BBC Documentaries

VE Day 70: Remembering Victory (2015x322)

: 15, 2015

On 8 May 1945, Churchill broadcast the long-awaited announcement that the war in Europe was over. To celebrate, Britain threw the biggest street party the country had ever seen. Seventy years on, some of Britain's best-loved entertainers recall the jubilation of that unforgettable day. The extraordinary archive of celebrations all over Britain helps bring back the memories. Britain's celebrities - including Sir Bruce Forsyth, Honor Blackman, Anne Reid, Sir Patrick Stewart, Kenny Lynch, Miriam Margolyes, Una Stubbs and Dame Cleo Laine - share their memories of the tea parties, bonfires, joyful tears and dancing in the streets. After the heady days of celebration, it was back to the realities of food rationing and unheated homes, but gradually the nation got back on its feet. The gloom of austerity was replaced a new era of optimism and prosperity. This is the story of the Victory Generation.