Monday 23rd January | 9pm | BBC2

Three days flying around the UK in flimsy machines whose engines can cut out at any time: welcome to the mad, bad and sometimes downright dangerous world of competitive amateur microlighting in the 'Round Britain Rally'.

For those with the daring, skill and sheer nerves to take it on, the Rally is the ultimate test, where the aim is to fly around as much of the country as possible. This is flying at its most basic - and most exhilarating.

This film follows three teams of obsessive microlight enthusiasts who navigate their way across Britain armed with a map and compass, sleeping under the wing, and doing their best to keep their aircraft in one piece - while at the same time clocking up more miles than everyone else.

Microlighters wax lyrical over the poetry of the skies, but they all have tales of brushes with death. Anxious and despairing families look on in resignation as their much loved men folk choose to exercise what seems an irrepressible death-wish.

Disaster is never much more than a stalled engine away. As one of the pilots says: "You're putting your life in the hands of what is effectively a chainsaw attached to a deck chair." But that won't stop these enthusiasts from taking to their magnificent flying machines in an attempt to capture the true spirit of amateur aviation.

Reviews

Wonderful... moving. Bonkers fun. Time Out

An aerial Wacky Races...a joy to watch. Daily Telegraph

A tender and moving account of fear, friendship and love. Sunday Times

A soaring, swooping emotional journey... Daily Express

A lovely film. Daily Mirror

Delightful... The Independent

Lovely...warm and human, a celebration of eccentricity. Guardian

A joy to watch... The Times

Photos

See the photo gallery.

Credits

Director: Charlie Russell
Producer: Stephen Walker

Links

See the programme page on the BBC Website

Repeated: Saturday, 19th November | 8pm | BBC2

Following on from his hugely successful BBC 2 documentary, Operation Mincemeat, based on his book of the same name, writer and presenter Ben Macintyre returns to the small screen to bring to life his other best selling book - Agent Zigzag. As part of the Timewatch series, Macintyre will reveal the gripping true story of Britain's most extraordinary wartime double agent, Eddie Chapman.

A notorious safe-breaker before the war, Chapman duped the Germans so successfully that he was awarded their highest decoration, the Iron Cross. He remains the only British citizen ever to win one. Including remarkable and newly-discovered footage from an interview Chapman gave three years before his death in 1997, Macintyre goes on the trail of one of Britain's most unlikely heroes in this true-life ripping yarn - a story of adventure, love, intrigue and astonishing courage.

Reviews

A dream story told with great flair The Times

Very entertaining... a terrific tale The Independent

A thrilling war documentary Metro

A rip-roaring tale, expertly and enthusiastically told The Guardian

Fascinating The Telegraph

Riveting The Times

Brilliant The Sun

Terrific Ian Rankin, on BBC's Front Row

Photos

See the photo gallery.

Clips

Credits

Director: Stephen Walker
Producer: Sally George

Links

• Visit the Bloomsbury website for full information about the book, Agent Zigzag.

Best-selling author and Times reporter Ben Macintyre tells the extraordinary story of the boldest and most successful secret operation of World War Two in an upcoming new BBC documentary.

Based on Macintyre's Number One bestselling book, Operation Mincemeat, produced by Stephen Walker and directed by Russell England, Operation Mincemeat will be broadcast on BBC2 this Christmas.

One April morning in 1943, a sardine fisherman spotted the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and set in train a course of events that would change the course of the Second World War.

Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted, and certainly the strangest. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs, sent German troops hurtling in the wrong direction, and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different, in one crucial respect, from any spy before or since: he was already dead.

His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece.

Using fraud, imagination and seduction, Churchill's team of spies spun a web of deceit so elaborate and so convincing that they began to believe it themselves. The deception started in a windowless basement beneath Whitehall. It travelled from London to Scotland to Spain to Germany. And it ended up on Hitler's desk.

For more than sixty years, Operation Mincemeat has been shrouded in secrecy. Now, for the first time, Ben Macintyre reveals the true story of what happened - and how. Together with a cast of original witnesses and previously unseen archive, he reveals how a group of brilliant men and women - and the corpse of a Welsh tramp - came together to pull off one of the greatest, and most bizarre, deceptions in history.

Reviews

Tremendous... has everything you'd want from a ripping yarn. Truly astonishing. Radio Times

Remarkable... Daily Mail

A cracking yarn... Daily Telegraph

Gripping... sheer delight. A tremendous programme. The Times

Cracking documentary... Sunday Telegraph

A fascinating film... Observer

As incredible as the raciest of James Bond thrillers... Mail on Sunday

A ripping true-life thrill... Metro

Boy’s Own adventure stuff... Daily Express

Impressive... A ripping, gripping yarn... Daily Telegraph

Hugely entertaining.... The Times

Clips

Photos

See the photo gallery.

About Ben Macintyre

Ben is writer-at-large and associate editor of the Times of London. He is the author of a number of bestselling books including Operation Mincemeat, Agent Zigzag, The Man Who Would Be King, The Englishman’s Daughter, The Napoleon of Crime, and Forgotten Fatherland.

He lives in London with his wife, the novelist Kate Muir, and their three children. Operation Mincemeat is his first television programme as presenter. 

Credits

Director: Russell England
Producer: Stephen Walker

Links

• Visit the Bloomsbury website for full information about the book, Operation Mincemeat.
• Visit the BBC's programme page for the documentary
• See BBC History for historical background information
• Read an interview with Ben Macintyre about Operation Mincemeat or his blog on the BBC
• Read an article about the making of the documentary by director, Russell England.

