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9/11: INSIDE THE PRESIDENT'S WAR ROOM

31/8/2021

9/11: Inside The President's War Room
Tuesday 31 August 2021
20:30
BBC One

Director/Producer: Adam Wishart
Executive Producer: Neil Grant

A Wish/Art Production for BBC One

Twenty years ago, at 09.03, the second of four hijacked planes hit the South Tower of the World Trade Centre in Manhattan, New York. America was under attack. President George W. Bush was sitting in front of a classroom of seven year-olds in Florida. Members of the President's security detail thought that the next plane could be aimed at them.

As the clock ticks the presidency is forced to make a series of critical decisions, while still struggling to make sense of what is unfolding. Should they order fighter jets to shoot on American civilians? Should the seminal Presidential speech declare war, or calm a nation? How would the leadership of the most powerful nation on Earth grapple with the national and international implications?

This feature-length documentary tells the definitive timeline story of the Presidency through 12 hours of that momentous day - as it changed him, changed the United States Of America, and changed the world - told with direct testimony from those in power at the time: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and numerous other senior White House personnel.

It begins with blue-sky innocence, as a relatively new President orientates himself towards a domestic agenda and it ends as the machinery of Government flexes and responds to the threat and begins to contemplate the possibility of war. The events of that day led to two decades of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As America and its allies now withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban resume control, this is the story of how it all began.

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SURVIVING 9/11

30/8/2021

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Surviving 9/11
Monday 30 August 2021
21:00
BBC Two

Director: Arthur Cary
Executive Producer: Darren Kemp

Twenty years on from 9/11, BAFTA-winning director Arthur Cary takes a look at one of the defining historical events of the post-war era.

Broadcast live around the world like horrifying theatre, 9/11 is a moment in history that everyone over a certain age can remember, and knows exactly where they were when it happened. But what was it like to actually live through, and how easy is it to move on from a day that society wants to go on remembering?

This film brings together 13 ordinary people who were caught in an event they weren't able to fully comprehend at the time, and that they are still working through with the benefit of hindsight.

Surviving 9/11 is a deeply personal film, intertwining two separate narratives: the two-hour period when terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed three of them into The Twin Towers and The Pentagon, and the story of the 20 years since. Blending powerful testimony from American and British interviewees and personal and public archive, the story of the day unfolds almost in real time, while contemporary scenes explore how the lives of individuals continue to be affected by those moments.

Contributors range from survivors, first responders and family members of victims. They include Vanessa from Scotland, who was taking part in an artists' residency on the 91st floor of the North Tower in New York; Bill, a firefighter from Staten Island who miraculously survived both towers collapsing around him; Malcolm, who lost his son Geoff and every anniversary camps alone on a mountain in Wales where he was when he first heard the news about the attacks; Heather, who was a newly qualified fighter pilot and took to the skies that day, prepared to ram the tail of United 93, the hijacked plane that was headed for Washington DC.

The attacks happened in America, but they changed the world - and they continue to define the lives of many who survived them.

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AMBULANCE: S07E01

12/8/2021

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Ambulance
S07E01
Thursday 12 August 2021
BBC One
21:00

Narrator: Christopher Eccleston
Series Director: Andrew Dedman
Series Editor Peter Wallis-Taylor
Series Producer: Becky Houlihan
Series Producer: Billie Hussein
Executive Producer: Simon Ford

Tonight is the first episode of a new series of the BAFTA-Award-winning Ambulance, filmed earlier this year at an unprecedentedly difficult time for the NHS.

Cameras focus on a new cast of characters drawn from the staff of North West England Ambulance Service, as they care for the 1.4 million people of Merseyside.

The whole of the country is in lockdown as crews across Merseyside book on for the day shift.

In the Regional Operational Coordinating Centre, plans are well underway to tackle the immediate threat to life being posed by Storm Christoph, which is about to rage through the North West of England.

The storm adds yet more pressure to a service already battling the peak of the CoronaVirus Pandemic.

Crewmates Emily and Jo are first of the morning shift to be dispatched to a patient who is not breathing and is feared dead.

This is the call Jo dreads, as she has only recently lost her mother.

She fears it will have a profound emotional impact on her, even though she is saved from attending the scene.

With little time to recover Jo and Emily are dispatched to reports of a road traffic collision caused by the storm.

Paramedic Chris is also sent to manage the scene.

Once on scene, the patient is found to have had a lucky escape, but must still be taken to a nearby medical facility - which leaves Chris reflecting once again on how his fellow scousers have faced the pandemic.

