Leading UK production company Avalon is set to produce a brand-new documentary series: James Nesbitt: Disasters That Changed Britain.
Commissioned by A+E Networks UK, the series takes a unique and extraordinary look at some of the most impactful events to have affected Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Set to air in early 2018 on History, the original six-part series will unravel the events that led to some of the most devastating disasters of the past 60 years.
Presented by RTS award nominee James Nesbitt, the documentary examines the human cost of the tragedies and looks at the changes made in the wake of each disaster. It also seeks to explain the wider cultural, political and institutional context that contributed to them.
Jamie Isaacs, Executive Producer for Avalon, said: “This documentary tells the story of Britain through the prism of some of the most harrowing events in living memory”.
Some of the disasters changed postwar Britain forever, the series asks why warning signs were often ignored and how seemingly innocuous decisions contributed to the event.
With individual narratives explored by journalists: Donal MacIntyre (MacIntyre Investigates) and Anna Richardson (Naked Attraction), each self-contained episode explores a different event.
The disasters covered include, the recent Grenfell Tower fire (2017), the Ladbroke Grove rail crash (1999), the Zeebrugge ferry disaster (1987) and the King’s Cross Fire (1987).
The unique series will also feature the Munich Air Crash (1958) and the Piper Alpha oil platform explosion (1988), both of which will be broadcast on their 60th and 30th anniversaries respectively.
A+E's Dan Korn, who commissioned the programme, said: “When confronted with the horrors of Grenfell, or any of the other terrible events explored in the series, it’s impossible to reflect not only on the loss of life and personal tragedies but also on the profound impact on British society as a whole".
