanmar to retrace the steps of his father. In the first episode, Joe traverses the dense jungle terrain and avoids post-election violence.

Former mountaineer Joe Simpson travels to Inywa in Myanmar to retrace the WWII journey of his father, Ian, who served with the Chindits, the special forces who fought a harsh guerilla campaign behind Japanese lines in 1944.

Using his father's maps and secret diary, and guided by explorer Ed Stafford, the first man to walk the length of the Amazon, Joe sets out to find the jungle airstrip where 20,000 Chindits were dropped in the biggest air operation before D-Day. Joe experiences some of the jungle conditions that made this one of the toughest campaigns of the second World War - crossing a river with a homemade bamboo raft, getting lost in the jungle (even with GPS) - but then finds that events in modern-day Myanmar threaten to derail his plans. The first free elections since 1990 trigger renewed hostilities in Kachin province - usually off-limits to tourists - and Joe has to put his 30-year-old dream on hold.

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Mountaineer Joe Simpson travels to Myanmar to retrace the steps of his father, who fought behind Japanese lines in WWII, facing conditions which made this one of the toughest campaigns of the war.

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Burma's Secret Jungle War with Joe Simpson

Episode 1

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