Across Liverpool, ambulance crew Sarah and Mark are dispatched to their second patient of the day - a woman who is struggling to breathe.

The patient is initially reluctant to attend a local medical facility but after some gentle persuasion agrees to go.

Once safely on board the ambulance her gratitude for the crew and the NHS shines through, as Sarah and Mark modestly shrug off her compliments.

Five hours into the shift, and the team have already treated over 290 suspected COVID19-positive patients.

Emily and Jo's fifth call out of the day is to a COVID19-positive patient.

Whilst on scene, it turns out Covid has rippled through the family and is continuing its spread to them all.

There are now 258 patients waiting for an ambulance and the pressure on the service is building with no signs of the storm easing.

Emily and Jo are on scene with their third covid patient of the day.

As Emily tries to find a way to keep the patient out of hospital, a passerby hands the crew-mates a gift, leaving Emily to reflect on how hard times have been.

Overnight, Storm Christoph has continued to intensify, with river levels throughout the North West of England rising the service is at risk of becoming overwhelmed.

The news that there have also been a further 1820 CoronaVirus deaths in the past 24 hours sends shockwaves through the ambulance team.

Ambulance crew Kerry and Quinten are dispatched to their first patient of the night.

The patient who has had a fall at home, and as a result of the pressure on the service he has been kept waiting for an ambulance for five hours.

As the weather continues to worsen, there are now another 299 patients waiting for an ambulance.

Emily and Jo are dispatched to their first patient of the night, a woman who is distressed because she can hear ringing in her ears.

Paramedic Chris is dispatched to another elderly patient.

When he arrives he finds she has fallen out of bed. He soon manages to get the patient back on her feet and cheers her up as they share stories of Liverpool in days gone-by.

As the floods continue to worsen, roads are forced to close which causes further delays in response times.

Sarah and Mark are dispatched to a category one call for a patient in cardiac arrest but are forced to make a number of diversions along the way.

Across town, Emily and Jo are also in a race against time to get to another patient in cardiac arrest.

Despite dashing to treat the patient they aren’t able to save their life - another stark reminder for Emily and Jo of the fragility of life, and once again it throws all their work during the CoronaVirus Pandemic into sharp focus.

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UNDERCOVER BIG BOSS: S01E02

12/8/2021

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Undercover Big Boss: S01E02
Thursday 12 August 2021
ITV/STV
21:00

Narrator: Tracy-Ann Oberman
Director: Paul Shenkin
Series Producer: Paul Shenkin
Series Editor: Richard Mears
Executive Producer: Mike Cotton
Executive Producer: Rachel Bloomfield

This week, it's the turn of Robert Forrester.

Robert is the Chief Cxecutive of Bristol Street Motors, one of the largest car dealership groups in the United Kingdom. It is a three billion-pound business that sells new and used cars from all the major brands.

With 149 dealerships across the United Kingdom and over 6,000 employees, the company sells one car to a British resident every four minutes.

When the CoronaVirus Pandemic hit, Robert was forced to close his dealerships and furlough the workforce. However, he also decided to take a massive gamble, whilst other businesses were downsizing, he saw an opportunity to become the biggest and best automotive dealer in the United Kingdom. So he went on a shopping spree, purchasing 30 new dealerships and investing millions of pounds of shareholders' money.

Now he needs to make sure his gamble will pay off, so he is going undercover to make sure his company is in the right position to expand.

As a self-confessed 'data geek' who graduated from Oxford, Robert has never actually worked on the shop floor or sold a car in his life. For his undercover journey, he adopts the persona of history lecturer called Tom Gough who is looking for a career change, post-pandemic.

Here's a sneak preview of what's to come.

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THE RIOTS 2011: ONE WEEK IN AUGUST

8/8/2021

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The Riots 2011: One Week In August
Monday 09 August 2021
BBC Two
21:00

Director: James Jones
Executive Producer: Darren Kemp

2011 saw the largest wave of disorder in the United Kingdom since the 1980s.

This revelatory film hears from the people who experienced the riots up close and personal.

A decade on, we look back at the Summer of 2011 through the eyes of those whose lives have never been the same since.

In a series of candid interviews, we hear the story from all angles.

Convicted rioters, frontline police, a judge, a government advisor and a grieving father look back at that week in August, and the years that followed, to piece together what really happened and why.

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9/11: INSIDE THE PRESIDENT'S WAR ROOM

SURVIVING 9/11

AMBULANCE: S07E01

UNDERCOVER BIG BOSS: S01E02

THE RIOTS 2011: ONE WEEK IN AUGUST

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