The BEST episodes written by Mark Hayhurst
#1 - 1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?
BBC Documentaries - Season 2019 - Episode 197
In 1944, two prisoners miraculously escaped from Auschwitz. They told the world of the horror of the Holocaust and raised one of the greatest moral questions of the 20th century.
#2 - Terror! Robespierre and the French Revolution
BBC Documentaries - Season 2009 - Episode 145
The watchwords of the French Revolution were liberty, equality and fraternity. Maximilien Robespierre believed in them passionately. He was an idealist and a lover of humanity. But during the 365 days that Robespierre sat on the Committee of Public Safety, the French Republic descended into a bloodbath. 'The Terror' only came to end when Robespierre was devoured by the repressive machinery he'd created. This drama-documentary tells the story of the Terror and looks at how Robespierre's revolutionary idealism so quickly became an excuse for tyranny, and why a lover of liberty was so keen to use the guillotine.
#3 - The Man Who Crossed Hitler
BBC Documentaries - Season 2011 - Episode 288
Remarkable factual drama based on a true story, starring Ian Hart, Ed Stoppard and Bill Paterson. In the summer of 1931, with Germany on the brink of economic collapse, and the city of Berlin turning into a paramilitary war-zone, audacious young prosecutor Hans Litten (Stoppard) chose to summon a star witness to a trial of Nazi thugs. In spite of the risk to his own safety and against the advice of those who love him, Litten forced rising political star Adolf Hitler (Hart) to make a sensational appearance in the witness stand of Berlin's central criminal court. Litten aimed to expose the true character of Hitler and his politics to the German public, to reveal his hypocrisy and his violent ambitions, and in doing so, halt the electoral success of the Nazi Party. In a humiliating and hostile cross-examination, Hitler was forced to account for his political beliefs, his contempt for the law and his desire to destroy German democracy. For a brief moment, Hitler's political future was genuinely in the balance. Hitler survived the ordeal, but it was a close encounter which he never forgave and for which Litten paid a heavy price
#4 - The Somme
BBC Documentaries - Season 2005 - Episode 56
Drama-documentary recounting the events of the 1st July 1916 and the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front during the First World War. Told through the letters and journals of soldiers who were there.
#5 - Hitler On Trial
PBS Specials - Season 2011 - Episode 7
In the summer of 1931, a young lawyer called Hans Litten put rising political star, Adolf Hitler, in the witness box of a Berlin court. He wanted to expose Hitler's hypocrisy and secret commitment to violence and shatter the Nazi party's political respectability. In an audacious and hostile cross-examination, Hitler was forced to defend his beliefs, his ambitions, his methods and the essence of Nazism, in open court. Litten wanted to challenge the public as Germany and the rest of Europe seemed to be sleep-walking to fascism. If Litten's warnings had been taken seriously, Hitler's financial support might well have collapsed. There would have been no Nazi election victory. No Reichstag fire, no Third Reich, no Final Solution. Litten didn't win, but Hitler never forgot and once the Nazis were in power, Litten was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp where he ultimately committed suicide. A brave and complex individual, Litten was left-wing, Jewish, and passionately committed to the idea of justice. This documentary explores Litten's personal story while also examining the broader historical and ethical debate. It discovers the consequences of Litten's heroism both for himself and for those closest to him, tracking his tragic journey from court room to suicide.
#6 - The Last Days of the Raj
Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries - Season 2007 - Episode 5
A dramatized, very accurate version of the bitterness of the partition of British India. Although this story had been brought to the screen many times in Gandhi, Sardar, Jinnah, Lord Mountbatten-The Last Viceroy, but unless history is backed up by facts, testimonies and eye-witness accounts, it cannot be considered authentic. Similar to this production was a 3-part BBC documentary titled END OF EMPIRE - India in which was shown the closing 2 years of the Raj. But here we see the story from the day Mountbatten and his delegation arrive in India.