Alex Stobbs was an overnight phenomenon, shooting to international prominence following transmission of 2008’s critically acclaimed, award-winning documentary, A Boy Called Alex.

It told his extraordinary story as an Eton music scholar and cystic fibrosis sufferer. Immediately after transmission, offers of professional work flooded in, as did several marriage proposals. Now aged 19, a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, and a member of its world-famous choir, this new film follows Alex's dramatic and event-filled transition from boy to man.

Determined to live as normal a student life as possible, complete with girlfriends, late nights and major socialising, Alex is also set on fulfilling his lifelong ambition: to conduct Bach's three hour masterpiece, the St Matthew Passion, with a major orchestra and some of the country's top soloists. But by pushing himself to the limit, Alex risks getting an infection that could be his last.

If you have been inspired by Alex and would like to make a donation to his chosen charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, click here.

See the photo gallery.

Watch the programme online here.

Reviews

It's hard to find words to describe how inspiring this film is. You'll just have to watch it. The Times

A heart-warming and poignant reminder that life is for living… an extraordinary new film. Daily Mail

A wonderful, life-affirming film. Radio Times, Documentary of the Week

★★★★★ Time Out

At once remarkable and unbearable to watch. The Independent

Humbling and compulsive viewing Western Morning News

Inspiring… Daily Telegraph

Clips

Credits

Director: Paddy Wivell
Producers: Stephen Walker and Sally George
Broadcast: Channel 4 (8/10/2009)

Following on from the Cutting Edge programme on the extraordinary talents of Alex Stobbs – Cambridge music scholar and cystic fibrosis sufferer – this film features highlights from the remarkable performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion conducted by Alex earlier this year at London’s Cadogan Hall.

Alex himself acts as the film’s commentator and guide, offering his uniquely personal perspective on Bach's epic work and the phenomenal musical challenges in conducting it. The music is performed by the distinguished Southbank Sinfonia and the renowned Rodolfus Choir, featuring soloists Michael Chance, Sarah Fox and Thomas Guthrie.

If you have been inspired by Alex and would like to make a donation to his chosen charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, click here.

See the photo gallery.

Watch the programme online here.

Clips

Credits

Director: Stephen Walker
Producer: Sally George
Broadcast: More4 (8/10/09)

Walker George Films’ first feature film is Young@Heart, a musical documentary about an extraordinary American chorus of pensioners who sing rock 'n' roll.

Directed by Stephen Walker and produced by Sally George, the film was originally broadcast on More 4 and Channel 4 television in November 2006. It was critically acclaimed and picked by both Time Out and the Radio Times as the best documentary of 2006. Clips have attracted well over two million hits on YouTube.

Young@Heart won the Audience Award for Best Film at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2007, where it was acquired by Fox Searchlight for theatrical release, the studio behind hits such as Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways.

The film was shown in over 200 US cinemas in the summer of 2008 and subsequently around the globe.

To date Young@Heart has the highest-ever gross in the US for a British documentary.

See the photo gallery.

Buy Young@Heart on DVD from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Clips

Awards

It has won a total of 18 awards including:

• Winner: DVD Critics Best Non-Fiction Title 2009 (USA)
• Winner: AG Kino-Gilde (German Art House Cinemas) Best Documentary 2009 (Germany)

Brothers and Sisters in Love is about one of the most secret taboos of all – incestuous love. The film features siblings who never knew each other as children yet fall in love when they meet as adults.

The film includes the extraordinary case of a German brother and sister who had four children together and challenged Germany's incest laws in the Supreme Court. Brothers and Sisters in Love was broadcast on ITV1’s primetime 9pm slot in June 2008 and was Pick of the Day in almost all national newspapers, receiving outstanding reviews.

See the photo gallery.

Credits

Director: Sally George
Producer: Stephen Walker
Broadcast: ITV1 (June 2008)

The film documents the last months of the flamboyant British jazz-singer’s life before he died of cancer.

It was short-listed for a Grierson Award in the Best Arts Documentary category in 2008.

See the photo gallery.

Reviews

A great documentary…perhaps the funniest thing you’ll see all year. Time Out

A moving tribute to a true original…this was a programme you really did not want to end The Times

Powerful, intimate and affectionate Daily Telegraph

Credits

Director & Producer: Katie Buchanan
Broadcast: BBC2 (February 2008) and BBC4 (November 2007)

A Boy Called Alex opened Channel 4’s Cutting Edge season in January 2008.

A documentary film about a 16 year-old musical prodigy at Eton College who suffers from cystic fibrosis, the film was directed by Stephen Walker and produced by Sally George. It attracted one of the highest-ever audience’s of a Cutting Edge run and rave reviews.

See the photo gallery.

Clips

Reviews

Astounding, life-affirming…quite simply the impact of Stephen Walker’s film is overwhelming. The Times

Astonishing…don't miss this gripping, inspiring, uplifting and humbling film Daily Mail

Awards and Nominations

• Winner of Bulldog Award (voted by the industry) for Best Documentary 2009
• Winner of Royal Television Society Craft Award for Best Photography and Sound 2009
  
• Nominated for BAFTAs Best Documentary, Best Director (Stephen Walker) and Best Editing (Ben Stark) 2009
• Nominated for Royal Television Society Best Documentary January 2009
• Nominated for Broadcast Best Documentary 2009

Credits

Director: Stephen Walker
Producer: Sally George
Broadcast: Channel 4 (24/01/2008)

Walker George produced Silver Surfers for Channel 4’s Cutting Edge.

The documentary is a warm and affectionate portrait of pensioners using the internet to find love.

See the photo gallery.

Credits

Director: Ursula MacFarlane
Broadcast: Channel 4 (05/03/2007)