How We Won The War

Jules Hudson travels to Northern Ireland, where he discovers how the people of Belfast survived one of the worst Blitz attacks and helped raise enough money to build 17 spitfires, as well as how one woman tricked her employers so she could save the life of a baby elephant.

Jules travels to Scotland, where he gets to grips with rationing and tastes some wartime treats. He discovers the dangers faced by hundreds of women in secret munitions factories and hears relatives recount the tales of the youngest victims of the war effort.

Jules reaches north east England, and discovers Churchill's clandestine guerrilla army - ready to see off invasion at any cost. He explores the largest air raid shelter outside London, and gets stuck into the work faced by hundreds of Lumberjills - the women who worked the country's war time forests.

Jules arrives in Yorkshire. Starting in Sheffield, he meets two women who survived danger and sexism in Sheffield's steel mills. He uncovers the story of a Hull hero who led the city through dark times only to end up behind bars. Plus how a goat not only worked his way up the ranks to become an Air Commodore, but helped his squadron to stunning successes in the fight against the Luftwaffe.

He journeys through the Midlands to hear about the emotional bonds formed between American paratroopers and the people of Nottingham; travels the canals to explore how a small band of women kept essential supplies flowing during the war; and discovers how the factories of Birmingham provided just about everything we needed in our fight against Nazi Germany.

Jules Hudson explores the Home Counties' contribution to World War II, where he turns his hand to some of the experimental weapons dreamt up by a secretive organisation known as Churchill's Toyshop; delves into the dark art of wartime black propaganda and puts some of today's Girl Guides through their paces - World War II style.

Jules visits London to meet a volunteer who found himself battling the horror of the Blitz as a teenage firefighter; hears harrowing stories of children who escaped Nazi occupied Europe; and two courageous women describe how they helped defend the capital's skies from the Luftwaffe.

Jules Hudson arrives in south-west England, where he discovers how a nation of knitters kept our troops in the fight; meets the relatives of some extremely brave women - special agents sent into occupied Europe; and discovers how not even wartime rationing was enough to make people eat green-coloured honey.

Jules Hudson reaches Wales where he discovers how 70 prisoners of war made a daring escape from a prison near Bridgend. In Cardiff he hears how women operated barrage balloons the size of two London buses to keep German bombers at bay, and there is an emotional reunion as a London born evacuee is taken back to the Welsh village that became his home throughout the war.

Jules Hudson reaches north west England in his journey around Britain, where he finds out how an army of women helped keep the nation fed throughout the war; explores the world of the performers who kept troops and civilians entertained throughout their darkest hours and discovers the bravery of the nation's pigeons who flew into harm's way to keep us in the fight.