History Channel

NZTV Premiere: Night Of The Long Knives

The History Channel – Thursday 8 November, 9.30pm

June 30th, 1934. German freedoms and the rule of civilised law die in blood at the hands of Adolf Hitler. In the deadly hours to be known as The Night of the Long Knives, he murders his way to Germany’s dictatorship. A string of pitiless and audacious assassinations work for a bloody 48 hours to purge all who might contest him for absolute power, or reveal a homosexual past. It is at this terrible moment that Adolf Hitler goes from just one more politician reaching for power in a chaotic political machine to a brutal dictator with the untrammelled power to murder millions.

NZ TV Premiere: D-Days In The Pacific

The History Channel – Mondays from 5 November, 8.30pm

The word D-Day, the military speak designation for a start of an amphibious attack, has become synonymous with the Normandy Invasion. But in reality, there were more than a dozen D-Days in the Pacific, many on the scale of Normandy, and one, Okinawa, even larger. In this three part series, we will examine the sometimes disastrous, sometimes brilliant D-Days of the Pacific.

THE HISTORY CHANNEL COMMEMORATES REMEMBRANCE DAY 2007
REMEMBRANCE DAY Special Event – Sunday, November 11 from 11:00am

The History Channel will mark Remembrance Day – the anniversary of the armistice which ended the First World War – and remember those who died and suffered in all wars and armed conflicts when it airs a moving line up of programs on Sunday, November 11, beginning at 11.00am.

Two of the centrepieces of the Remembrance Day programming line-up will be Spitfire Guardian (at 7.30pm) and Not Forgotten – Shot at Dawn (at 8.30pm). Spitfire Guardian, narrated by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, is a detailed documentary looking at the importance and mystique of one of the greatest combat aeroplanes of our time, and Not Forgotten – Shot at Dawn is a compelling program examining the recent pardon of more than 300 deserters executed during the First World War.

Other highlights include t he award-winning documentary Gallipoli; and the heart-wrenching documentary Remembrance, which pays homage to those Australians who served in the Second World War.

Remembrance Day Special Event – Sunday, November 11

11.00am – Remembrance

Remembrance pays homage to those Australians who served in the Second World War – a farewell to the generation now passing into history. It is a powerful story, telling of the lingering human cost of war and how ordinary people face extraordinary challenges.

12.00pm – The Last Day of World War I

At 11.00am. on November 11, 1918, World War I ended. Victory had been assured and final territory already agreed upon. So why did more soldiers die on that day than on D-Day? The answer is the most shocking story of WWI. Based on best-selling historian and biographer Joseph Persico’s book it is revealed how Allied leaders found outrageous excuses to send 13 000 men to their deaths against an already defeated enemy.

1.00pm – The Battle of Long Tan

This exclusive documentary commissioned by The History Channel, honours the true story behind the heroic deeds of a group of young Australian and New Zealand soldiers in one of the most pivotal, dramatic and shocking engagements of the Vietnam War. Now 40 years on, their bravery places a new glow on the ANZAC legend and public perceptions of our role in the Vietnam War.

2.00pm – Colour of War – D-Day

D-Day is a date permanently etched in our memory. Colour of War – D-Day takes an in-depth look at the events and experiences of the greatest seaborne invasion in history, focusing on the personal stories of those involved, including not only the men in combat, but also the families and friends anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones.

4:30pm – The Somme

The 1916 Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War, with more than one million casualties.

6:30pm – Two Men in A Trench (Battle of the Big Guns)

In one of the forgotten battles of WWII, British and German guns stationed on either side of the English Channel fought it out over 22 miles of seawater. Archaeologists travel to the White Cliffs of Dover, which was known as ‘Hellfire’.

7:30pm – Spitfire Guardians

The experiences of the Spitfire pilots involved in the Battle of Britain are well documented, what is not well documented are the varied experiences of the Australian men who were trained then scattered to the far corners of the globe. Spitfire Guardians has captured this essence – their pain, sorrow, joy and affection. Narrated by Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, their stories are from a time of uncertainty, their world a cockpit and gun sight. Even today the Spitfire fighter plane still captures the imagination of generations though the men who flew and maintained it are part of a select few to understand its true charisma.

8:30pm – Not Forgotten (Shot at Dawn)

In November 2006, the British government granted a group pardon to 306 men executed for acts of ‘cowardice or desertion’ during the First World War. The move has public sympathy on its side – after all, to us, these men suffered unimaginable horrors on the battlefield. But, when examined more closely, it becomes a highly complex issue, fraught with conflicting arguments and emotions. In Not Forgotten: Shot at Dawn, Ian Hislop, whose grandfather fought in WWI, looks at the lives of six soldiers executed during the war. Through their stories, he asks, is it dangerous to try to rewrite history? And he poses an uncomfortable question: Are some of these men, under the strict military law of the time, really deserving of a pardon, or is it sentimental to view them all as innocent victims?

