The Golden Globe, Emmy award-winning Band of Brothers was a ten part television mini-series set in World War II based on the novel of the same name by Stephen Ambrose, an historian and biographer. Produced by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks following their success with Saving Private Ryan, the events portrayed are based on recorded interviews with survivors of Easy Company and Ambrose’s research. The plot follows Easy Company from basic training in Georgia, US to the American landings in Normandy and the end of the World War II. All the characters are based on actual members of Easy Company who oversaw each episode for accuracy before it was screened. The dialogue strived to emphasise the physical, mental and, on occasions, moral challenges some of them had to overcome and established the main character as Major Richard Winters (Damian Lewis). To date, Band of Brothers was the most expensive television mini-series ever produced by a television network (HBO) with the budget at approximately $125 million; the BBC paid $10.1 million as a co-production partner. It was largely well received but given some events were exaggerated, or condensed, plus there were a variety of inaccuracies it did evoke criticism. Band of Brothers does however continue to be broadcast and draw viewers. With the exception of the village of Hambledon in Buckinghamshire, Band of Brothers filmed on location in Hertfordshire.

Release / Airing: 05/10/2001