The Sinking of the Laconia.
 

Any of you in the UK may be interested to know that the 2 part drama, based on the sinking of the Laconia by a German u boat in WW2, is being shown on BBC2 next thursday and friday, (6th and 7th January) at 21:00. I for one have been looking forward to seeing it. Regards, Sven.

Laconia on BBC2
 

Hi Sven....just watched episode one and it was very good ; shame I dont have a either a VCR or DVD recorder otherwise could have maybe put it on youtube. Thanks for your OP as I dont watch much TV and would have not known it was being broadcast tonight :up:

PS. I'm a Yam-Yam, what part of Wolvo are you in ?

just watched the 1st one on BBC iplayer - loving it so far, would be good if they did something similar over 10 episodes, kinda like a "band of brothers" style thing!!

Have just watched part 2 on TV,quite impressed with the overall production,seems to have been given a reasonable budget,good looking U-boat etc.I don't know much about this incident so I wouldn't like to comment on the historical accuracy of the programme.There were a little too many 'holywood moments' for my taste though strangely it was written by Alan Bleasedale who is renown for his gritty, realistic scripts.

Historical accuracy is well documented
 

The drama was accurate and very factual, it’s well documented in many books and there are photos of Hartenstein towing the lifeboats in tandem.
It was clever how Bleasdale has taken a true insident and woven a drama around it while not twisting any of the facts, in the drama bit I had to smile when the major said something like " we don’t want any **** hitting our backs " typical British management, while the trigger happy yanks acted exactly as expected.
I wonder if the type 9 was a propper sub or a mock up, if it was a propper one in running order where did they get it?

It seems to be a seagoing model - I've seen some photos of it taken by passing airplanes during filming the movie, and it appeared to sail by itself. I doubt it's able to dive though - underwater shots are easy to do with CGI, contrary to building an actual submersible.

I would really like to see the movie, as it's one of my favourite stories from WW2... too bad I don't live in UK.

Not sure if the bbc iplayer is region restricted, if not you can watch it at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
I really enjoyed it.

The boat was stationed here in Cape Town whilst they were filming. It was built for above waterline shots only, the underwater bits were for the flotation tanks.
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/104/17102009278.jpg
http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9362/17102009280.jpg
http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/8394/17102009277.jpg
:salute:

Just seen it, looking forward for the second part!

Many thanks (Thunder) for the photos, it's so lifelike it had me fooled, even the p-scope had the proper twists in it, the builders have done a very good job and they must have also got the balance right to take the weight of all those actors etc.
I didn't realise that the program was in two parts, ours was 1½ hrs long so maybe we got the lot, but if there is more, I'm all for it.

I have recorded this to watch later. Did anyone notice that there was also a 30 minute documentary on BBC2 on Saturday night on the Sinking of the Laconia: Survivor's Stories? Luckily I spotted it in the schedule and recored it too, but for those in the UK it is available on the BBC iplayer.

Nemo

Yes I also watched the 30min follow up, and it was very good, although I had seen a very similar program on the same incident many years ago.
This incident of course gave rise to Hitlers orders that in future no submarine must endanger itself by giving aid in any form to survivors, for which you really can't blame him for, if his warships were going to be attacked under a flag of truce.
Up to that point many subs used to surface and give food, water, and a compas baring to survivors, Hitlers order of course must have condemmed many thousands of merchant seamen to a slow death.

I remembered the original thread - a good spot from somebody, and kept my eyes peeled in the schedules and recorded both parts.

I've only seen upto where they're listening to the guns practicing, but was very impressed with the mock up sailing. The only part I'm not too sure about was when they were listening to the liner they still appeared to be surfaced, but I could be mistaken.

Overall, so far, well done BBC.

Interesting little making of blog: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2011/0...-laconia.shtml

Missed the original viewing but thank the lord for iPlayer