Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

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Series examining the effects of individual bombs that fell during the Blitz

Series examining the effects of individual bombs that fell during the Blitz, from their initial impact on individual lives right through to their consequences for World War Two and the present day.

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Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain: Series 1: Episode 3

Episode 3

Series 1

BBC Two - Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain, Series 1, Episode 3

Following a bomb that fell on Jellicoe Street in the Scottish town of Clydebank.

Documentary series examining the impact of four individual bombs during the Blitz. Episode three follows a bomb that fell on Jellicoe Street in the Scottish town of Clydebank.

During the blitz, over 450,000 bombs were dropped on Britain and every bomb has its own story. This series examines the specific effect of four bombs, from their initial impact on individual lives, right through to their wider consequences for the Second World War, and all the way to the present day. Across the series incredible personal testimony, gut-wrenching memoirs and the meticulous records kept at the time provide a visceral and terrifying account of the Blitz that directly connects with the human experience of the bombs. As survivors and relatives attest, these bombs touched the lives of everyone and created a legacy we all still live with today.

Episode three follows a bomb that fell on Jellicoe Street in the Scottish town of Clydebank. It was a tightly knit community of shipbuilders and factory workers who worked hard in difficult conditions. For the children though, life in the tenements was like being part of one big family, as Patrick Docherty and Jack Tasker remember.

But on 13 March 1941 that would change forever. When the bomb fell on Jellicoe Street, it destroyed number 78, killing 15 members of the Rocks family. Marion McDermid's grandmother was a Rocks - she survived and left a harrowing account of how her family had been wiped out by this one bomb. Amongst them was 13-year-old Tommy Rocks, Brendan Kelly's best friend. Over 70 years later Brendan is still deeply affected by the events of that night.

As the community reeled from the chaos, confusion and grief wrought by the bombs, there was another war being waged in Clydebank. Young shipyard worker John Moore was battling to secure better pay and working conditions for his fellow apprentices. Linden Moore, his daughter, describes her father's communist politics, and his role in negotiating better terms for striking apprentices on the same day the Jellicoe Street bomb fell.

Rosabel Richards's father William Roberts was also a Clydebank man. On the night of 13 March he was an ARP warden, but Rosabel wants to know what he did during the blitz that would ultimately lead him to a place at Oxford University. She meets her cousin in Clydebank, who suggests her dad had connections to Westminster. This leads Rosabel to official records that show William Roberts was working for the government to actively counteract the influence of communists in Clydebank. 

On 14 March the bombers returned and the town's housing was largely destroyed. There was a mass exodus with families like Brendan's ending up in a small village 60 miles away from their home. But the shipyard and the factories were largely operational and all the men, including Moore's apprentices, made epic journeys to return to work despite the fact they lost homes, friends and family members. 

It is that sense of loss that has endured across the generations and still resonates with 85-year-old Brendan Kelly, who will never forget the impact of that one bomb.

Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain: Series 1

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Examining the specific effect of four bombs dropped during the Blitz.

Examining the specific effect of four bombs dropped during the Blitz, from their initial impact on individual lives through to the present day.

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Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain

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