Anthony Andrews stars in the 1979 series UXB (unexploded bombs). Andrews plays Brian Ash, a lieutenant assigned to a UXB unit during World War II. If a bomb dropped but didn’t explode, it was up to this unit to defuse it so it would no longer be a danger. Of course you had to be careful it didn’t blow up in your face. Also there were delayed- fuse bombs set to go off later.
The show uses actual procedures, some of which were only experimental, that were applied to defuse these bombs. Initially these procedures were published, I gather, to boost morale, but the publication helped the Germans design bombs that would overcome the processes. Now the procedures, understandably, are classified.
Danger UXB is terrifying to watch at times, because you simply don’t know if the bomb will go off or not. There are no guarantees that a character is going to live – like in real life.
What one is struck by watching this show is how archaic the methods were – huge, awkward machinery, and no protection for the soldier disarming the bomb.
The show stands out not only for its use of real German bombs and the details of the time, but for the real human stories that it tells, with no clichés. Ash is a good, principled man, but he’s often scared right down to his socks.
The cast is uniformly excellent: Besides Andrews, Maurice Roeves, Kenneth Cranham, Iain Cuthbertsome, Deborah Watling, Gordon Kane, George Innes, and Judy Geeson, plus many others.