9:30pm – Gallipoli

Gallipoli is the 2005 film by award-winning Turkish director, Tolga Örnek, narrated by Jeremy Irons and Sam Neill. Produced over six years and in seven different countries, Gallipoli uses recently uncovered diaries, letters, dramatic re-enactments and interviews to reveal one of the largest landing operations in history and one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles of the First World War.

REMEMBRANCE DAY Special Event – Sunday, November 11 from 11:00am

NZ TV Premiere: Windscale 1957: The Nuclear Winter

The History Channel – Monday 29 October, 8.30pm

In October 1957, one of the Windscale nuclear reactors caught fire. It was the world’s first nuclear accident, attributed to the rush to build atomic weapons. This programme highlights the mistakes leading to a nuclear event which, 40 years on, still takes second place only to Chernobyl.

NZ TV Premiere: The Forced March To Freedom

The History Channel – Sunday 28 October, 7.30pm

At the end of the Second World War, ten thousand prisoners of war waited for liberation by the advancing Russian Red Army. The Nazis dashed these hopes and forced the prisoners to march out of Stalag Luft III in the dead of winter toward the centre of the collapsing Third Reich. This is an extraordinary story of endurance through the eyes of Robert Buckham of West Vancouver. Buckham was a bomber pilot and artist who produced countless sketches and watercolours of prison life, and chronicled the march itself.

NZ TV Premiere: Dead In The Water

The History Channel – Tuesday 23 October, 8.30pm

During the 1967 Six Day War, Israel attacked the USS Liberty, an American spy ship. Israel has always claimed this was a tragic accident based on mistaken identification, while the ship’s survivors maintain that the attack was intentional. This film reveals the full story of collusion and cover-up for the first time, and shows how Egypt, initially blamed for the incident, only narrowly avoided a retaliatory nuclear strike by the USA.

NZ TV Premiere: Digging Up The Trenches

The History Channel – Saturday 20 October, 10.30pm

In Belgium’s Flanders Fields a team of archaeologists are conducting a historic dig. They are uncovering two World War One trenches – one Allied, one German. This is where trench warfare began, flourished and died in just four short years. Soon, these historic trenches will be paved over by highways and housing developments. But before the bulldozers arrive, a team of archaeologists have just ten days to find and save the weapons, tools and bones.

NZ TV Premiere: British UFO Files

The History Channel – Thursday 18 October, 9.30pm

The British UFO Files reveals for the first time the secret history of alien aircraft investigations led by the most powerful forces within the British government. Featuring eye-witness accounts by top ranking military personnel, previously unseen top secret documentation and rare archive footage, the film examines in detail a cache of information ranging from the alleged production of Nazi UFOs to the landing of an alien spacecraft at a British air-force base.
A vérité-satire, The Festival is an ensemble comedy, told from the perspective of fictional IFC documentarian, Cookie. Cookie’s subject: Rufus Marquez, a quixotic young director embarking on his virgin voyage to the prestigious Mountain United Film Festival (MUFF). The Film is ‘’The Unreasonable Truth of Butterflies’’. The goal is a distribution deal. And the pressure is on. “The Festival is everything a mock documentary should be: sassy, glib, subtle, biting and consistently hilarious’’ – Ray Richmond, The Hollywood Reporter.

NZTV Premiere: Long Road To Heaven

The History Channel – Friday 12 October, 8.30pm

Long Road to Heaven is based on the story of the Bali Bombings of October 2002 in which over 200 people from 22 countries were killed. It tells the story in 3 different times: October 2002 when the bomb explodes, the trial process (7 months after the explosion) and the time when the terrorists plan the bombing. The movie is about humanity that represents the tragedy from various points of view, especially the characters who are directly affected from the tragedy. It paints an intricate portrait of grief, anger, religious conviction and ultimately redemption, not for those who carried out the violent attacks, but for those who survived it.

Channel Premiere: The Curious Case Of The Vinland Map

The History Channel – Monday 8 October, 7.30pm

The Vinland Map shows the eastern seaboard of North America, despite allegedly having been drawn at least 500 years before Columbus reached the New World. Some scientists believe the Vinland Map is forged, while others maintain that it is authentic and based on information gathered by the Vikings. Arguments between cartographers, historians and scientists have raged bitterly for almost 40 years. This film answers two questions: Is the Vinland Map a fake? And if so who was the forger?